Uncovering an Epidemic Co-occurrence in Opioid Use Disorder

Abstract

The main point of this paper is to address the rising statistics that represent the prevalence of mental disorders in our society. The focus is generally limited to the American public. It is stressed to seek healthy coping mechanisms to relieve mental discomfort or the side effects faced by serious mental illnesses such as major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder, this is so that negative coping won’t be used leading to healthy coping methods to combat mental pain. This is important in order to prevent a high risk for health and well-being if addiction recovery is reached. From the data given by the National Institute of Health; young adults have the highest cases or prevalence of developing mental health problems based on a self-assessment. However, this age group is also the least likely to seek professional help. Co-occurring disorders can be defined as; the mental state where a pre-existing mental health condition, usually one of a serious mental illness, is the leading factor for the contribution of another mental illness, usually one that is a comorbid substance use disorder. This means that there is a heavy correlation between the two conditions. Serious mental illnesses are where the cognition of the affected person has been impaired or interfered with because of how one feels. The focus of this paper surrounds opioid addiction or medically referred to as opioid use disorder. The reason for this focus is because of how highly addictive and strong the feeling of pain relief can be after using opioids continuously.