Behavioral disorders such as manic depression, bipolar disorder, and Adult ADHD have often been associated with some forms of drug abuse. It is true that in some cases there is a cause and effect scenario between behavioral disorders and drugs, but the two are not necessarily directly related.

Behavioral disorders can lead to drug abuse because the afflicted individual may fall into unhealthy drug abuse as a compensator for their problem. Proper counseling, evaluation, and a possible prescription can often resolve this, taking away the feeling of need from the abused drug.

Drug abuse can also lead to symptoms of a behavioral disorder based on the effects the drugs have on the brain and the effects of dependency and withdrawal. Most of the time these are merely symptoms of a disorder and are temporary and limited only to the abuse of the drug.