There is a moment in the life of every addict when they reach out for a drink or a drug for the very first time. Many people believe addiction is a disease, while others do not support this statement. Whatever the case, you make a decision to try a drug for the first time, and there is always a reason why you go down this route.
Why do People Do Drugs?
There may be so many reasons why someone decides to take drugs. Some do it to find an escape from their stressful lives, while others have their own reasons to try drugs. Here is more about it.
1. To Ease Symptoms of Certain Disorders
Many people use drugs to ease their suffering caused by depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, or other mental illnesses. Taking drugs can make one feel 'normal' again, even though for a short time only. Mental illness can be quite scary, and many people are often too afraid to go to a doctor or talk to a family member about it. Instead, they decide to do drugs.
2. To Follow the Footsteps of Their Role Models
Many teenagers and young adults do drugs when they see their role models, friends, family members, or entertainers doing the same. This makes them believe that they can control how much to take. They sometimes think that if their friends do drugs for a couple of years and look just fine, they can do the same. That is the reason why individuals with a family history of alcohol or drug abuse are more likely to develop an addiction at some stage in life.
3. To Relieve Stress
Why do people do drugs? Many people think that taking drugs is one surefire way of relieving stress because it makes them forget about things that are not working right for them. Finding and holding a job, maintaining a household, or simply having a family can become quite stressful, and some people try to get out of this stress by taking drugs.
4. To Relieve Pain
Many people start taking drugs to relieve pain after they become physically injured. Some people have chronic pain due to deformities, while others experience the same due to serious injuries. Doctors prescribe drugs to help relieve pain, but these people become too dependent on some drugs that it turns into an addiction. It means it is possible to get hooked on prescribed drugs unintentionally.
5. To Get Rid of Painful Memories
Why do people do drugs? One common answer is that it helps them forget about painful memories. If you have gone through some extremely traumatic events in your life, you are more susceptible to developing an addiction later in your life. Drugs help cover those horrible memories that haunt you all the time. It is better to work with psychologists than take drugs to cover painful memories.
6. To Enjoy the High
Some people try drugs accidentally but become addicted to the high they experience. The problem is that they have to take more and more of it to get the same high they experience the first time they try a drug. That feeling of extreme pleasure is the reason why many people do drugs.
7. To Deal with Boredom
Some people have no friends or their social lives are quite boring. It is often difficult for restless teenagers to overcome boredom. This makes them turn to alcohol, which usually starts with a few beers. Things often take a nosedive and they end up trying drugs, which may lead to addiction.
8. To Experience What Others Get from Drugs
In other words, some people try drugs out of curiosity. They want to know what is so special about drugs that people cannot quit using them. Others end up becoming addicts while trying to satisfy their desire to try new things. Most of these teenagers say to themselves that they are going to use it once only to find out what it feels like to get high or drunk. Once they do, it goes out of hand before they even know what is happening.
9. To Show Their Rebellious Nature
Some rebellious teens use different substances to show what they feel about the world in general. Alcohol is the most common choice for the angry teenager because it allows them to behave freely, and sometimes aggressively. Some drugs such as methamphetamine encourage violent, aggressive behavior. Smoking cigarettes on the other hand is a way to make their parents angry and flaunt their independence.
10. To Overcome Shyness
Why do people do drugs? It may well be a way to overcome shyness. Many teenagers take drugs to do things that they would never do while not under the influence of drugs. They believe that alcohol and other drugs help them loosen their inhibitions and even help alleviate social anxiety.
Why Do Some People Become Addicted While Others Do Not?
Many factors play a role in determining why some people become addicted and others do not. The most common factors include the following:
- Biology: Genetics in combination with environmental factors play a big role here. Moreover, ethnicity, gender, and the presence of mental disorders also explain why some people end up becoming addicted to drugs.
- Environment: Factors such as physical and sexual abuse, peer pressure, quality of parent, and stress are some of the environmental factors that may make a person addicted to drugs.
- Development: Both environmental and genetic factors work with critical developmental stages to affect your addiction vulnerability. While you can become addicted to drugs at any age, you are more likely to become an addict if you start taking drugs early in your life.