This is your Brain on Drugs: SUD, Cognitive Impairment, and Mental Health Disorders

Abstract

“This is your brain (an egg). This is your brain on drugs (egg broken to fry in a hot pan).” This large-scale antinarcotics public service campaign was launched in 1987 in the United States by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. Substance use is commonly utilized as a means to self-medicate cognitive impairments and mental health disorders, hence, the broken egg. Further, as substance use and subsequent abuse advances to substance use disorder (SUD), the potential rises for the activation of predisposed conditions, the exacerbation of existing difficulties, and the onset of additional pathologies, for example; anxiety, depression, mood disturbances, memory loss, attention deficits, and impaired conditional reasoning. A tremendous problem arises with assessment, evaluation, and treatment of co-occurring disorders. “Which came first, the chicken? Or the egg ?” How can comprehensive and integrated treatment regimens be developed and navigated with so many variables and dynamics, interrelated cognitive factors, functions, as well as neurological and affective processes to consider, decipher, and address? It is the opinion of this researcher that greater recognition regarding the interwoven tapestry of these dynamics needs to be met with conviction of willingness toward collaboration and diligence on the behalf of scholars, theorists, researchers, and practitioners to share expertise. The combined benefits of multiple theoretical models and methods of treatment to address disorders concurrently have the potential to create more effective modalities, shorten treatment timelines, and even cut costs. It has become imperative that progressive action be taken by all psychological professionals and specialists in openminded and respectful ways to catalyze healing the human condition and save lives.