Drug Addicts: Need Empathy (Part 1/2)

Drug addicts need empathy. In this article, we are going to put ourselves in the shoes of addicts. Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. We will look at what’s happening in their mind? How does society aggravate their problems? We want to look at the world through their eyes.

If it was a movie that definitely would have been a horror movie and he was a zombie. He was drooling, eyes heavy, speech slurred. He was reeking from a potent combination of alcohol, marijuana, and cough medicine. As I felt sorry for his situation I realized that this drug addict needed empathy more than anything. He spoke in metaphors, my companions concluded that this man had “lost his mind.” The more I listened to him I realized that I had to see things his way and his metaphors started making sense. With the support of loving companions, he started putting his life together over the course of many months.

How do they become addicts?

I have often seen a pattern that most addicts start out as brilliant kids, well mannered, with high standards of decorum, or all of the above. At some point in their life, they give up all that comfort and privilege for a life of drugs. What is most common is that they gave in to drugs because of the following reasons.

1. Unrealistic expectations from their parents or guardians. Remember we noted that most are were high achievers. Most parents end up placing high hopes for the future on them. Rather than let them enjoy their childhood, these kids have to chase their parent’s dreams. When they fail they may over scold the kids who then turn to drugs as a form of tension release.
2. Peer pressure. Kids need to hang out as part of social skills development. The problem comes when it’s the wrong crowd. Put yourself in the shoes of a teenager. He is under stress to perform at school because of the high expectations of his parents. At school, he finds comfort in the company of drug addicts which he knows is wrong but feels right still. For how long will he hold out? He starts out slowly until it becomes an addiction.
3. Stresses of life. Another major driver is disharmony in the family circle due to misunderstandings, abuse, financial stress, health problems, and more. Kids can see that parents are not getting along well. If parents feel the brunt of difficult situations what more for a mere child. Like all of us, the child will look for an outlet. When the child hangs out with the wrong crowd then you have “one drug addict coming up”

Why can’t they stop?

The more drugs one takes the harder it becomes to stop. The following factors make it a web of entanglement that is complex.

1. Power of each drug. Ranging from laughing to mental and behavioral alterations each drug a person takes has effects that compel them to take more. These cravings will create a need to get another one. Often these kids will have 3 or more simultaneously.
2. Each drug brings its own complications to the table. In most cases, the drugs create swings of highs and lows. When low the individual operates sub-optimally with manifestations like headaches, hallucinations, body pains & shivers, and more. This causes them to look for them to get high again. This cycle creates dependency which is basically an addiction. The more they dig into the grave the deeper it gets.
3. Society makes it hard to recover. Our comments and actions to them are very powerful. Remember most start because of societal pressure. Think of it as follows, the addict is like a sprinter and he expects us to cheer him to win the race because we are his people. How would you feel if the people you expected to be in your corner started booing at you? It is discouraging, right? Imagine the drug addict goes through that every day. Drug addicts need our empathy

Drug addiction has become a societal problem. Now think of this, if it is a societal problem it follows that if society played a big role in creating the problem then society also plays an important role in solving the problem. In part 2 of Drug addicts, we will look at what ways society can practice active empathy. Please subscribe below or follow us on twitter for updates

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Tafadzwa Moyo

Tafadzwa is an Innovation Strategist otherwise spends his time blogging his thoughts and observations. Also playing chess whenever he gets an opportunity.