The relationship between mental illnesses and substance abuse seems to be bidirectional.
In India one student commits suicide every hour and at least 28 such student suicides are reported on a daily basis caused by pressure to do well in school, forced career choices, and poor education provided to the children etc. The Indian education system fails to educate it’s wards about mental health and mental illnesses instead the kids are asked to “suck it up”, “man-up”, “boys don’t cry” , “strong children don’t cry” due to which we are conditioned to not talk about our feelings or even acknowledge them and we simply “suck it up” but is this the best thing for us to do?
As teenagers we have a lot of responsibilities ranging from getting good grades so we can get into good colleges, universities and simply have a good and a life full of luxury to maintain a good social life, making good connections with people but in this hustle we forget to take care of ourselves and sometimes the pressure just seems too much for us to handle but instead of dealing with it in healthy ways, we seek comfort through unhealthy channels and this comfort is often brought by consuming substances.
Mental disorders are caused by a complex interplay of genetics, the environment, and other outside factors. If you are at risk for a mental disorder, abusing alcohol or illegal or prescription drugs may push you over the edge. There is some evidence, for example, that certain abusers of marijuana have an increased risk of psychosis while those who abuse opioid painkillers are at greater risk for depression.
According to reports published in the journal of the American Medical Association:
Roughly 50 percent of individuals with severe mental disorders are affected by substance abuse.
37 percent of alcohol abusers and 53 percent of drug abusers also have at least one serious mental illness.
Of all people diagnosed as mentally ill, 29 percent abuse either alcohol or drugs.
A study conducted in India in 2001 showed that nearly 3/4 of substance users had initiated their first substance use before completing 20 years of age and the use of tobacco was usually started by the age of 12.
Substance abuse in teenagers is a major issue in the country but it is grossly under-researched.
So far the research has been limited to Sporadic studies at a local or regional level.
Studies published between 1991 and 2007 on Indian high-school students (classes VI to XII) found the median prevalence of ‘ever tobacco use’ to be 18% ,study reveals that drug use exists in children in all regions, cities and smaller towns across all states.
That the problem of substance use among children is not confined to metropolitan areas as is often perceived.
Assessment of Pattern and Profile of Children Using Substance a Nationwide Study showed that substance using children could easily be recruited from different settings (school, out of school and streets) from over a 100 different cities in different states of India.
- Regional variations in substance use patterns were seen for eg: injecting drug use in Meghalaya and Mizoram but gateway drugs were found in all states rave parties with increasing use of synthetic drugs, e.g. ecstasy, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), etc. is a growing problem as indicated by anecdotal reports from metropolitan cities.
To make matters worse, there is an easy availability of licit and illicit drugs in India.
India is wedged between the world’s two largest areas of illicit opium production due to which India is both a destination and a transit route for opiates produced in those regions.
One of the other factors that contribute to easy availability of illicit drugs is that a part of illicit opium is obtained by illegal cultivation of opium in Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir, Uttaranchal and Arunachal Pradesh.
The movie ‘Udta Panjab’ struck many controversies in our country but the fact is that our country truly does suffer from those issues and instead of denying them we should accept and try to figure out a solution to prevent these things from happening.
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