Some researchers tie together deaths from suicide, drugA name for a wide variety of chemical substances capable of altering the function of your mind and body in significant ways. These can include over the counter prescriptions, alcohol, and controlled substances. Most drugs are either physically and/or psychologically habit-forming. overdose, and alcoholism as products of the same underlying cause: despair. This approach sees addition as tied to depression. It also sees despair as the product of social maladies such as economic inequality, rather than the product of physical or moral deficits.