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noname223

Angelic
Aug 18, 2020
4,972
I think this is a topic with many nuances and I don't pretend to be an expert on it. I mostly will refer to substance abuse.

When I was younger I thought drug addicts are fully responsible for their addction. Though I also blamed unemployed people for being unemployed. Which is in my opinion often wrong. I think 1/3 of unemployed people in my country are mentally ill. I experienced how they treat them in job centres (we use this term) it is disgusting. It is cheap to blame poor people for their misery.

The first time I was in the psychiatry I was in a clinic for people with psychosis. I never done drugs. I think I never intentionally drank alcohol. Though I love coffee. The doctors there made a dichotomy between people who did drugs and people who never took them. To that time I also had kind of this stance and adapted it. Personally I think they do this as a mechanism for self-protection. They see people on a daily basis with nightmarish lives and it feels less bad to blame these people for their own misery. To say they are responsible for their messed up life. I don't have first hand experience but I read that substance abuse people are kind of stigmatized in psychiatry. I think I read many therapists rather feel for people they can relate to. Most of them are rather anti-drugs (at lest the ones who I met) and might have less empathy for drug-addicts. I can see why they are doing it but I am not sure whether this is morally right. I have more and more doubts on that.

I read there seems to be a link between child abuse and drug abuse. So I think it is very cruel to say these people should be be blamed for it. As I said I think this is rather a protection mechanism of therapists. The guy I am thinking about liked me very much. He really felt for me, supported me a lot etc. I think his motto was everyone has the choice whether to take drugs or not. And the people who take them are fully responsible for their actions. I think this is kind of naive. And I think he is really convinced by that.

When I was younger I would have agreed to this theory. But the topic seems to be more complex. As I said for example the link between emotiional/physical abuse and drug abuse. I think I am only so much anti-drugs because my parents always taught me that. My parents hated smoking cigarettes and so I adapted that stance. If I had drug addicted parents the likelihood to cope with drugs would have been probably way higher. I rather developed severe suicidality because of the abuse. And I fantasized about killing myself. I think abusing a child is probably like playing Russian roulette. Some kill themselves immediately, some become mental wrecks, some start to take hard drugs. I am not sure whether one really has the choice to take them or not in this instance. I rather have the feeling it depends on the education, circumstances, genes, personality traits etc. When I was younger I thought the individual had more control about his or her own life. But I think more and more many things in this universe are very arbitrarily. Many get fucked by life and are not really responsible for their misery.

However I wonder why some people do so hard drugs seemingly only for fun. Probably one has to consider each patient individually. Everything eloe seems for me to be a generalization. Though I sometimes don't understand drug users. It is well known how dangerous they are. Why do they take them anyway?The risk seems not be worth it. I met for example a guy who destroyed his life by taking very hard drugs. I asked him why he took them. He said completely for fun and he wanted more energy to clean his room. I don't know whether low IQ is to be blamed for that or other reasons.

On the other hand I find it a little bit hypocritical. We admire artists like The Beatles and so many more. Many of them were heavy drug users. They are loved by the world and are celebrated for their creativity. Some of their art probably has been created under substance abuse. Though I am not an expert on that. I find it kind of stupid to say yeah the ones who had the ba genetic predisposition shall not cry too much about their shitty life. And the other ones get rewarded by fame. The people with less luck are the butt of the joke. It seems to be quite unfair.

However if you ask me. Don't take illegal it is way too dangerous. It is like playing Russian roulette. Quite an unpopular stance in this forum but I am quite convinced by it.

Maybe you have more first hand experience and can tell whether drug abusers are fully blamed for their addction in clinics. Maybe this is not true.
 
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