AOD and mental health in young people

What's the connection between mental health, alcohol and other drug use?

Young people experiencing mental ill health may be more likely to use drugs to cope with their symptoms in the short-term.

We don’t know which comes first – mental ill health or AOD use. But we do know that they influence each other.

Common mental health symptoms for young people are:

• hopelessness
• anxiety
• low mood
• irritability
• lack of quality sleep
• negative, racing, and intrusive thoughts.

Other young people may find that alcohol and drug use impacts their mental health. Different drugs can also alleviate different mental health symptoms. The same young person might use cannabis to relax but use MDMA (ecstasy) to enhance their mood with friends.

A young person may first start using substances to enhance positive feelings. The shift to using substances frequently or using multiple substances at one time, to cope with negative feelings and withdrawal symptoms, should not be ignored.