Article on Addiction as a Social and Mental Disorder
Addiction is a social evil. The way sorrow is experienced together, not only the intensity of sorrow is reduced, but it also becomes easier to go through the process of sorrow. In the same way, if instead of the disease of addiction or hatred towards drug addicts, an effort is made to understand their condition socially and to get out of it, then its solution will also become possible and easy. It is a huge misconception that addiction only harms the addict, when the reality is that the effects of addiction not only on the family, but also on the people around and the entire society are as profound as on the addict. Addiction is a mental disorder that has physical, psychological, social and spiritual aspects.It is a chronic and slowly progressive disorder, the effects of which are gradually affecting everyone and if not treated on time, it can prove fatal. Addiction not only has a devastating effect on the life of the individual, but because of the addict, his family is the most affected.Parents generally blame this disease on their own lack of training and feel guilty. They hide from people and gradually stop interacting with people. The environment of the house is always suffocated by the actions and movements of the drug addict, which affects every member of the house such as siblings, spouse or children. In case of not going to school, job or workplace on time and not completing work on time, other people are also affected and the overall progress of the society is also slowed down, which wastes time and resources. In this way, in case of involvement in illegal activities (theft, robbery, quarrel, vandalism, selling drugs, accidents, etc.), not only the lives and property of others are damaged, but the society becomes a victim of chaos and anarchy. Drug abuse can have individual as well as social causes. . Childhood traumas (sexual, physical, psychological, violence) and dysfunctional family systems (divorce, separation, poverty, etc.) are also considered to be a cause of addiction. Children who have low self-esteem from childhood are more prone to addiction. Where the general availability of drugs is a question mark on the functioning of the government and institutions, and the easy availability of drugs in educational institutions, especially universities, speaks volumes about the carelessness of the management of educational institutions. As much as As many people are suffering from this disease, this problem is being neglected. The work of the Anti-Narcotics Force is limited to Say No to Drugs or else۔ The duty is fulfilled by burning some kilograms of drugs every year. Social media and electronic media do not provide adequate awareness about the disease of addiction and instead of treating or sympathizing with addicts, they are made targets of hatred. This negative attitude of the world forces addicts to stay away from society. People suffering from addiction are a part of this society. Which unconsciously intoxicates, then wears in Vicious Cycle There are and they can't stop addiction by themselves even if they want to, so they need help. The rest of the drug addict Like people suffering from diseases, love, compassion and attention are needed as well as treatment, but only contempt, scorn and mistreatment from people comes to the part of the addict. The darkest and most tragic aspect of our society is that the specialists and examiners who treat this disorder either do not have complete knowledge about it or are not interested in treating it despite having knowledge. If the patient is not treated, how will the patient recover? More sadly, in case of relapse, all the blame is placed on the patient . Due to brutal behavior, patients and their families lose confidence in the treatment and recovery of the patient .becomes impossible. We as a society need to take some serious practical steps so that we can collectively try to get out of this misery. 1. First of all, experts should be honest with their profession. Honesty requires that they have complete knowledge and experience about their profession and secondly, that they should be sincere with their profession so that they can give the best treatment to any patient who comes to them.There should be strict punishment for drug trafficking and the punishment should be enforced. Portugal Decriminalization us too Model should be implemented. According to this, in case of recovery of drugs from a drug addict, they should not be punished, but they should be sent to a treatment center, while drug dealers should be severely punished. Addiction disease in educational institutions There should be an Addiction Knowledge Hub for awareness. Where students There should be a free parenting session to solve the psychological problems of female students. Educational institutions should teach students life skills along with degrees. For the awareness of parents, periodic lectures should be organized in educational institutions in which parents should be given guidance on preventive measures to protect their children from addiction, early signs of addiction and their treatment in case of addiction disease. 5. "Addiction is a disorder and not moral weakness or lack of training" should be campaigned on social media and electronic media so that people understand it as a disorder and instead of hiding it, they can come to get out of it. People in recovery should also be invited to various programs where they can share their success stories (anonymously) in order to create a ray of hope for addicts and their families and eliminate stigma. The government should create institutions where homeless or poor drug addicts can be given shelter as well as free treatment. After recovering from addiction, they should be equipped with education or taught different skills to make them live and become active citizens of the society.If a drug addict is caught committing an illegal act (theft, vandalism, fighting, drug dealing, drug use, etc.), then the public should not take the law into their hands and hand him over to such institutions where he will not only be kept free from new drugs, but also guided and assisted in coming to recovery.In short, addiction is a mental disorder due to which changes occur in the structure and functions of the mind of the addict, due to which they completely lose control over their thoughts and actions, and in such a situation, the patient can do anything. Therefore, understanding the nature of this disorder, we should make a collective effort to remove the patient from it so that our society can be free from this disease.
Maham Shafique MA Social Work
Executive Member Star Welfare Organization Punjab
