Substance use and mental health problems often go hand-in-hand. People who feel depressed or anxious may depend on marijuana, alcohol, or other substances to feel at better or at ease. Although not everyone who experience mental health problems abuse substances, it is more common than imagined with people abusing prescription medication as well from Adderall to Vicodin (Montvilo, 2013). Although my immediate family has not experienced substance abuse problems, some within my family have gone through depression and anxiety issues. Other more distant relatives have experienced problems with marijuana and prescription medication. While their reasons differ, it amazing how family dynamics play a role in the creation of substance abuse and mental health problems.
B.)
The first person to look at is my father. He experienced a bout of depression when he had to deal with a potential loss of work a few years ago. He is the main provider of the family and felt stressed at work, thinking he would lose his job. He began to eat more out of stress, feel more anxious, and worked longer hours at his job. Soon he became disinterested in his work and neglected to maintain conversation with us or my mom. Eventually this dissipated as he regained his job security. After talking to a therapist, he felt better and was able to take part in daily family dialog again. He even hung out with his friends.
Depression tends to come from increased stress where a person feels utterly hopeless about a situation. My father felt he could not burden himself on others and so kept things bottled up inside. Because he did not talk to anyone in the family, he had no outlet for his emotions. With no outlet, he felt increased frustration and no longer felt the joy that came from interaction and partaking in his hobbies. These are classic signs of depression that fortunately stopped when he lost that hopeless feeling regarding his financial future.
Another member of my family, my cousin is a young woman, aged 32. She has a bad relationship with her mother, my aunt on my mother's side. Although she was a good student in school, she was always high strung and relied on Adderall to keep her going and focused. Her mother always told her she needed to look her best and to look her best, she needed to maintain a certain weight. As she got older, she developed an eating disorder bordering on anorexia. She would also up her dosage of Adderall in order to eat less and maintain her svelte figure.
When the doctor started to decrease her dosage of Adderall, she started gaining weight. From there she became depressed and socially withdrawn. Her mother wanted to support her, but also did not like her daughter's weight gain, trying to get to her to diet and exercise frequently. Eventually she became anorexic and lost a lot of weight. Her lowest weight was 92 lbs. At 5'7" she was very thin, barely sleeping and sometimes not eating for 6 days straight. Eventually she was hospitalized and she managed to recoup. Her father began to step in and she expressed to her mother how the constant pressure to be thin made her feel.
She regained some weight and started feeling better. She had the support of both of her parents and her friends. Although she suffers from some anxiety, she is no longer dependent on prescription drugs and eats a healthy amount of food each day. Her weight has stabilized and she has made a full recovery.
Here the mother, my aunt, served as the antagonist to my cousin. She made her feel shame for gaining weight and introduced additional stress and pressure to maintain a certain physique. So many women in the United States suffer from eating disorders because of the lack of positive body images in society. Women are encouraged by family members to lose weight and stay in shape, not realizing the strain it puts on these individuals.
The last person interviewed was a cousin from my father's side. He is 18 and suffers from depression, having attempted suicide when he was 16. He takes antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication. He also smokes marijuana. He remains...
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