Excessive Alcohol Consumption and Mental Health Substance Abuse

You may know already that there have been proven links established between excessive alcohol consumption and mental health disorders. Multiple investigations conducted by different researchers around the world have all come to similar conclusions, with some reports indicating new findings into the relationship between the two. This report looks into some of the different statistics which can put mental health substance abuse into context.

Among Americans, there is a statistic that alcohol consumption can inflame the amount of people who are affected by mental illnesses in the country. Out of the entire US population that is sober, approximately 20% suffer from at least one mental health disorder. However, out of the US population that has a drinking problem, this figure almost doubles to 37%. As you can see, this is a clear indication that alcohol consumption causes mental health problems – or vice versa.

Rehabilitation should be one of the main priorities for those who are evidently battling an alcohol consumption problem. However, there are massive indications that there are still millions of people around the world who do not get the treatment that they need. The outlook for those who have a lifetime addiction to substances like alcohol isn’t promising: as many as 50% of Americans who have consumed alcohol excessively throughout their live are estimated to have had a mental health disorder during this long spate of alcoholism.

Other interesting findings suggest how the type of mental health disorder that a person has can determine how much likely they are to be vulnerable to an alcohol addiction. For example, someone who has a phobia is two and a half times more likely to be addicted to alcohol than someone who has a different neurotic disorder.

One of the most common mental health illnesses where mental health substance abuse is common is known as anti-social personality disorder. With this disorder, a person is more likely to show deceitful tendencies and to be compulsive with the actions that they take in their lives to an extent. When they do wrong, they are also less likely to regret the actions which they may have conducted. Combined with someone who doesn’t have a mental health disorder, a person who suffers from anti-social personality is an astounding 21 times more likely to suffer from an alcohol addiction than someone who doesn’t share their disorder.

Those who have this mental disorder are much more likely to have an alcohol addiction than those who have other disorders such as schizophrenia, for example. Someone with schizophrenia is seven times less likely to be dependent on alcohol than someone with ASPD.

These statistics really bring the tessellation between alcoholism and mental health disorders into perspective. If one is detected, action could be required in order to prevent the other from becoming prevalent in a person – which can make matters worse. It seems that the inaccurate promise of alcohol lightening someone’s mood is the main motivation for many people who may be depreassive in the first place.