Mental health can mean different things for different people. For some it means being satisfied with who you are and what you have, for others it can mean being emotionally capable to form healthy, close relationships and friendships. But, sometimes, if you put certain things into your body they can badly affect your brain, change your mood and this can result in your mental health and your relationships being negatively affected. One of these things is drugs chomas.

There are certain drugs like dagga, ecstasy, heroin and even alcohol that can negatively affect your mind when you put them into your body. They also have the ability to affect and change your mood or behaviour and stimulate some emotions (like make you happier) or shut down others (like feeling sad) – this could be the reason some people become addicted to them. The changes caused by drug addiction could have an effect on your brain.

There are chemicals in your brain that help you think and feel and if you take drugs, then that can interfere with how your brain works. The drugs can affect messages the chemicals are trying to send throughout your body and back to your brain. There are short-term and long-term effects that drugs can have on your mental health.

Short-term effects

After you have taken drugs, you can have side effects that won’t last long. You can start feeling or acting odd but only for a short while. The effects that don’t last long are also known as short-term effects which means they pass as the drug leaves your body. Examples of short-term effect symptoms include vomiting, dry mouth, nausea and strange and violent behaviour.

Long-term effects

Drug addiction has a longer lasting effect on your mental health. If you become addicted to drugs you can start to behave differently and your personality may change. Using drugs will slowly start to uncover negative feelings that you never knew you had and could cause you to act differently. For example you could become more violent or aggressive. You can also do things that you normally wouldn’t do like steal in order to get money for drugs.

Abusing drugs can permanently disrupt a chemical balance in your brain and can cause long-lasting changes in your brain. You can end up suffering from:

• Depression
• Paranoia
• Hallucinations
• Suicidal thoughts
• Loneliness
• Anxiety

It’s hard to tell how you might react to certain drugs. You can also react differently to the same drug at different times, chomas.

At the end of the day, abusing drugs and alcohol will have a negative effect on your life and the lives of those around you and it’s important to break the negative habit immediately.

You can start by ask yourself why you might be abusing drugs. Is it to make your negative feelings go away? Is it to fit in with the crowd?