How Does Substance Abuse Affect Personality – Tips To Follow

26 Dec How Does Substance Abuse Affect Personality – Tips To Follow

How Does Substance Abuse Affect Personality?

Substance abuse is an addiction that can leave people feeling desperate for help. It makes people despair and fear the prospect of surviving life without drugs.

People get dependent on them so much that they think they will die if they don’t use drugs. Do you feel you cannot quit the drugs even when you want to?

Do you take drugs for your mental peace? Do you think using substances relaxes you? Substance abuse is a disease that can impact a person’s life negatively, damaging health and relationships.

If you think you’re suffering through substance abuse and you need help, contact the best psychiatrist in Patna, Dr. Vivek Pratap Singh. 

How does drugs affect your mental health? 

Addiction can change people’s personality and perceptions towards life. It makes them an entirely different person considering the substances affect the brain, changing its chemistry and regulation.

The brain plays a role in regulating the chemical reaction and composition of neurons. Research has proved that addiction can alter a person’s brain structure. 

Substances target the brain’s reward circuit system by increasing the release of dopamine signals. This release of dopamine causes happy reactions in the mind, rendering the brain to seek the positive energy.

These substances cause a feeling of euphoria, producing surges of dopamine letting the brain calm down and relax. So, people seek more of this pleasure and this leads to an addiction.

Consistent use of substances causes behavioral change and personality differences. The effects of drugs on human behavior pdf can be available for people who want to know more about this condition. 

There are certain personality changes that occur after consistently using substances such as 

• The individual starts hiding things and becomes secretive with their loved ones. They would talk less and react suspiciously when people ask them questions about their life. They must think people are talking to them to get information out of them. Individuals hide their condition because they think their family and friends will judge them and disapprove of their actions. They are scared to let their family know about their struggles so as to not make them feel bad. 
• Addiction can gradually lead a person to get aggressive and irritated. They find it hard to defend their addiction to others and anyone who tries to advise them, it makes them feel guilty and angry. This can make them physically aggressive and become violent towards others. Addiction and anger have links associated with them as an addicted individual will always be on the defensive. Anger comes to them as their second behavior that they can’t control or tame. This is due to alcohol and substances making people have reduced control on their actions and it becomes harder to suppress aggression and anger. 
• Alcohol acts on their prefrontal cortex decreasing its function that leads them to act aggressively and violently. It affects their cognitive ability and the individuals can’t make informed decisions, lack judgment, and have issues with problem solving decisions. Because of their lack of empathy and sensitivity they cannot read a situation or understand the consequences they will have to face. Because of their low regard for the consequences of their actions, they act impulsively and engage in risky behavior. 
• People with addiction issues can go to any lengths to get the substance and might even deceive their loved one’s. They will try to manipulate people around them to excuse their unusual behavior. They will try to use their addiction for people to give in to their wishes. 
• Addiction is a disease that can alter the brain’s chemistry causing progressive behavior changes that a person did not even think they were capable of. Due to their increased tolerance and cravings, they might start borrowing or stealing money from others. Because of their poor judgment and lack of understanding they take part in risky behaviors like sharing needles, having unprotected sex, or drunk driving. 
• Substance use disorder can cause changes in mind making a person more forgetful, have issues with cognition and disrupt memory processing. They may become more forgetful as their use increases. They have frequent mood changes swinging from happy to anxious to sadness. One can never predict what they are thinking or feeling. The family and loved ones always tiptoe around them because of their confusion on how to deal with them. As they take the substance and the dopamine starts releasing they become happy, excited and feel like they are on the moon. As soon as the effect wears off, they fall down to reality crashing their bubble and feelings of euphoria leading to extreme anger and anxiety. 
• Substance abusers experience paranoia worsening the mental health condition if someone has schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. It leaves you with irrational fear or endangerment. People become very sensitive to crude remarks, innocent comments and cannot handle any kind of criticism. They get jealous and need to have control over every aspect of their life.

What is a drug personality? 

The drug personality meaning can be categorized into a broad range that is defined by general traits of a person seeking drug addiction.

They have criminal tendencies, with personality disorders and impulsivity. Most commonly drug addiction is summed up as people trying to escape their reality.

It can even be called substance personality meaning the person’s personality keeps fluctuating between emotional numbness to instability. The people cannot be trusted to make decisions about their life.

They might initially feel irritable or angry and then hours later they can be calm.

Most commonly this occurs because of the withdrawal symptoms of not being able to use the drug. It leads to people experiencing anxiety, and depression.

Substance abuse takes a person to a level of hugh they never experienced. Once the person is pulled back to reality, they have a hard time dealing with their negative emotions and feelings.

These feelings can sometimes even worsen their mental health symptoms.

People who deal with addiction always have their guard up and feel like others are constantly attacking them and their response to them is acting irrationally. 

Drugs That Cause Personality Change 

How Does Substance Abuse Affect Personality- There are a wide range of drugs that can lead to personality change. For example, 

• Benzodiazepines
• Methamphetamines
• Barbiturates
• Cannabis
• Gamma hydroxybutyric acid
• MDMA 
• Ketamine
• Alcohol
• Heroin

People who use stimulants such as amphetamines, or meth experience a boost in their energy levels along with feelings of euphoria.

They get a sense of power of grandiosity. Some stimulant substances have medical benefits such as for battling with depression and anxiety, others offer no such benefits. 

Cocaine is a drug that gives a high for about 20 minutes and then the effect wears off. That’s why cocaine users use the drug again and again to achieve the high and develop dependence and tolerance. 

How Does Substance Abuse Affect Personality? Medications used for ADHD increases energy levels and helps hyperfocus on things. It is most commonly abused by students to help them study and not dampen their energy levels.

They pull all-nighters with this drug and the results make them addicted to it. It can have fatal complications like cardiac arrest.

Heroin helps abusers reach a pleasurable high that eliminates physical or psychological distress. They abuse it to escape from their mental issues and crave pleasure even if it’s only for a short time.

This one can have an increased risk of contracting bloodborne diseases such as HIV, and hepatitis. 

Ecstasy abusers experience delusions and hallucinations and a complete state of euphoria when they are under the influence of it. However, it can negatively affect the body including life threatening complications. 

Personality change after sobriety 

How Does Substance Abuse Affect Personality? Addiction damages the brain chemistry and can have residual effects of psychosis in grave cases. However, after one achieves sobriety the brain can change for the better and so can the feelings and emotions.

An addicted person has a hard time dealing with the changes and feelings while attaining sobriety. Drug addiction can make a person prioritize drugs over everything including their family and relationships.

Addiction can shake up our value system rendering us to act inhumane and destructive. 

A person who attains recovery, it can change our mind and behavior for the good. Gradually, the brain starts to repair itself from the damage they experienced.

A lot of people heal in the best way possible with them owning up to their stories and mistakes. They start to realize the truth behind their harmful addictive actions and the clouded judgment starts clearing up. 

The journey to recovery is long and filled with hurdles. It is quite difficult for a person to leave their addictive habits and change for the better.

A lot of people don’t have hope or motivation towards their life. It all changes when they start thinking positively and start accepting their responsibility. After recovery, a person becomes self aware and mature about their life and goals.

With a new sense of purpose, they refuse to go back to their previous destructive ways.

They develop new coping tools which not only helps with their addiction recovery but even makes sure that whenever they are faced with tough choices they can deal with it.

Addiction is a disease that can destroy a person’s life and leave them feeling helpless. Their vulnerability can lead them to make bad decisions and become their worst self.

It’s important to recognize these signs and do something about it. The de addiction center in Patna, Dr. Vivek Pratap Singh has all the tools and guidance to help a person fight addiction.