Mental Retardation From Drug Abuse

death wish

Is it common for psychologists to treat people who have abused drugs?
I went to college with a guy who abused every drug under the sun for the whole year and his personality completely changed from very friendly to frightningly dangerous.

Odysseus

death wish wrote: »

Is it common for psychologists to treat people who have abused drugs?
I went to college with a guy who abused every drug under the sun for the whole year and his personality completely changed from very friendly to frightningly dangerous.

Quick answer no mental retardation cannot be cause by drug use. Can I ask what is the person using? if you know. It is mostly psychotherapists who treat addicts within the HSE, but it is not unknow for psychologists to do so too. I will add more later.... But can you answer the above question, we can really speak about individuals here, but I can amswer questions in general,like the effects a person, not your mate.

sadie9

Couldn't the person in question be also suffering from an underlying disorder like schizophrenia?

Maybe they had a history of mental illness before you knew them.

Maybe they stopped taking their prescribed medication and hence the change in personality.

Excessive use of cannabis would, for example, exacerbate the symptoms of something like that.

There could be other factors going on besides the drugs is what I am saying.

Mod Edit: Sadie, have a look at my post above we do not diagnose here, or deal with individual cases. If this happens I will have to bin the thread. So what we are talking about are the effects drug use could have on a persons personality in general not a specific case, if you get my point.

Odysseus

death wish wrote: »

if a person took cannabis on a daily basis. did xtc, speed and cocaine. and they said when he took speed it completely destroyed his mental health. paranoia, depression and so on

.

Odysseus

I edited your post Death Wish, can we contiune the discussion along the changes I made.

death wish

Odysseus wrote: »

I edited your post Death Wish, can we contiune the discussion along the changes I made.

yes

Odysseus

Right then whilst drug use is subjective, there are a certain group of people from whom those types of drugs do serious problems, in my experience this are what we would call dually diagnosis clients. That will not apply to all, but in certain cases some people with a pre-existing diagnosis are attracted to these drugs, and the play havoc with there mental health.

It also depend on how they are taken you start IVing speed or coke you will end paranoid. Some people can use these drugs with no major ill effects.

Does that answer you question?

death wish

Odysseus wrote: »

Right then whilst drug use is subjective, there are a certain group of people from whom those types of drugs do serious problems, in my experience this are what we would call dually diagnosis clients. That will not apply to all, but in certain cases some people with a pre-existing diagnosis are attracted to these drugs, and the play havoc with there mental health.

It also depend on how they are taken you start IVing speed or coke you will end paranoid. Some people can use these drugs with no major ill effects.

Does that answer you question?

Some people can be off all drugs over years, yet, though they may have improved they still gets bouts of paranoia when tired and suffers from constant stress

Odysseus

death wish wrote: »

Some people can be off all drugs over years, yet, though they may have improved they still gets bouts of paranoia when tired and suffers from constant stress

Please stop making me having to edit your posts so this thread can continue. For people like that they need help and support, starting with the GP for a psych referral and then some therapy. Remember we are having a general discussion and I'm on thin ice here.