Addiction and Mental Illness: Origins and Causes

There are many definitions of the soul or psyche: our being, thinking, consciousness, breath of life or spiritual principle. What is certain is that the psyche can also fall ill like any other organ: addiction, depression, compulsions or panic attacks are the result.

What is the psyche?

If you want to define the terms soul and psyche, you get into a swim: Breath of life or union of will, mind and spirit are only two of the diverse definitions. In medicine, one assesses the various building blocks of mental well-being and defines the state of the psyche based on these components. These include:

  • Consciousness and the ego consciousness
  • Orientation
  • Attention
  • Memory
  • Formal and content thinking
  • Perception
  • Drive
  • Psychomotor
  • Affect

Consciousness can be selectively turned off – in surgery, people take advantage of this with anesthesia.

The psyche influences the body

How essential consciousness is for our personality can be seen in people who are in a vegetative state. It is now known that the psyche is capable of boosting our defenses. Psychoneuroimmunology deals with the interaction of soul and body. Our mental health depends on many external factors – deep, restful sleep, living according to biorhythms, relaxation phases after stressful situations or sufficient social embedding are important for us to feel well. For example, if a child receives too little attention, he or she develops hospitalism: hallmarks are behaviors such as restlessness in movement or rocking with the body.

Mental illness

Many areas of the psyche can become diseased:

  • A mild disorder of consciousness is drowsiness (after a traffic accident), a severe form is coma (unconsciousness), delirium (for example, after excessive alcohol consumption) is also a disorder of consciousness.
  • The ego consciousness is diseased in schizophrenia – “being a stranger to himself”, this feeling can also occur under LSD ingestion.
  • When orientation is disturbed, the affected person no longer knows exactly where he is, what day it is or what his name is.
  • With attention disorders, simple arithmetic tasks are no longer possible.
  • In disorders of memory, often the ultra-short-term or short-term memory is impaired, the long-term memory is usually preserved for a long time (typical in the dementias).
  • Slowed thinking is also part of the thought disorders, as well as brooding, prolixity, thought abortion or chasing thoughts – and the delusion and the various compulsions.
  • Hallucinations (as they also occur in alcohol delirium) belong to the perceptual disorders.
  • The drive is reduced in depression and disinhibited under drugs.
  • Anxieties and phobias are disorders of affect, with the term affectivity refers to the entire emotional life of a person. There may be too much or too little emotion, the mood can fluctuate unstable – especially depression and mania are characterized by affect disorders.

How does an addiction develop?

On a day when everything is going wrong and your mood is at its lowest ebb, you “treat” yourself to something special – a shot of alcohol, a good meal or a shopping spree. This act improves the mood, but as soon as the effect wears off, you feel the urge to repeat it. This is not yet a cause for concern – it is only when the urge to repeat becomes uncontrollable that the first step toward addiction is taken. Addiction is a disease in which a drug or action leads to dependence via ever-increasing use and then abuse.

Diagnosis of an addictive disorder

If an addiction or other mental illness is suspected, the first step is to take a history (ask for medical history). The extent of the mental impairment becomes apparent during a detailed discussion between the physician/therapist and the affected person. The psychopathological findings, in which all psychological elements are tested, are the most important examination measure, on the basis of which the physician determines the further procedure. Usually the interview is conducted in several stages with different emphases (family history, previous illnesses, special features). Psychological tests such as the Rorschach test are only sometimes used.Organ examinations are also part of the diagnostic process, because additional examinations are performed on addicted patients with suspected organ damage. For example, in the case of alcohol abuse, the nerves must be examined for damage in addition to the liver, and in the case of smokers, the lungs. In patients where organ damage is suspected to be the cause of the mental illness, blood tests, X-rays or another imaging procedure such as magnetic resonance imaging are used.

Typical symptoms of mental illness

Common symptoms of mental illness include anxiety and phobias, sleep disturbances, and depressive moods. In the case of many mental impairments, it must be investigated whether there is not an organic cause for the complaints – a brain hemorrhage or stroke, poisoning or a low vitamin B diet in the case of alcohol abuse can lead to mental changes. But striking skin disorders such as severe neurodermatitis, striking nerve twitches as in Tourette’s syndrome, or headaches can also limit the affected person to such an extent that he or she also becomes mentally ill and develops depression, for example. Some diseases are characterized by typical symptoms:

  • In chronic fatigue syndrome, the affected person feels constantly exhausted and could always sleep – the cause is still unclear.
  • With sleeping sickness, on the other hand, it is known that parasites are responsible for the increasing loss of consciousness.
  • The dementias – the best known is Alzheimer’s dementia – are characterized by a progressive loss of memory of the affected person: a process that also places a heavy burden on family members.
  • Mobbing, burnout syndrome or persistent stress often leads to a reaction of the psyche. In addition to depressive moods and listlessness, thought disorders or hyperventilation attacks can occur. An allergic reaction is also possible.
  • Munchausen syndrome is a rare disorder that can be a special form of child abuse.

Mental disorders also occur in children. In addition to the already mentioned hospitalism, autism as an extreme contact disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is particularly noteworthy. The urge to self-injure indicates a disturbed personality.

What are the addictions?

The most common addictions are certainly alcohol and nicotine addiction. But the addiction variants range from substance-based addictions to drugs, medications or edibles to addictions that focus on an action: Starving (in anorexia), eating (in binge eating), buying, exercising (in fitness addiction), gambling addiction, or surfing the Internet!

How to prevent?

Mental illness can be prevented only partially. You should reduce all stress-related components to a reasonable level, so that relaxation exercises, autogenic training, massages and a little sun can work at all. As soon as a change in behavior occurs in older people, you should act quickly to stop dementia. Keep the gray matter fit with brain jogging and memory training – you can start doing this in the office! The most important measure to counter depression and, above all, addiction is to provide the population with comprehensive information about the disease and the addictive potential of substances or actions. Only informed people can perceive the first signs of illness and then seek help at an early stage.

What therapeutic measures are available?

Mental illness is usually treated with a combination of psychotherapy and medication. In addition to St. John’s wort and psychotropic drugs, placebos are sometimes used. Behavioral therapy is the treatment of choice for ADHD or anxiety attacks. A cautious approach is required, especially with children. Sleep disorders can be countered with the right diet and depression with magnetic field therapy. There are many tips for quitting smoking – whether they always help is another matter. Here, too, accompanying psychotherapy can help – especially with the increasingly early contact of young people with drugs.