by busybee » Mon Oct 04, 2021 5:28 pm
Substance abuse occurs in a variety of settings and influences distinct people from all walks of life. But how did the stereotype that all drug addicts are uneducated, homeless and unemployed (people considered to have lower economic status) come about? To build on this notion, many people naturally conclude that addiction is a condition that only affects the lazy or the weak. 23.1 million people addicted to drugs or alcohol tell a different story.
WHO defines drug addiction as the repeated use of one or more psychoactive substances to the point that the patient (attributed to an addict) is periodically or continuously elevated, feels an urge to take the desired substance (s), experiences considerable difficulty to voluntarily stop or modify his substance use, and has a strong desire to obtain psychoactive substances in almost every way. The amount of money you have or the economic status you belong to also has a very low impact on your propensity for addiction. These myths stem from the fact that drug abuse is more prevalent among people who live in such poverty or who have lower socio-economic status; however, the two are not causally related, and this does not demonstrate cause and effect.
Drug addiction, on the other hand, is somehow the natural outcome of the lifestyles of those with insufficient financial capital, i.e. those with lower economic status. The indirect relationship is typically spread across a number of underlying risk factors rather than being limited to a single source. A neglectful mother who left home and stayed in social housing with all of her children, for example, may subconsciously pass on the daily habit of burying her pain and grief in alcohol. It is a product of environmental and genetic factors.
Popular links between drug addiction and economic status are as follows:
Level of education
Abuse and neglect
Genetic
State of mental health
Individual race
Parental drug and alcohol use
Level of economic status: wealth vs poverty
It is not that a wealthy person of higher economic status cannot experience exactly the same kind of trauma; it's just that there is a lesser tendency for that to happen in non-poor households. In other words, the many risk factors that can lead people to addiction and drug abuse are more common in households and areas with low economic status than in areas and families with high economic status. .
Substance abuse occurs in a variety of settings and influences distinct people from all walks of life. But how did the stereotype that all drug addicts are uneducated, homeless and unemployed (people considered to have lower economic status) come about? To build on this notion, many people naturally conclude that addiction is a condition that only affects the lazy or the weak. 23.1 million people addicted to drugs or alcohol tell a different story.
WHO defines drug addiction as the repeated use of one or more psychoactive substances to the point that the patient (attributed to an addict) is periodically or continuously elevated, feels an urge to take the desired substance (s), experiences considerable difficulty to voluntarily stop or modify his substance use, and has a strong desire to obtain psychoactive substances in almost every way. The amount of money you have or the economic status you belong to also has a very low impact on your propensity for addiction. These myths stem from the fact that drug abuse is more prevalent among people who live in such poverty or who have lower socio-economic status; however, the two are not causally related, and this does not demonstrate cause and effect.
Drug addiction, on the other hand, is somehow the natural outcome of the lifestyles of those with insufficient financial capital, i.e. those with lower economic status. The indirect relationship is typically spread across a number of underlying risk factors rather than being limited to a single source. A neglectful mother who left home and stayed in social housing with all of her children, for example, may subconsciously pass on the daily habit of burying her pain and grief in alcohol. It is a product of environmental and genetic factors.
Popular links between drug addiction and economic status are as follows:
Level of education
Abuse and neglect
Genetic
State of mental health
Individual race
Parental drug and alcohol use
Level of economic status: wealth vs poverty
It is not that a wealthy person of higher economic status cannot experience exactly the same kind of trauma; it's just that there is a lesser tendency for that to happen in non-poor households. In other words, the many risk factors that can lead people to addiction and drug abuse are more common in households and areas with low economic status than in areas and families with high economic status. .