Anabolic steroids are drugs sometimes used illegally by athletes and bodybuilders in high dosages to build up muscle mass rapidly, though using these drugs can lead to extreme side effects, such as aggressive rage, psychosis, depression and mania, as well as other serious health problems. Some people use them to emulate sports figures, impress their friends or achieve other goals, not realizing the high costs of abusing anabolic steroids.
Rageful Aggression and Psychosis
Because anabolic steroids are synthetic drugs similar to testosterone, they can markedly increase the level of aggression, sometimes to an extreme level. In their 2005 article in the journal "Psychosomatics," the authors noted six instances of violent criminal behavior exhibited by individuals who were abusing anabolic steroids, including three assaults and three murders. When the drugs were cleared from the systems of the perpetrators--in weeks and up to two months--the individuals recalled the delusional and psychotic thinking that led them to their violent acts.
According to a 2007 article published in the "Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine," German soldiers were purportedly given steroids during World War II to increase their level of aggression.
Severe Depression
According to the "Psychosomatics" article, depression is another side effect of steroid abuse, and individuals dependent on steroids can also experience a suicidal depression if they suddenly stop taking the drugs. The greater the dosage of the substances abused, the more severe the depression and other psychiatric symptoms triggered by anabolic steroids.
Mood Swings
Individuals abusing anabolic steroids may have wild mood swings, ranging from euphoria to dark depression, to the extent that if their drug abuse was not known, they would be considered to have bipolar disorder.
The 2007 "Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine" article described a study in which normal men were given dosages of 40 to 240 mg of methytesterone daily. The results indicated that individuals taking higher dosages were more likely to have violent tendencies or develop mania or hypomania--near mania. Other studies have found that higher dosages of testosterone are directly linked to manic symptoms.
Cardiovascular Disease
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse in their report on anabolic steroid abuse, heart attacks, hypertension and enlargement of the left ventricle of the heart have been associated with steroid abuse.
In their article on long-term medical and psychiatric consequences of anabolic steroid abuse, Harvard psychiatrist Gen Kanayama and colleagues say in "Drug and Alcohol Dependence" that cardiovascular effects may be irreversible, such as damage to the heart with cardiomyopathy.
Endocrine Effects
Abuse of anabolic steroids can lead to gynecomastia--breast development and enlargement in men--as well as shrinking of the testicles, infertility and male-pattern baldness. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, women who abuse anabolic steroids may develop excessive body hair and an enlargement of the clitoris, as well as male-pattern baldness. The gynecomastia may be reversible if the abuse stops, but the masculinizing effects in steroid-abusing women are usually not reversible.
Death
The risk for death appears elevated among abusers of anabolic steroids. The "Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine" cites research in which 62 Finnish weightlifters were compared with more than 1,000 controls. The weightlifters were strongly suspected of steroid abuse. Over the course of 12 years, 13 percent of the weightlifters died--8 subjects--compared to 3 percent of the controls. The most common causes of death among the alleged steroid abusers were suicide or heart attack.
References
- "Psychosomatics"; Psychiatric Complications of Anabolic Steroid Use; Ryan C.W. Hall, M.D., Richawrd C.W. Hall, M.D. and Marchia J. Chapman; July-August 2005
- National Institute on Drug Abuse: Anabolic Steroid Abuse
- "Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine"; Anabolic Steroid Abuse: Psychiatric and Physical Costs; Farid Talih, M.D., Omar Fattal, M.D. and Donald Malone, Jr., M.D.; May 2007
- "Drug and Alcohol Dependence"; Long-Term Psychiatric and Medical Consequences of Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Abuse; Gen Kanayama, James I. Hudson and Harrison G. Pope, Jr.; November 2008
Member Comments