Individuals who suffer from depression are more likely to use drugs - Essay Example

87 Depression and drugs have a very intimate relationship, with depression pulling down the person psychologically and drugs ruining mentally and physically both. As drug works as an antidote to depression initially, depressed people look for it in sheer desperation to feel happier, although momentarily. Eventually the same drug will react as the inducer of further depression and the entire process becomes a vicious circle of ruin, disease and debilitation.

I would like to take the hypothesis that "depressed people are more likely to take drugs. Un-depressed take drugs, but they are a negligible percentage." There is a very strong bond the two from whichever angle one looks at it. Even though there is nothing that could prevent un-depressed people trying to hit a high with the use of drugs, according to the research work available and psychological treatment records on drug abuses and depression, it is the depressed lot who turn frequently towards drugs, although the drug-induced depression too could be equally true. Drug depression could be worse in people who are genetically susceptible to depression and hence, there is a strong connection between them.
Curtis (2001) says that depression should be treated without even psychotropic drugs like Prozac and the depressed people should be able to 'pull the plug' on depression with 'directed thinking'. David Healey (2004) called the relationship between pharmaceutical antidepressants and depressed individuals, extremely unhealthy. When medicinal drugs are advised to be abhorred, it stands to reason that hallucinating drugs cannot make positive contributions.
Still the fact remains that according to existing research and statistics available in the field of psychology, depressed people reach for drugs as the most hopeful means of controlling depression and feeling ecstatic driven by anxiety, loneliness and depression. Oxycontin, meth, cocaine, heroin like recreational drugs can stop the chemical from being produced in the brain and can lead to further depression. Drug addiction can store metabolite in the body with further side effects. Depression and drugs can encourage one another and work together towards a horrible mental and physical end.
This does not mean that non-depressed do not take drugs. Their number is negligible compared to the depressed, their percentage is negligible. An astonishing majority justifies my hypothesis and hence, I would like to conduct my study on this hypothesis with the support of researched evidence, articles, journals, books, reports, statistical data etc. I will draw from all the available data and argue on the hypothesis that depressed people do drugs much more than others in the hope of psychological satisfaction and mental uplifting. Depression, which is a critical mental health condition and the resultant desperate drug addiction go hand in hand with strong and continuous correlation. It is proved that if addiction is scratched the root cause of depression shows up. The euphoric state they achieve with the addiction drives them harder and deeper. According to recent evidences, this lethal combination is increasing beyond belief, and hence, I feel that this study area is highly pertinent.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Curtis, A.B. (2001), Depression is a Choice; Winning the fight without drugs, Hyperion.
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