Reflection Paper Assignment
This course has provided me with the opportunity to learn more about the issues surrounding drug-taking, substance-abuse and dependency. Overall, I feel that many of the stereotypical views I held on this issue have been dispelled through learning more about the cycle of dependency and its related influences – particularly the reasons as to why people become addicted to substances (often not through conscious choice) and about who the ‘typical’ drug-user it (there is probably no ‘typical’ user at all).
The issue of dependency/addiction on a substance can be viewed from several angles, which makes it possible to highlight its most significant aspects. First and foremost, addiction is a physical state characterized by the human body’s acute need to take in a specific substance and, consequently, encounter a positive reaction to its chemical impact. Secondly, addiction may be regarded from the standpoint of psychological behavior, which is accompanied by the obsessive and urging need to experience the feelings, satisfaction and inner reward by means of injecting, drinking, swallowing or inhaling a substance into the body. Last but not least, from a social standpoint, addiction is seen as a destructive habit that negatively affects the person’s social life by erasing the idea of responsibility and interfering with the set of moral and spiritual values. Drug-users and addicts are often viewed by society as morally reprehensible, irresponsible, dangerous and worthless.
There are many risk-factors associated with the likelihood that someone will start to take drugs and then be unable to stop taking them, resulting in an addiction. In summary, I have reflected on the three principal factors for this and they are: environmental/social, family and personaility.
The causes of addiction may be mostly rooted in a person’s social environment. Influences from peers, social media, even one’s family, can provide an environment that inherently sanctions the use of drugs and other substances. Generally, addiction starts with a desire to keep up with the standards of a “cool guy / chick.” Drugs and other substances such as alcohol change a person’s persona and behavior, enabling them to be more risk-taking, social, friendly and outgoing – all traits that are generally admired and accepted in a social context. Suddenly that person is part of the “in-crowd.” People who succumb to drugs through trying to keep up with these kinds of social expectations may typically have friends/peers within the circle who already do drugs and excessive alcohol, so the behavior is “normalized.” Even if the person knows the behavior is wrong, by the time they want to stop, it may be too late because dependency has kicked in. Like most drug-using, it all becomes a vicious cycle of reliance.
Another cause for addiction and dependency might be because the person is part of an underprivileged family environment with emotionally unstable and financially broken parents who either fail to notice their children’s abusive conduct or encourage them to adopt it because it reflects their own ‘normalized” behavior. If dependency on drugs and alcohol are part of the family environment, then there surely must be a much larger risk that any children borne of that family will simply follow the same way of life. In families where drugs and alcohol dependency issues are part of daily life, it also therefore becomes normal for a child to follow in the footsteps of parents or caregivers. In situations such as this, the parents may have few expectations of the child or engage in questionable disciplinary action, or no discipline at all. Further, family environments such as these may include sexual and domestic abuse, leading to children seeking refuge in the form of drugs and alcohol. Again, by the time they realize their actions are unproductive, illegal and pointlessly leading them toward a life of misery, it is too late because addiction has trapped them within that vicious cycle of reliance.
Peoples’ personalities and psychological disposition may also promote greater likelihood of drug and alcohol dependency. Those with mental illness, who are hyperactive, impulsive or aggressive or who are simply looking for some sort of quick “high” are clearly at much greater risk of turning toward drugs and alcohol for their comfort or their entertainment. Those people, without adequate medical or psychological support, may end up using drugs and substances to maintain their lifestyles. They may realize they need help when things spiral out of control – but again, by that time, they’re locked into the vicious cycle.
People developing addictions to substances such as drugs and alcohol might be of various social ranks, but the uniting parameter for them all is the weakness of their willpower or resilience to take control over their problems. This lack of willpower may come from a variety of deep-seated issues, whether it be social, environmental or psychological.
As a result, addicts are within every single sector of our society. They are overtly obvious in the cases of the glassy-eyed, shabby beggars on the street who ask for money from passers-by to fund their habit. At the other end of the scale is the mom collecting her children from school in the Mercedes or Lexus who has managed to snort $500 worth of cocaine or drink half a bottle of Vodka during the day yet manages to keep her family afloat as no-one suspects because she looks outwardly so perfect. And in-between is every other addict who, for reasons that are so personal to them, is struggling daily with that vicious cycle.
