Thoughts About Substance Abuse

[danceswithpahis]

This is a much heavier topic than my last few postings have been. However, I read the cover article from the March 3, 2008 edition of Newsweek (“What Addicts Need”)*, and longed for someone to discuss it with. None of my friends presented themselves (the one friend I have who would probably rather enjoy this conversation is currently in

Comments

[southdowner]

Absolutely agree with you. Having worked in psychiatry and geriatrics, I have seen the medical model fail people who cannot succeed (be cured) within its methods.
The same was true for terminally ill patients, who were failures within the medical model - hurray for cicely saunders and the hospice movement who saw a bigger picture.
One of my wishes is the blurring of boundaries between physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual - they are all part of us, so chemistry can only help in limited amounts when used in isolation...

Sorry, this is an area I've long been unhappy about so please excuse any rant-like moments! Will go away now and leave you in peace!

Alex

[danceswithpahis]

"Sorry, this is an area I've long been unhappy about so please excuse any rant-like moments! Will go away now and leave you in peace

[blackbear88]

I think you've put your finger on an important point--addiction is a disease, true, but it's also often a symptom of something else going on. And if your personal issues lead to a problem with (for instance) alcohol, and then that substance is no longer available to you, what's to stop you just moving on to something else? Alcohol doesn't work for you anymore, but you still feel miserable, so why not try meth? Or something. The real problem is how we deal with our problems, and it's never as simple as just take-a-pill-and-forget-it.

Good thoughts here. And I liked your nephew quotes post! :)

[danceswithpahis]

It's good to see you again! And yes, what's to stop you from moving on to something else, like another drug? Or even something not drug-related? Even if all you're doing is playing video games all day (which most people would consider less destructive than alcoholism, and for good reasons), but it's crippling your life, destroying your relationships, and eating up all of your time, and you're doing it to self-medicate, then the underlying problem is the same. Sure, at least you're avoiding the physical addiction to a chemical substance, but the emotional addiction is still there

[southdowner]

Sorry for being slow to reply, but took dogs to crufts so not been sitting down at the keyboard much this week

[southdowner]

PS is it OK if I friend you? Still new to all this internet stuff, but having followed robin mckinley onto lj, am now dipping my toe in the water :)