How drug abusers affects their families | Blog

How do drug abusers’ actions affect themselves, their families, and their communities?

By Amanpreet Singh, Psychologist

Drug abuse is one of those serious illnesses these days, the number of which is increasing day by day. It is an illness that not only affects the person who abuses it but also affects the people that surround them that including their families, and also their communities as a whole. Addiction to drugs is so deadly that despite being aware of the side effects of drugs, addicts find it nearly impossible to leave them.

It affects their personal and interpersonal lives so drastically that they find it hard to face people when sober; hence, it also serves as one of the reasons for them fall into the vicious cycle of addiction. The impact of drugs is not only on the physical health of the individual but also on the mental health. They feel physically and mentally weak, lose effect, find it hard to express themselves, and also end up losing confidence. It results in them avoiding even their loved ones from their lives. Not only that, but they also end up doing a lot of aggressive and illegal behavior in order to get money for buying drugs.

Actions that affect themselves –

The first effect of using substances an individual is on their health. A person faces many health issues when they use drugs. The body suffers from a lot of diseases like weak immunity, liver disorder, impaired judgment, and weak decision-making power.
The second effect is on mental health like hallucinations, aggressive behavior, and behavioral changes.
The other effect is on their relations with their families, friends, spouses, and children. They are not able to give time to their families as they spend most of their time using drugs.
The most important factor which got affected is money. They use huge amounts of money in buying drugs.
They forget their responsibilities to their families.
They lose their career opportunities and put a stop to their ongoing jobs or businesses.
They face trust issues in families and society. Drug abusers lose all trust in their families and community as they are labeled as a failure.

Actions that affect their families –

They do not fulfill their responsibilities to their families and families got affected. Many families have only sons who got caught up in drugs as they suffer a lot in these situations.
Spending more time outside the house and not caring about the family.
Many drug abusers use substances at home which makes the families uncomfortable to see their loved ones ruining their lives.
When families stop giving money to buy drugs to an individual and then they get violent at home, many abusers beat their families to get money which is a huge mental trauma for them. This makes them go through a lot of stress. Spouses also face domestic violence at home.
Mental trauma- When a family member is involved in substance use then the whole family suffers through mental trauma. Because of one person, many suffer.

Actions that affect communities-

Criminal activities- Some people indulge in criminal activities as they do not have sufficient money to buy drugs.
illegal activities- Some abusers start doing illegal activities to get enough money like selling drugs to students.
Some abusers indulge in fights with their neighbors or friends as their brain functioning is not interrupted.
Increase in the crime rate

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