Abnormal Psychology Mental Illness and Substance Abuse Assessment Answers

• Subject Name : Psychology

Abnormal Psychology Mental Illness and Substance Abuse

Introduction

Mental illness is defined as the state in which the individual realizes that the normal abilities are changing especially in the last few decades (Reddy et al. 2013). According to the report of the World Trade Organization it has been estimated that there are 450 million people that are suffering from mental health and mental disorder (Reddy et al., 2013). Substance abuse is also known by the name of drug abuse that is defined as the use of drugs in the methodologies that are considered to be harmful to others as well as for themselves (Wani and Sankar, 2016). The factors influencing mental illness and substance use disorder are stress, genetic vulnerabilities, and epigenetic influences (National Institute on Drug Abuse 2018). Genetic vulnerability comprises the genetic feature inherited from parents to Children that makes a person likely to develop addiction (Boks, 2018). The essay discusses the relationship between mental illness and substance abuse along with the factors that contribute to mental illness and substance abuse. The essay consists of the three factors, the first one is stress, the second one is genetic vulnerability and the third one is epigenetic influences.

Mental illness and substance abuse

The percentage of disorder comprises the 12 percent of the total population and the chances are that it would increase 12 percent more in the coming years (Reddy et al., 2013). Mental disorder is mainly found in the developing countries that come under the middle to low-income bracket countries (Reddy et al., 2013). The major issues are lacunae in the psychiatrist epidemiology cause of the intricacy, stigma, and lack of financials and skilled professional to handle the complicated issues (Sampathi, 2018). The burden of mental disorder is increasing day by day associated with the mental challenges facing by the people at the community level (Reddy et al., 2013). It has been estimated by the World Health Organization that out of every 1000 people, almost 102 people are suffering from mental illness (Sampathi, 2018). The range of population suffering from the mental illness is from children to adults, industrial workers, adolescents and mostly the females due to the social change and exclusion (Sampathi, 2018). The mental disorder is common in divorced and widow women resulted from gender discrimination and domestic violence (Sampathi, 2018).
According to the definition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the substance abuse is clinically significant impairment manifested by the recurrent substance related to the neglecting, arrests, intoxication argument and expulsions (Wani and Sankar, 2016). The use of drug alters the behavior, mood, observations and the general capabilities of the body (Wani and Sankar, 2016). The drug addiction can cause the serious problem of organic, psychological and physiological issues leading to the stimulant and hallucinations (Wani and Sankar, 2016).
Mental illness and substance abuse have their own individual symptoms that are comprises of complicated situations and state of instability in the mind of people (Saisan et al. 2018). Mental illness leads to substance abuse. The condition of mental illness due to the personal problem lead to worsening the situation of the substance abuse (Saisan et al. 2018). The co-occurrence of both problems is a complex and major issue realized by many people (Saisan et al. 2018). Almost 50 percent of the people who are suffering from mental illness are also dealing with substance abuse (Saisan et al. 2018). It has been ascertained that almost 37 per cent of the alcohol consumers and 53 per cent of the drug abusers are suffering from mental illness (Saisan et al. 2018). It is important to make the people realize that they do not need to feel the way they are feeling and there are many ways to conquer the problem associated with the same (Saisan et al. 2018). People certainly use the substance to cope up with the personal problem of emotional instability and tensions, but the use of this harmful substance has side effects that can worsen the situation in the long run (Saisan et al. 2018).
Substance use disorders and mental illness have overlapping symptoms and are interconnected to each other (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). Both the problems are associated with the brain and environmental influences resulted from the stress and trauma (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). The factors affecting mental illness and substance use disorder are genetic vulnerabilities, epigenetic influences and stress (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018).
Genetic vulnerabilities are defined as the inherited characteristics-based one generation to another generation that makes it likely for a person to develop an addiction (Boks, 2018). It has been estimated that almost 40 to 60 percent vulnerability in the attitude of an individual resulted from the genetics (Boks, 2018). According to the recent research on an active area of comorbidity that shows the predispose in an individual is the combination of mental illness and the risk associated with the second disorder (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). The vulnerability arises from the complex interactions as well as environmental influences of genes and genetics among different individuals who carry that particular gene (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). In some cases, the gene product can work directly just like a protein (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018).
The gene can affect the respond of an individual from the drug as long as the drug stays in the body (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). There are some specific inheritance factors that can easily compel an individual to drink and smoke (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). The research reveals the connection between the sequence of genes and the high risk of cocaine dependence, using the opioids, marijuana cravings, and withdrawal. But genes can also work indirectly by changing the individual to respond to stress (Boks, 2018). The possibility of adventure and novelty-seeking may affect the disorders and mental illness positively (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). According to the research, there are several genes that can cause the mental illness and addiction risks associated with the neurotransmitters (Boks, 2018). The transfer from one neuron to another neuron can be affected by drugs that usually deregulate the mental illness such as serotonin and dopamine (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018).
The social factors have a great influence on the vulnerabilities of the population (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). It leads to depression and affect the population determined vulnerability genetically (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). Most of the genetic vulnerabilities are at the great risk and have a great influence on the large part of the population (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). There are many sever events that are responsible for the abnormal interactions between the social environment and mentally ill individuals (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). It has been ascertained that the people create their own different environment when they face any tension or trauma that leads them to the stressful events of life (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018).
The term epigenetic is defined as several cellular processes that can alter the gene expression with response to the exogenous cues (Nugent, 2015). The epigenetic include some major terms such as DNA methylation, mRNA editing, histone modifications and degradation by the noncoding of RNA. They often work together in order to achieve gene expression and chromatin structure (Nugent, 2015). Scientist began to ascertain the methods of genetic interaction with the environmental factors at the molecular level. Epigenetic refers to the study of changes in gene activity and expression regulation (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). There are several environmental factors such as chronic stress, drug or trauma exposure that can cause stable changes (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018).
Gene expression can alter the functions of the neuron circuit and eventually affect the behavior (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). The epigenetic mechanism can lead to the long-term inheritance and adoption that affects the activity of encoding protein (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). These modifications can also pass on the next generation and the shreds of evidence can also be reversed through intervention and the environmental translation (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). The epigenetic impact of the environment is highly dependent on the development stage (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). It has been shown that the environmental factors interact with the genetic factors during a specific time period that increases the risk, mental illness as well as addiction (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018).
An example on the animal studies shows the high-fat mother diet during the pregnancy can affect the key protein level participants in neurotransmission and in the brain reward pathway. The other studies on the animals also showed low-quality maternal care (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). The animal models are used by the researchers to explore the epigenetic changes caused by the chronic diseases and the changes that can lead to the depression and addiction-related behavior (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). The development of these diseases will inform the design improvements in the treatment strategy (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018).
Stress refers to the factor for a range of mental disorder that provides a possible common neurobiological link between disease use disorders and mental disorders (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). Stress is a major component of life that affects the well being of an individual as well as society (Stmeez, 2018). Stress is a challenge in a modern society that contributes to the failure of the coping mechanism and leads to illness (Stmeez, 2018). Post-exposure to stressors are also a major risk for relapse to drug use after the recovery period (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). The stress response is mediated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis that in turn can affect the brain circuit in order to control the motility (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018).
The higher level of stress is shown to reduce the activity in the prefrontal cortex and increase striatum reactivity that results to the reduction in the behavior control and increment in the pulsivity (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). The chronic stress and early life stress lead to the long-term changes in the HPA axis that affect the brain circle related to motivation, learning and the adoption (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). These factors can also impair individuals with substance abuse disorders as well as a mental disorder (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). The dopamine pathway is associated with the way to increase the vulnerability of stress to substance use disorders (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). The excessive activity of the HPA axis has been shown to alter the dopamine signaling that may enhance the properties of the drugs (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). Many changes in the neurotransmitter system are associated with the stress that is referred to as the basis of the link between stress and drug use escalation (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). Stress relief that is based on the mindfulness has shown the reduced depression, anxiety as well as substance uses (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018)

