I read an article yesterday that I sent off to my friend who’s an addiction counselor. I wanted her take on it. In the article, the author suggests (with some decent research to back up the claim, as far as I could tell – though I didn’t take the time to read it all) that addiction is something that is far less due to the chemical dependency caused by actually doing the drug (whatever it is), and far more due to the life that the addict is living.
For example, according to the author’s hypothesis, if someone were to take heroin for a while, for whatever reason, but then after that time, went back to their life, where they were connected to family and friends and society, then they wouldn’t continue taking the drug. The idea being that the more empty of connection our lives are, the more we’re likely to turn to drugs or alcohol to take us away from the isolation.
My friend had much to say about how it’s not that simple, and if that were the answer, we would have already solved addiction, with which I agree. I think everything is far more complex than any one answer. However, the article did make me ponder the role of depression in how people form bonds. Whether there are people around who love you or not, if you’re depressed, you feel isolated and alone.
In Ian’s case, he had so many people around who wanted to connect with him, but he never felt those bonds. And he drank because of it. Or he drank because he was an alcoholic, and the alcohol exacerbated his depression. Or some other configuration that also makes sense.
The article was compelling, because it offered a simple answer that is nigh impossible to implement. Make people’s lives better and they won’t become addicted. Give them community, and love, and enough money, and adequate entertainment, and everything will be grand. It would be nice if that worked. Ian had community, plenty of money, enough love (though he would argue not from the right source), and lots of entertainment, and he still drank to feel better. So putting aside the plausibility of everyone getting all of those things, even then, the answer isn’t that simple.
Because even with all those things, Depression still isolates and burdens and sometimes wins. So I’m going to offer my own pie in the sky, “the world will be perfect if” solution. Let’s eradicate depression. Cure it. Leave it by the side of the road of all of our lives to die.
Is that any more or less plausible than everyone getting everything they need? I don’t think so.
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