Fertile Ground For Addiction

Over this past weekend, I could not help but think that individuals with a predisposition toward addictive illness or perhaps those people with a co-occurring disorder which may lead them to self-medicate to the point of addiction are at increased risk these days. Just think about all the psychosocial pressure we are facing in our world at the moment. Oil spills, conflicts around the world, unemployment, etc. These events are fertile ground for people to want to escape the realities of current life.

I worry about the fact that college students are graduating with rather poor prospects of employment, that teenagers are spending time on the internet playing computer games instead of interacting in life with others - getting proper exercise, eating healthy diets, knowing how to literally take care of themselves.

When I was growing up in the late 60's and through the 70"s, we had all kinds of problems - the war in Viet Nam, racial injustice of monumental proportions, gas rationing, etc.; however, we also seemed to have had a better sense of who we were in terms of a more cohesive family structure. Instead of sitting in my room constantly, I actually was involved in the world - what we psychologists refer to as in vivo (in life) experience.

This is not to say that we were drug and alcohol free - but we had a better sense that if we went too far with these chemicals in our system, our families would come down on us - they would figure things out sooner or later at the dinner table, or when they came to watch us play sports, or perhaps one of the neighbors would be more likely to call our mom or dad and say something was up.

Resilience is an important term in the field of psychology today - resiliency theory. Ask yourself this - are we more resilient today then we were in the past? Are we able to deal with "life on life's terms" or have we become so overwhelmed that we simply are more likely to drink or drug ourselves into oblivion?

I really never believed I would see a day when people would take painkillers for the purpose of getting high - it's ironic, this class of drug is for physical pain and one could argue that perhaps individuals are taking it for psychic pain.

Look folks, I am not that old and certainly not that naive. I am cognizant that in the "Andy Rooney" way we always reflect back to better times in the past - but you have to admit life has gotten a great deal more complicated. Here is the good news - treatment for psychic pain and addiction has also become more involved or should I say more evolved. So, no more excuses for lack of resilience. I know it is rough out there but you are not alone.