Aggressive and Impulsive Teenager at Higher Risk for Substance Abuse

In today’s world we are facing more challenges, like poverty, corruption, begging, underdevelopment, unemployment etc., and all these problems contribute to form a new problem and that is one of the fast growing problems - drug addiction.

The range of drugs has increased to alarming level; drugs like Narcotic - Analgesics, Morphine, Opium, Heroin, Brown Sugar, Pethedine: Stimulants, Cocaine, Amphithemine, Depressants: Alcohol - Barbiturates, Diazepam, Hallucinogens d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), Mescaline, Phencyclidine, Psilocybin and Cannabis: Ganja - Charas, Hash Oil etc., are now frequently abused.

The term “drug” refers to a wide variety of chemical substances consumed by humans. Drug addiction as defined by WHO (1992) is a “behavioural pattern of drug use characterized by overwhelming involvement with the use of drug, compulsive drug seeking behaviour and a high tendency to relapse after withdrawal”.

The term, drug abuse, generally refers to the use of drug, usually by self-administration, in a manner that is not approved by the medical or by social patterns of a given culture. The term is thus indicative of social disapproval about the use of a drug. Thus drug abuse, is defined as taking a drug for reasons other than medical, in an amount, strength, frequency or manner that damages the physical or mental functioning.

There are a number of risk factors which have been correlated to serious substance abuse in adolescents. The presence of a parent or other relatives with substance abuse in the family is the most crucial factor. Lack of achievement, especially in school and poor self-esteem correlate with alcohol and substance abuse. The aggressive and impulsive teenager is at higher risk for substance abuse.

If the world statistic on the drug scenario is taken into account with a turnover of $500 billion, it is the third largest business in the world next to petroleum and arm trade. About 190 million people all over the world consume one drug or other (Carballo and Nerukar, 2001). India too is caught in this vicious circle of drug abuse, and the number of drug addicts is adding day by day. According to (Drugs, 2004) 1 million heroin addicts are registered in India and unofficially there are as many as 5 million

The problem of drug addiction among youth in the valley of Kashmir is one of the biggest concerns today. The problem is not confined to the males alone but has started to grip the female youth also. Nobody can deny the fact that the impact of drug addiction is not confined to the addict alone, but also affects the quality of life of whole family.

Additionally, a wide range of dysfunctional behaviours can result from drug abuse and interfere with normal functioning in the family, the workplace, and broader community. Untreated substance abuse adds significant costs to families in the form of domestic violence, property crimes, child abuse and neglect, reduced productivity and even unemployment. Drug addiction is a complex but treatable disease.

While the path to drug addiction begins with the act of taking drugs, over a period of time a person’s ability to choose not to do so becomes compromised, and seeking and consuming the drug becomes compulsive. Drug addiction has many symptoms, and hence, it is also called drug syndrome. Drug addiction is a lifestyle disease and in recent times it has become a universal social and public health problem. Drug addicts tend to be more rebellious.

They are hostile to authority and oppose conventional social values and traditional values. Due to the reason, drug abuse and addictions have so many dimensions and disrupt so many aspects of an individual’s life. The ultimate goal of drug de-addiction is to enable an individual to achieve lasting abstinence, but the immediate goals are to reduce drug abuse, improve the patient’s ability to function, and minimize the medical and social complications.

Parental separation, divorce and disturbed family relationships and peer drug use increase the likelihood of the adolescent’s drug problem. Other risk factors for substance abuse include social isolation and unconventional behaviour patterns. Personality patterns exhibited by children with substance dependence include behavioural deviance, delinquency, violence, vandalism and hostility. Drugs may temporarily relieve the emotional stresses accompanying the identity-crisis.

A person with an established sense of ego-identity could resist such pressures. Addicts often show neurotic tendencies too. In addition to individual characteristics, social environment also plays a significant role in making the individual vulnerable to drug addiction, especially the family. The family being the basic unit of human experience is the most important socializing agent that influences the development of a child’s personality.

Family, is the most important unit of society, when it does not function adequately, the individuals feel anxious, frustrated, dissatisfied, insecure, or even hostile towards family members. Such problems at times drag the individual into drug addiction. Another important factor in the initiation of drug seeking behaviour is the peer group pressure. Individuals who come from disturbed home environment seek the company of groups which may sometimes encourage the use of drugs.

BY Mohsin Ahmad Dar and Dr Ashiq Hussain War