mental health

The fact that substance use is more common among adults with mental health issues makes sense when you consider addiction expert Jean Kilbourne’s words. “Addiction begins with the hope that something "out there" can instantly fill up the emptiness inside.” On that note, how likely is it we are all addicted to something? Whether to food, sex, or drugs, status, money, or praise. Choosing to use our unhealthy habits to fill up our emptiness inside, to cover up our emotions. Choosing to numb out rather than reach out. If that is the case, what would happen if we took time to dig deep to identify the cause of our emptiness, perhaps we could begin to heal. Absolving the desire to escape into our addictions and also resolving the internal turmoil of mental illness. Perhaps lowering the statistics of substance use we are seeing today.     The data Data from 2018 finds 57.8 million American adults are living with a mental and/or substance use disorder (SUD). Broken down further, 47.6 million have a mental illness, 19.3 million are facing substance abuse, and 9.2 million adults are living with both. Among adolescents, at least 358,000 have a SUD together with depression. Numbers trending upward well before the pandemic. As mental health continues to take a major toll in the time of COVID-19, it seems logical to assume substance use disorders will also ascend. Current results from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), indicates rates o…