Dutch Uncle
* Tertia Optio * Defend the Constitution
It's not unusual for mentally ill people to self-medicate, but I doubt drugs or alcohol are his base problem.
Self-Medication of Mental Health Problems: New Evidence from a National Survey - PMC
To evaluate the association between past 30-day use of alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drugs and past year unmet need for and use of mental health care. A subsample of 18,849 respondents from the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Substance use varies with past year unmet need for mental health care and mental health care use in ways consistent with the self-medication hypothesis. Results suggest that timely screening and treatment of mental health problems may prevent the development of substance-use disorders among those with mental disorders. Further research should identify subgroups of individuals for whom timely and appropriate mental health treatment would prevent the development of substance-use disorders.
