Back in the day, mental illnesses were misunderstood and were made out to be shameful topics and discussions that no one should take part in. However, this mentality gradually changed over the years. People became more mentally aware and healthy. Mental awareness campaigns, psychologists, and the educational system have been enlightening society and have broken down what mental illnesses are and how they can be treated. Unfortunately, despite this more positive attitude towards it, some people still avoid talking about addiction and treat addicts as if they were abominations. The reason behind this hurtful attitude is that people fear what they don’t understand and there many individuals who are not clear on the nature of addiction and still believe in myths that are not even remotely true.
Get Your Facts Straight
Understand that addiction is a mental illness. There are many people who are naturally prone to getting addicted to anything. The thing is society has a double standard when it comes to addiction because while they highly criticize addiction and addicts, they turn a blind eye to smokers who are addicted to nicotine, alcoholics, and any other addictive activity that is normalized by the society. But, in reality, all addicts have the same illness whether they were addicted to nicotine or cocaine. Just because some substance aren’t as dangerous as others.
First Timers
Another false idea that is broadly propagated is that individuals who engage in substance abuse for the first time get addicted at once. This idea is only but a myth; there are a number of drugs that can do so, such as meth for example, but not all of them. You can always read up on this subject and learn more about how to be able to recognize signs and symptoms of addiction to these kinds of drugs. It’s very important that you read and learn about these drugs, other than the fact that you’ll be gaining general knowledge you can also correct others who still have false beliefs upon the subject.
Negative Stigma
For the longest time there has been this negative stigma around addicts and addiction; people are convinced that addicts are notorious for being “bad” human beings in general. Putting a label on someone that you just met for the first time is a natural human tendency, but just because it’s natural and easy doesn’t mean that we give into the idea of automatically labeling addicts as “bad” people only because society has taught us so.
Legalized
Remember that in this day and age, there are a lot of types of drugs that have been legalized by various countries. Why would the government legalize some drugs if they were truly harmful? Why would the health institution recommend such “horrible substances” to people with chronic pain if these substances were toxic? Not every kind of drug damages a person’s body; on the contrary, some are actually helpful.
Recovery
Recovery isn’t for addicts only; it’s also for people who still have some misconceptions regarding addicts and addiction. The negative stigma and the dirty eye stares that people give to addicts are the main reason why some of them never make it back. Break the stereotypes by understanding the nature of addiction. Teach yourself about different types of drugs, understand the psyche of the addict, and finally know that some drugs are already legalized, which means that they’re not all dangerous.