What are some of the causes of substance abuse? Information on the different causes of substance abuse. There could be many reasons why someone becomes addicted to alcohol or drugs. For one, they just simply...
There could be many reasons why someone becomes addicted to alcohol or drugs. For one, they just simply may have an addictive personality. Someone with an addictive personality could become addicted to many things. Someone could be addicted to food, work, sex, or they may be addicted to gambling. These are people who when they do things, they do it in excess. They could even be addicted to exercise. It's more of a personality disorder. There could also be a biological addiction. Some people are more genetically predisposed to addiction. For instance, if an individual's mother was an alcoholic, then they are more genetically predisposed to alcoholism. If their mother and father are both alcoholics, they are at even greater risk. If their parents and grandparents were alcoholics then they are at an even greater risk than if just one of the parents or both of their parents were alcoholics. There is a genetic involvement or genetic issue at hand. Also, a lot of people become addicts because of some other complication happening in their life, whether it may be mental health or physical.
For example, someone who is in pain may feel better when they take pain medication. Most pain medication is addictive, so if someone is in pain, they feel better when they take pain medications. Some people are just perpetually in pain. Obviously, that could be a cause. If someone is blind, deaf or crippled, they recognize that they're different and, of course, they may not get the chances in life that other people get. They may not get career opportunities. They may not have opportunities with relationships, people may look at them differently, or they just held back somehow because of their deformity or handicap and that may frustrate them. When someone is experiencing frustration, it causes stress, anxiety, and depression. As a way to escape from reality, they may turn to drugs and alcohol. When someone gets drunk or does drugs, it makes them feel good for that moment. When someone is perpetually frustrated or stressed or feeling anxious because of a physical handicap or just depressed as the result of it, they want to escape from the reality. They may be drawn toward drugs and alcohol, because for that moment, they feel better. Then they just want to go to that place where they feel better and then they reach a point where it's hard to turn back.
There are people who may have some type of mental health condition. It may be bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder and any other mental health diagnosis could again make people recognize it. They may not be normal per se, or they may be different or that mental health condition may be creating some kind of grief, just like the physical handicap. The mental handicap could create stress, frustration, anxiety, depression and cause them to want to escape from reality. Taking drugs makes them feel better. Even though they are not getting a prescription from the doctor to do something to make them better, they feel better when they take drugs or they drink excessively.
The only other thing that I can think of that would force someone into addiction is if they were dealing with some kind of trauma. There may be people who have or are dealing with things in their life that are extreme, like rape, molestation, and physical or emotional abuse. These are hard things for people to deal with and different people have a different threshold for stress. If you have a child who was sexually molested, sexually abused or physically abused, when they get older they may have a hard time dealing with that issue emotionally. They may have witnessed a loved one being killed or something really traumatic that the person may not be able to emotionally cope with. Again, just like the mental or physical handicapped, they seek out and escape from reality with something that's going to make them feel better. When someone is just so emotionally distressed over an issue in their life, it may make them want to escape from reality and drink excessively or do drugs.
