Substance abuse is primarily the stage that individuals go through before they become fully addicted. This means that anyone who is addicted previously undergone the state of abuse.
Substances refer to either drugs or alcohol, excluding behaviors. In some cases, people are addicted to both alcohol and drugs.
It would interest you to know that substance abuse has great adverse effect on people, wreaking havoc on both their physical and mental health.
Below are some of the effects of substance abuse:
- Damage to the physical health: People who abuse substances are likely to suffer from damage to their physical organs, like the kidney, liver, heart amongst others. These organs are very delicate and they become dysfunctional when toxic substances are introduced to the body.
Usually, the effect is in the long term, but for some people, it could be sooner than expected.
- Damage to the mental health: In addition to the destruction of the physical health, the mental health also suffers. People who abuse substances experience depression, anxiety amongst others. The fact is, mental health is highly associated with physical health so what affects one also affects the other.
When this happens, it becomes complicated to handle.
- Reduction in productivity: People who abuse substances tend to have a decline in productivity. They do not focus on other productive tasks because of their abuse, and this affects them. For students, it becomes difficult for them to be academically serious. And for those who are at the workplace, their performance reduces.
- No focus in life: As expected, it becomes difficult to focus in life when substance abuse is in motion. Only a minute number of them become successful in life, with their health still great because of the health measures they put in place.
To wrap it up, it is important for people to avoid substance abuse. At first, it looks like a harmless act. Eventually, they become hooked to it, and there is no way of escape.