How Drugs Are a Burden to Health Socio-Cultural Psychological Legal and Economic Magnitude Poster

Family members experience a variety of emotions such as anger, anxiety, anxiety, and depression. The burden on the family can be eased if they learn about certain disorders, receive support and help for themselves, identify with other families with similar problems, and share their own feelings and concerns. When families feel empowered by learning information and learning new coping skills, their emotional burden often decreases. The internalization of social suffering and the acceptance of its causes as normal facts lead to marginalized and vulnerable minorities who are also inadvertently complicit in their own subordination (Kleinman; That; Lock, 1997KLEINMAN, A.; DAS, V.; LOCK, M. M. (Ed.). Social suffering. California: University of California Press, 1997.). Moreover, such internalization has the perverse consequence of perpetuating what Kleinman, Das and Lock (1997KLEINMAN, A.; DAS, V.; LOCK, M. M. (Ed.). Social suffering. California: University of California Press, 1997.) cited the “cycle of risky behaviours” among members of these minorities.

Risky behaviors such as “deviant” actions and drug addiction lead to cycles of daily violence that take place in the public space, but resonate in the subjective and individual spheres in the form of personal deficits, psychological damage and feelings of non-control. Health – People with addiction are susceptible to needle-borne diseases such as HIV. Antiretroviral drugs are provided free of charge by the Government. If there are more addicts, it means that, at the end of the day, the government will have to spend more on health care, if that spending could have been better spent. Drug abuse is a widespread and complex individual behaviour that has implications for several administrative, legal and public policy areas, such as health, justice and employment. For example, addicts are often unable to maintain a regular job or source of income, leading to various forms of so-called “deviant” behaviors such as stealing and cheating so that they can receive their daily dose. Continued drug and/or alcohol use and associated disregard for other basic needs also lead to a progressive deterioration in the health of drug addicts. For these reasons, substance abuse is particularly disruptive to families and often communities.

These traits, along with the general belief in the intention to abuse drugs, led to the development of very negative societal attitudes and beliefs towards addicts, which added to their already problematic lives. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, people who abused drugs were unanimously held solely responsible for their immoral behavior and considered a “moral failure” or “bad people” (Harding, 1986HARDING, G. Construction of addiction as moral failure. Sociology of Health and Illness, Oxford, v. 8, n. 1, pp. 75-85, 1986.). In contrast, the current medical perspective holds that “substance use disorders” result from damage to inhibitory mechanisms in the brain (APA, 2014APA – AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION. Manual diagnóstico e estatístico de transtornos mentais: DSM V. Porto Alegre: Artmed, 2014.) And this drug use impairs the brain`s ability to produce substances that give us control over our will.

In addition, genetic factors may play a role in the onset of disease (Sloboda; Glantz; Tarter, 2012SLOBODA, Z.; GLANTZ, M. D.; TARTER, R. E. Revisiting the concepts of risk factors and protective factors to understand the etiology and development of substance use and substance use disorders: implications for prevention. Substance Use and Misuse, Oxford, v. 47, n. 8-9, pp. 944-962, 2012.). However, this medical view has not been able to dismiss the widespread belief that addicts are entirely responsible for their condition, that is, they choose to abuse drugs. This collective belief, which is also internalized by addicts and their loved ones, triggers feelings of guilt and shame and fosters rejection by families and stigmatization in communities and institutions (Corrigan; Kuwabara; O`Shaughnessy, 2009CORRIGAN, P. W.; KUWABARA, S. A.; O`SHAUGHNESSY, J.

The public stigma of mental illness and addiction results from a stratified random sample. Journal of Social Work, London, v. 9, n. 2, pp. 139-147, 2009.; Earnshaw; Blacksmith; Copenhagen, 2013EARNSHAW, V.; SMITH, L.; COPENHAVER, M. Drug addiction stigma in the context of methadone maintenance therapy: an investigation into understudy sources of stigma. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, Basingstoke, v. 11, n. 1, pp. 110-122, 2013.). Three main questions guided the semi-structured interviews.

The first focused on the history of chemical dependence, the occurrence of excessive consumption and the reasons for this consumption. This allowed us to understand the perceived reasons for drug use, whether personal, sociocultural, economic or political, and the ideas that govern these perceptions. The second tried to understand family relationships related to substance abuse. Finally, we tried to understand the reasons that led participants to request institutional treatment and what they thought about it. Couple or family sessions can help families address their questions and concerns, change the way they interact within the family system, and improve communication. Families may also benefit from taking charge of their own emotional distress and behaviors that may interfere with the member`s recovery with SUD. Treatment can be done in sessions with the individual family or in multiple family groups, providing a supportive environment for families to share their shared experiences and concerns. Families can bond with each other and learn what worked for each other. This sub-theme shows that emotional abuse by family members can reduce the quality of people`s interpersonal relationships and threaten their social support, both of which are important to mental health and treatment success (Earnshaw; Blacksmith; Copenhagen, 2013EARNSHAW, V.; SMITH, L.; COPENHAVER, M. Drug addiction stigma in the context of methadone maintenance therapy: an investigation into understudy sources of stigma.

International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, Basingstoke, v. 11, n. 1, pp. 110-122, 2013; Inzerty; Henderson-Wilson; Dunn, 2015INCERTI, L.; HENDERSON-WILSON, C.; DUNN, M. Challenges in the family: problematic substance use and sibling relationships. Family Affairs, Melbourne, v. 96, pp. 29-38, 2015.; Paula et al., 2014PAULA, M. L. et al. Crack users in treatment situations: experiences, meanings and senses.