WHY DID YOU START USING?

Malnutrition would cause anxiety at such a young age. People really don't know how to feed their children. Unfortunate for you. I certainly was not fed properly as a child. The whole mental health industry feeds on people's low IQ's which unfortunately is generational. Address the nutritional issues and do the necessary things to raise one's IQ. The rest irons out like a cloth on the ironing board. It's really amazing.

Well that is great. Interesting to turn to alcohol when someone is depressed. It is a depressant. Weed to get off alcohol. Hmmm. You must be young maybe. A good detox will really help you stay steady in the future. Just even a basic lemon water cleanse and eat some real foods. Raw will do best. You can do it for as long as you feel but it will certainly get the junk out of your body. These kind of residuals can cause you problems again. It's good to flush it out. Marijuana can manifest the psychosis and neurosis with in the next several years. You don't need that.
Good for you that you have someone close to you that is there for you.

Yeah, I'm still only in my 20's. Thankfully marijuana isn't biologically addicting, so once I stopped, I stopped. I haven't even had cravings for it since then. The alcohol still seems to have a bit of a grip on me, though I'm trying to stay clear of it . Thank you for the advice, I will definitely try it and see if it helps!

You're welcome. Yeah alcohol cravings are brutal. Lots of good carbohydrates actually will help keep anyone away from alcohol. Alcohol is really like a toxic liquid junk food.

Yeah I think this happens to a lot of people. Drinking makes you free to express yourself easier. Humans have faults and that's ok. Sometimes we are taught lack of communication and we have to learn it later.

Interesting that a book got you into it. The company that you keep can be and is, important. Yeah when you have friends that are addicts they aren't really great role models or influences. This is where thinking for yourself comes into play. Setting the standard. Breaking out of the mold.

Mental disorders are the biggest scam. To each his own on who is misinformed. The ground work can be how your mother ate while she was pregnant. Foods are laced with chemicals. How she fed you as a child. How you eat now and what you have had in your system.
The other factors are; electro magnetic frequencies from cellphones & computers, living near power plants and those kinds of things, and so on. If you can say that you have detoxed all the crap out of your body and are eating healthy. Like fruits and vegetables with full amounts every day. Real organic food, not GMO's. You exercise and take care of yourself. If you are still Bi-polar of have any kind of mental disorder this is when you might have the other side of it. Unless of course you are still on prescription drugs. If you are completely clean and still have mental issues I'd be surprised. Until you do that you're living in and eating toxic waste that cause mental issues. All of what you are talking about is on the rise for a reason.
But that is not anyone's fault who is innocent including you. Many factors lower ones IQ. What you do with what you are dealt is your choice. If you want to accept labels that are put on you that is also your choice.
All you have to do is look up aspartame and birth defects. This is only one. They will not release the data it was buried because it was too damaging to consuming aspartame as being safe. If a pregnant woman consumes this the FDA is hiding what it does to a fetus. It wrecks your hormones. It is an exitotoxin that can cause seizures and death. It is in a ton of things. It is also linked to mood disorders. They won't release those results either because they were so severe.

Interesting that your words sound doctorish or pharmaish. It certainly does prove it. If someone didn't have it and remained normal. Drugs are documented to cause certain effects. We don't need to be brain surgeons to deduct that. The fight for the truth in reality is that the medical industry has holes in it and offers no cures. Just drugs for the rest of your life. The only people that will argue that are the people who profit or are brainwashed. Remember depression is not a prozac deficiency. This is a quote from a doctor who actually cures things.

Peer pressure more than anything. I was a young, naive teenager who just wanted to have some fun. I didn't know at the time how much grief and problems those substances would cause me, but at least I learned to be more mature from a younger age which is amazing.

Honestly, because the crowd I hung out with were, and I thought 'what's the harm'...I never really considered just how much of an impact in so many areas of life alcohol abuse could have. But that shows the impact of peer pressure right there, doesn't it?

I started drinking cheap beer and smoking cigarettes in high school, because that's what the cool kids were doing. It was what my friends were doing, and I thought it was what everyone was doing and it was normal (it's NOT.)
Then I started hanging around in dive bars, and slowly cocaine creeped into my life.

Adrianna, I just read your Post. I must say you seem to have some Hostility. I can respect your opinion about mental disorders, substance abuse, and the like. Your opinion seems to be very one-sided. Until you experience a mental disorder yourself you cant make a sound judgement about it. I will agree with you that the government hides alot of info about damaging toxins they add to food stuffs. Even if someone eats totally organic food they can still suffer mental illness and physical illness. Go to a Psychiatric ward and witness firsthand some of the demons people are battling and it will change your mind.

Wow. Yeah this is the most common way. Peer pressure almost, no body really necessarily twists the arm but it is just there. Copying people to fit in or just doing what you see.
Cocaine that is a tricky one. Hopefully you've sorted all of this out and are doing well.

I started using marijuana and cigarettes out of curiosity. It came to a point where I smoked ciggarettes whenever I was left all alone in the house or when I was out, but the interest in smoking waned over time. I guess I don't have an addictive personality.

Oh gosh, it's worse I think xD At least staying away from junk food is easy! It's soooooooo bad for you too. Ah well, one step at a time, right? <3

Yes this is true. We look at people who are already doing it and they seem ok. It's quite a social thing that easily draws people in. I am always impressed with people who are able to completely avoid it all together. Higher standards and self-control.

Yes sad but true I didn't have the self control back then, and nor did I really have the self esteem. I was so worried about fitting in that I was just like a sheep, going along with the crowd.

I can safely say I'm a lot better these days and am much happier in my own skin!

Because I needed it, yeah, that's right. I was suffering from depression, but still were too proud to take prescribed medication, the first time I ever used drugs I was feeling really bad and then a friend comes and says I know what you need and then it started...

Oh yea big time! Been clean and sober by the grace of God Almighty for longer then I can remember, been at least a decade.

Hmm, interesting. Suffering from depression. I've had a few times with depression. One time worse than the other. So someone got you into drugs because you were depressed. What a friend.
You know it's funny I know what it is like to "suffer" from depression. But when I hear this now I think, do we really suffer with it? It is an emotion. It's a state that is not so pleasant. Eventually we figure it out. I heard someone say that we need to embrace emotions even if it is depression. Embrace it all, drug free, alcohol free, and feel it.