Substance Abuse And Health Essay

Mattea G. Anderson

Ryan Skrabalak

English 102

April 13th, 2023

Substance Abuse Risks on Health Substance Abuse, also known as substance use disorder, is a sensitive topic for most to talk about and has been in health books for as long as one can remember. Reading about the adverse effects of abusing drugs such as alcohol, tobacco, cocaine, opiates, etc. I thought to myself, why do people continue to abuse drugs when the effects are extremely damaging to their health?

When you have a loved one, it can be hard to address the signs of substance abuse at first. There are many different types of drugs and substances such as Spice and bath salts under K2, cannabis, hypnotics, Meth and cocaine stimulants, club drugs, Hallucinogens, Inhalants, and

There is a correlation between trauma and PTSD among current substance abusers and recovering abusers. One may think that substance abusers have a high prevalence of trauma in their lives because they participate in high-risk behaviors that bleed over into a dangerous lifestyle. This is true, however, there is also another reason being explored. Studies from PubMed show that “It can also be explained by a trauma trajectory, where childhood trauma increases the risk of traumatic experiences later in life.” (Belfrage et al.) Both traumatic experiences and childhood trauma have an effect on heightening the risk for substance abuse and therefore the risk to the person’s health. People want to forget about or find a way to deal with the trauma they’ve experienced and not acknowledge the effects of substance abuse, however, they may not realize the full effects the misuse of substances has. While the substances are getting their minds off the trauma, they are also putting them at risk for more trauma from the dangerous situations they put themselves in when purchasing the substances, therefore causing a buildup of trauma. Not to mention the adverse effects on their health, causing a lot more harm than good in the short and long

PMC addresses the effect on health in the brain in terms of trauma, whereas the Mayo Clinic addresses the visible body and brain effects that substance abuse has by showcasing all the symptoms of different substances, and Science Direct addresses the development in the brain of the vulnerability to addiction caused by substance abuse. All sources address that despite health effects, most substance abusers don’t acknowledge they have a problem, but only Science Direct mentions the why of there being a vulnerability when abusing substances, which is the parts of the brain interacting with one another when a substance is abused. Substance abuse is still a hard subject to bring up with a loved one or acknowledge within oneself, however, shouldn’t be shamed because substance abuse is due to trauma and addiction that starts in the brain. However, this doesn’t mean we overlook it, we should still be concerned about the effects on health but should be gentle when addressing the hard