There can be many long-term psychological and physical effects of addiction.
Addiction often harms your mental health. Drinking and taking drugs can lead to long-lasting depression and anxiety. Many try to self-medicate these issues with alcohol and drugs but end up making them worse. As conditions such as depression worsen, it can lead to suicidal thoughts that might turn into suicide attempts.
If you have a genetic predisposition towards developing a mental health disorder such as psychosis, then drug and alcohol abuse can increase the risk of this happening in the future. Developing psychosis may cause you to harm yourself or others.
Physically, long-term drug use can affect your kidneys, and the liver can be destroyed by alcoholism. Liver failure will eventually prove fatal. Addiction can also affect your heart, increasing your blood pressure and heart rate – which could result in heart failure.
Outside of your health, long-term drug and alcohol abuse can affect other aspects of your life. Spending more money on drugs and alcohol will mean you suffer financially, and your addiction may cause your work performance to suffer. Your changing attitudes and priorities may cause friendships and relationships to break down.
Before the situation worsens and these effects become a reality, you should consider going to alcohol or drug rehab.