Prejudices towards drugs make it difficult and their consideration as the main cause when a person develops a Substance Use Disorder can make it difficult to really get to the root of the problem. For some professionals, almost any drug use other than socially accepted ones is problematic. Moralistic or exaggerated approaches make it difficult to recognize, understand and address the real causes.
Much of the messages about drugs are of a negative nature, focusing only on the risks and problems, without distinguishing those that are likely and frequent from those that are anecdotal or sporadic. Much less do they recognize the pleasures. This leads to a loss of trust in experts and a failure to identify situations that truly involve danger. On the other hand, we all tend to see our behaviors as "normal" and self-justification or self-deception is a frequent reaction when difficulties arise;
When people have doubts or suspicions, it is often left to a professional team to assess whether or not there is a problem. In reality, what is important is the personal and deep reflection on the degree of satisfaction that our behavior and habits produce in us. If the pleasures are greater than the risks to which we expose ourselves, if we truly perceive that we are in control of our life and if what we do allows us to live life the way we want to live it;
It is not a matter of submitting to an interrogation, but of stopping for a while to think about some aspects. You may not have anything to change. You may not have asked yourself some questions before. You may be able to change some things yourself, if you think you need to. It could also happen that you need to change things, but you don't succeed. In that case there might be a problem. Sometimes problems are solved individually, with time or with the help of people close to you. At other times the advice or support of a professional team may be helpful or even necessary;
Some reflections we can make:
Much of the messages about drugs are of a negative nature, focusing only on the risks and problems, without distinguishing those that are likely and frequent from those that are anecdotal or sporadic. Much less do they recognize the pleasures. This leads to a loss of trust in experts and a failure to identify situations that truly involve danger. On the other hand, we all tend to see our behaviors as "normal" and self-justification or self-deception is a frequent reaction when difficulties arise;
When people have doubts or suspicions, it is often left to a professional team to assess whether or not there is a problem. In reality, what is important is the personal and deep reflection on the degree of satisfaction that our behavior and habits produce in us. If the pleasures are greater than the risks to which we expose ourselves, if we truly perceive that we are in control of our life and if what we do allows us to live life the way we want to live it;
It is not a matter of submitting to an interrogation, but of stopping for a while to think about some aspects. You may not have anything to change. You may not have asked yourself some questions before. You may be able to change some things yourself, if you think you need to. It could also happen that you need to change things, but you don't succeed. In that case there might be a problem. Sometimes problems are solved individually, with time or with the help of people close to you. At other times the advice or support of a professional team may be helpful or even necessary;
Some reflections we can make:
- Why do I use drugs, and do I do it the way I would like to?
- How often do I do it? How often would I like to do it?
- Is my consumption changing over time, am I consuming more than before?
- What is my social circle? How many of my friendships are not related to drugs? Do I have leisure time without drug use?
- How do I relate during the week with the same people I party with? Have I tried different things? Have I succeeded? How have I felt?
- Do I have or have I had financial problems related to my drug use? How much money do I spend? Have I had difficulty controlling my spending? Have I done things I would not normally do to get drugs?
- How often have I stopped fulfilling my obligations (work, family, study...) after a party? How often do I have sexual relations taking drugs? And without taking them? Do I feel at ease with myself in this sense?
- Have I done things under the effect of substances that I would not do under normal conditions? How do I feel about it?
- When I have a bad experience, do I take care to find out what happened and how to avoid it? Do I know risk reduction strategies, but I still do not apply them?
- Do I plan my consumption or instinctively? Do I care about the quality of the substances? Are the suppliers reliable or do I test them?
