For many of us, when we think of an ‘addicted’ street drug user, pill popper, or alcoholic, we picture welfare-dependent individuals who have made it their life’s work (by personal choice) to be a drain on society. After all, in a world where we know so much about the awful side effects of drugs, any smart or decent person would know better, right?
We don’t think about the housewife living in suburbia, with exactly 3.1 children, in a $350,000 cookie-cutter home, driving a minivan—someone who could be addicted to meth or painkillers. We don’t imagine the six-figure earning corporate executive, on a fast track to wealth and fame, could be smoking pot or snorting cocaine. Moreover, we certainly don’t imagine that your child’s favorite kindergarten teacher, the church choir leader, or your son’s baseball coach could ever harbor an addiction to marijuana. Yet, according to emerging research from multiple health and science agencies, the most likely candidates to try new drugs are middle- to upper-class, educated white individuals. Science News Daily published a report in April 2011, which classified middle- and upper-class, employed, and educated people as one of the most ‘at risk’ sociological groups for drug addiction.
The Unlikely Addict: Breaking the Stereotype
When you look at the figures, and if you were to peer into the private lives of people you might never suspect as addicts, you would be alarmed to find that addiction knows no boundaries.
Certainly, certain sociological conditions—such as poverty and family influence—play a large role in making a person at risk for exposure to drugs and subsequent drug addiction. Yet with illegal substances being so readily available across all economic groups, the white male from suburbia who plays on the football team has just as high a chance as the young black male ‘from the hood’ to become a drug addict.
Among illegal natural and man-made drugs, a new and growing problem leading to addiction is the ease of access to painkillers and psychotic medications. In the United States, pain management and diet centers are popping up in nearly every strip mall, regardless of economic demographics, pushing feel-good products to anyone who will come in and buy them.
In addition to drug addicts and alcoholics, there is an increasing number of middle- and upper-class sex addicts being diagnosed each year. Gambling, despite being illegal in many areas, has always been an addiction known to the most unsuspecting individuals. There is also a 2 out of 10 chance that the woman leading the household in your neighbor’s house is binge eating, addicted to exercise, or on the brink of anorexia.
According to the dictionary, addiction is defined as “the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice, or to something that is physically or psychologically habit-forming, to the extent that its cessation causes psychological trauma.”
How do you react without your morning coffee? Do you get anxious or nervous just thinking about the thought of giving up cigarettes or wine? If you were unable to exercise or check Facebook for an entire week or month, would you experience some level of psychological trauma?
Obsessive-compulsive disorder, which the American Academy of Psychology believes afflicts 2 out of every 3 people in one way or another, is the cornerstone of addictive behavior. It is easy for any of us to sit back in judgment of the meth addict or alcoholic when we ourselves are likely addicted to one thing or another in our own lives. When the addiction is to something harmful, it can pose major problems in your life. When the addiction involves something illegal or outwardly accepted as negative—such as pain pills, cigarettes, or street drugs—it is easy to jump on the bandwagon of judgment towards another person’s behavior and ‘perceived choice’ in their lives. However, when the addiction is to something socially accepted but nonetheless destructive to the individual, we tend to label it differently and are more compassionate.
The human mind is the strongest feature of humanity. The stronghold that our minds have on habits in our lives is definitely a force to be reckoned with. When you get down to the basics, nearly every single one of us has one addiction or another. Getting help and breaking free from the often-illogical stranglehold that our addictions have on us—emotionally, physically, and psychologically—is one of the most difficult feats to master. Most sociologists and psychologists believe that our tendency to ‘addict’ to things in our lives cannot be completely broken. The first step is to upgrade our addictions to something healthier and wiser. For instance, if you want to break an addiction to nicotine, you almost need to find a replacement habit in order to be successful.
Take a look around. Whitney Houston, who had nearly every reason to be happy in life, overdosed and died due to an addiction. Your neighbor or colleague may be harboring an addiction of some sort as well. Moreover, chances are YOU have some addictions of your own. Hopefully, as a society, we can move away from the stereotypes of who is a potential addict and who isn’t, so that each and every person will have the opportunity to heal or at least trade their negative habit in for something less damaging.
