Drug use - negative effects Online Course

How drugs affect your mental health

Mental health means different things to different people. You may think of control, happiness, contentment, order – but good mental health is usually a sign of a positive way of life. Mental ill health is the opposite of this – it causes problems and creates barriers to being happy. Your frame of mind may vary between the two as mental health can change. It can be affected by external influences, and one of these is drugs.

Drugs that are psychoactive, such as cannabis, alcohol, ecstasy and heroin, can affect your mood. They can arouse certain emotions or dampen down others. This may be why you use them. The changes in your mood or behaviour caused by drugs are the result of changes to your brain. This is also the part of you that controls your mental health.