Trauma is the gateway drug. Telling people ‘just say no’ when their body [is] in survival mode doesn’t work. (Credits: Shutterstock)
Nicole categorised drug addiction as a “silent pandemic” and asked people to understand the reason behind people harming themselves through drug addiction.
Drug addiction is something that has been battled in various ways. But till date, there is no full-proof method of curing it. There are rehabilitation centers to help addicts but even after that people tend to relapse and go back to consuming drugs. Psychologists say that the most important factor of drug addiction for one is to understand the root cause of the problem rather than trying to stop the person from consuming drugs. The motivation of self-harm comes from the deep-rooted traumatic experiences in one’s life.
Psychologist Nicole LePera took to Instagram to explain the causes of drug addiction and what she observed while interacting with various groups of people who were addicts. “Trauma is the gateway drug. Telling people ‘just say no’ when their body [is] in survival mode doesn’t work,” she said.
Nicole categorised drug addiction as a “silent pandemic” and asked people to understand the reason behind people harming themselves through drug addiction. “Why do people seek substances that they know are harmful for them or could even take their lives? And destroy relationships,” a part of the caption read. She added that the reason behind this was escaping emotional pain and the inability to self soothe.
She explained that while running groups for people who struggled with addiction, she found that there was a “wounded inner child who didn’t feel good enough, who didn’t feel loved + who lived in cycles of self sabotage.” “I believe we need collective healing, new systems + emotionally healthy family dynamics,” she said while concluding her caption.
Like LePera, many psychologists have urged people around the world to sympathise with drug addicts and understand their problems rather than shutting them out or abandoning them. The best way to deal with mental health issues is to understand where these issues originate from and what incidents caused the damage rather than blaming a person for their present actions of self-sabotage and self-harm.