Conclusion

The study concluded the mental illness as the state in which the individual realizes the changes in normal abilities. The study also ascertains the substance abuse as a clinically significant impairment manifested by the recurrent substance that is associated with the neglecting, arrests, intoxication argument and expulsions. The study highlighted the three major factors determining the relationship between mental illness and substance abuse disorder. It has been concluded that the factor determining the relationship is stress that is referred to a major component of life affecting well being of individual and society. Another factor determining relationship is Epigenetic that is concluded as the study of changes in the gene activity and expression regulation. The last factor determining the relationship is Genetic vulnerabilities. It has been concluded that all three factors are associated with mental health and substances abuse that plays a major role in determining the mental health.

References

Boks, M.P., Houtepen, L.C., Xu, Z., He, Y., Ursini, G., Maihofer, A.X., Rajarajan, P., Yu, Q., Xu, H., Wu, Y. and Wang, S. 2018. Genetic vulnerability to DUSP22 promoter hypermethylation is involved in the relationship between in utero famine exposure and schizophrenia. Npj Schizophrenia, 4(1), pp.16-19. Available at https//www.nature.com/articles/s41537-018-0058-4Nugent, B.M. and McCarthy, M.M. 2015. Epigenetic influences on the developing brain effects of hormones and nutrition.Advances in Genomics and Genetics, 5, pp.215-225. Available at https//www.dovepress.com/epigenetic-influences-on-the-developing-brain-effects-of-hormones-and--peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-AGGReddy, B.V., Gupta, A., Lohiya, A. and Kharya, P. 2013. Mental health issues and challenges in India A review.International Journal Science Res Publications,3(2), pp.1-3. Available at https//www.researchgate.net/publication/267453837_Mental_Health_Issues_and_Challenges_in_India_A_ReviewSmeetz. 2018. Stress and health. Journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress, 34(1), pp.1-194. Available at https//onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/smi.2783Sampathi, B.R. 2018. Asian mental health and use of drama therapy for acculturative family distancing in immigrant families. Mental illness, 10(2), pp.7806-7806. Available at https//www.pagepress.org/journals/index.php/mi/article/view/7806Wani, M and Sankar, R. 2016. Impact of Drug Addiction on Mental Health. Journal of Mental Disorders and Treatment, 2(1), pp.2-3. Available at https//www.omicsonline.org/open-access/impact-of-drug-addiction-on-mental-health-2471-271X-1000110.pdfSaisan, J. et al. 2018. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues. Help Guide. Online. Available at https//www.helpguide.org/articles/addictions/substance-abuse-and-mental-health.htm/ Accessed on March 22, 2019
National Institute on Drug Abuse. 2018. Common Comorbidities with Substance Use Disorders. Online. Available at https//d14rmgtrwzf5a.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/1155-common-comorbidities-with-substance-use-disorders.pdf Accessed on March 22, 2019