Substance Use Addictions and mental health: a short read on debunking stigmas
“One of the hardest things was learning that I was worth recovery.”- Demi Lovato
What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word “addiction?” Throughout my experiences, I have heard all the following themes and assumptions:
“People with addictions are homeless or in poverty.” Addiction does not discriminate against any socioeconomic status – it can touch anyone.
“They are criminals.” Not all people with addictions engage in criminal activity or have a criminal record.
“It is easy to stop.” Addiction is a disease and cannot be turned off like a light.
“It was their choice.” Nobody chooses to become addicted.
For many people, we were raised to view those that have addictions as “bad” or as those with “criminal behaviors.” We are taught these things to prevent us from engaging with the substances that are risky and dangerous to consume. From a young age, we begin to associate drugs with intense negativity and fear, or for some, curiosity. The intention behind these teachings is pure and preventative, but the stigmatic outcome is often ignored. I believe a piece that is missing in these preventative teachings is often the talk about mental health in conjunction with substance use.
I remember being in elementary school and attending a very common program that teaches young people the harm of substances. The program taught us that peer pressure would be something important to look out for and that it is one of the main causes of substance use in adolescence. When we’re pre-teens and teenagers, it is true that peer pressure is a factor in substance use as we are focused on peers and searching for our self-identity, but the lack of education on mental health and other reasons a person may be drawn to substance use is sparse.
I want you to think about some things that make you feel better or relieved when you have felt anger, resentment, triggered by trauma, depression, hopelessness, grief, anxiety, or loneliness. What did you do? What was your “guilty pleasure”?
As flawed humans, we often do things to run away from our feelings in the hope that it will go away quickly forever. We engage in behaviors like sex, drinking, impulsive shopping or spending, gambling, or binge eating all to chase the release of dopamine. But that’s just it: the dopamine levels settle back to baseline, and we continue to engage in the cycles to feel better. No one intentionally chooses to become addicted. Through many different stories, tragedies, and people, I have heard this theme over and over: their substance use was their outlet to their pain – their escape. It was never started with the intention to harm. This is a piece I feel is missing in psychoeducation of substance use. It becomes a coping mechanism and slowly, the only way to survive until intervention.
Throughout my clinical internships, I have worked with many people who seek help to free themselves from the chain of their addiction. Throughout my personal life, I have loved people who fight this fight and work everyday to break free. With these personal and intimate experiences and the close therapeutic relationships I have built with people, I have heard time and time again that the emotions that paralyze individuals from moving forward are hopelessness and shame. They believe they are “no good.”
These demoralizing assumptions are made in environments that paint the substance use as the original issue without any progressive thought of the person behind the substance use and all their humanly feelings and struggles. We must think outside of the labels put on those with addictions and explore the root. We must encourage accurate, early education on substance use as a potential unhealthy coping mechanism instead of teaching substance use as moral death, not only to transform the education being provided but to also debunk the stigma for those living with a substance use disorder.
“We do recover.” – Narcotics Anonymous
Resources:
Find a Treatment Center:
https://findtreatment.gov/
https://americanaddictioncenters.org/
Learn More:
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/addiction-substance-use-disorders/what-is-a-substance-use-disorder
https://www.samhsa.gov/mental-health/mental-health-substance-use-co-occurring-disorders
Find a Support Group:
-Alcohol: https://www.aa.org/
Narcotics: https://www.narcotics.com/na-meetings/texas/
https://meetings.smartrecovery.org/meetings/
Read my other blog related to the topic of SUD:
https://www.luxxtherapy.com/blog/loving-someone-with-a-substance-use-disorder-a-family-systems-perspective