Are Mental Health Disorders as Bad as Substance Abuse.

@dfb interesting topic for sure.
All I can think of is the emotion FEAR.
An addict can be viewed as a person who has made a choice to be mentally unstable. Because it is a choice, another person can walk away from an addict thinking, that won’t happen to
me! I will never choose to live that way.

A person with a mental illness can be scary to people in their own family. They may be thinking about their own health, and what if that happens to me type of catastrophing. If it happened to Uncle, could it happen to me! They put their head in the sand!

Mental illness is so hard. I’m bipolar, and have generalized anxiety disorder.
I was married 17 years to a man who has Dissociated Identity Disorder aka Multiple Personalities. That poor guy has had a horrible life!

Life throws us curve balls…

I say this with care for you, and hope you don't take it wrong, but what difference does it make, whether it is addiciton or other mental health problems? It is all painful and very difficult to live a "normal" life with. In my experience, I lived in a family of six, including parents, and four of them are alcoholics, two of those were drug addicted. Two of the six have had mental health diagnoses, including me. To me, it is all Mental Health. It is life altering, no matter what the cause. The bottom line is that, no matter what the cause, whether there are differences in addition and mental health, people inflicted with these problems all need support, love and understanding from Healthcare, and from the people around them. As I implied and said before, it is a difficult and very painful life, and without the support you need, it may be impossible to survive it. I am very empathetic to what you have gone through, and are going through, and I wish you abounding successes. It appears that you have conquered, and are conquering your problems and kudos to you for that, but does it matter whether it is addiction or mental health, or both? In my mind, NO. Just KUDOS TO YOU!

Thank you for the kind words. I must not have been clear in my post.

I agree with you completely.

Perhaps the Mayo Clinic could start a Twelve Step program for Mental Health, similar to this board but in the community. I believe people heal each other in a way medication can not. What is needed is the frame work.

I believe that over time environment becomes biology.

I still use the Steps and Priciples of A.A. everyday. I would not have survived without Alcholics Anonomous and the the loving support I received in those meetings. I am sixty and I have been clean and sober (not counting psych meds) for a total of forty years.

Though I no longer attend meetings the base of how to live a mentally and physically healthy life all started there.

I hope you and everyone you love find the peace and joy you deserve.

Posted by dfb @dfb, I have indeed published my first work on what I have learned about human Thriving, there are two more in development that will be out before years end.

{Has your first book come out, yet? The title?}

I am sixty and I have been clean and sober (not counting psych meds) for a total of forty years.
I’ve spent most of my life struggling with one form of addiction or another, alcohol, cocaine and prescription drugs. I’ve been clean and sober for ten years and no longer have the urge to use.

{Would you help me to understand when you embraced sobriety? I apologize. I try but still can't figure out when you got sober. Also, were you using alcohol and cocaine when you were taking your prescribed psychotropic medication? What you've written about is interesting, yet I get lost in the details you share. Thanks!}

I empathize and your story is similar to mine. Due to getting Long COVID and having it for three years, 5 years into my sobriety, my life changed drastically. I ran every morning (for stress and anxiety release and damn it felt good) and I was working, in Grad school (again to get Master of Social Work virtually through the Univ. of Tennessee) and now, I deal with inflammation, PEM/CF and other weird symptoms. I did stop going to AA due to being sick as well as some trauma responses that I seem to have. The body is wild. I believe that all these diagnoses are on a spectrum of sorts. I can not really say that about an alcoholic, but I know that I have criteria for several "mental health" issues. I am convinced that most mental health disorders stem from ACEs and also, science says that people are predisposed as well. I often wonder about this. Neither of my parents were alcoholic, but VERY dysfunctional and chaotic, unpredictable, etc. There is something that made me want to drink at the age of 12 years old and as you know, as a recovering person, when that shit hit my body, it was as if I was "right" for the first time...fast forward 25 years *four inpatient Tx stays, medications, shrinks, even AA) and FINALLY, something (the Universe or Creator or whatever is someone else's Higher Power) got me back in the rooms of AA. As I have been sober almost 8 years now, I am learning that I am all kinds of dysfunctional in my thinking, triggered easily and this is just life on life's terms. I must bring myself back into the present moment when I feel that trauma response. I get really emotionally dysregulated. My point, I guess, is that I meet some criteria for many of the mental health disorders in the DSM-V-TR and I look at it kind of like a rubber band ball. There are those with severe MH issues, like schizophrenia and it is debilitating I am sure for them and family. I have often wondered, as well, if some people with "mental health" disorders are using parts of their brains that most people do not. I look at the Autism spectrum, bi-polar and even schizophrenia. The issue is that social norms make it impossible for people to be "abnormal" in there thinking. I also realize that psychosis and other issues can cause people to harm themselves or others. There are so many thoughts I have about all of this and I know they are not new. I do know one thing for 100%...I can not drink or use drugs. I will end up dead or harming someone else. I know this to my very core and I am grateful for that. I know this sounds like I am rambling, I too have ADHD and this may seem a bit disorganized, but I wanted to share my thoughts. I have read your posts before and I relate to some of the things you say. I hope all reading this are well, just for today.

Having your health DNA test is really worthwhile
My husband inherited Irish
genes with high chance of alcoholism.
He finally conquered alcoholism .
It was very hard on this wonderful man.
Where as I crave a cigaret.
My body doesnt crave alcohol.
And that's what our
DNA Health tests said too.
Strangely enough he conquered alcohol when he found feeling of good inside himself.

I hope you are seeing a therapist and a Dr who is treating your ADHD.

I was a bit of a delinquent as a kid and I enjoy alcohol, perhaps more than I should. My interactions with the police were not on a “we are here to help” basis. My first arrest was at 14 years old. It went downhill from there. I was granted a pardon extraordinary for my felonies 20ish years ago. The criminal record is gone, but the memories remain. Now that we better understand the link between ADHD and criminal activity, I wonder how my life would be different if treatments were available as a child.

Research Identifies Link Between Childhood ADHD and Adult Crime https://news.yale.edu/2009/10/19/research-identifies-link-between-childhood-adhd-and-adult-crimeLinks to an external site.

ADHD drug treatment and risk of suicidal behaviors, substance misuse, accidental injuries, transport accidents, and criminality: emulation of target trials: https://www.bmj.com/content/390/bmj-2024-083658Links to an external site.