The Dread That Haunts Mothers, Especially - Drug Addiction | IV

Many more people from diverse fields expressed their opinions on this topic as evil has reached our doorstep. A very well-educated homemaker who works independently voiced her opinion on this topic. She felt if parents, mostly the father, indulge in alcohol, then for the children, it becomes an everyday spectacle and one does not find it wrong. So, it easily gets accepted. In the present time, almost every celebration is nothing but food, music and drink. She is a mother of a 17-year-old boy, she finds this to be extremely worrisome, her anxiety has no bounds.

A senior counsellor finds that the social and economic picture has changed at a great pace in the last couple of decades. There was not such an unimaginable amount of money in our society, nor were this kind opportunities to earn so much. Money was to be used sparingly, people had to spend very carefully. Provision for future responsibilities was a challenge, but now with education and economic reforms, this generation gets the amount of money which was probably at the level of fantasy some years ago. ( His expression is undeserved prosperity. ) This money too plays an important role in addiction.

A CA working with a renowned firm feels that all professionals should have a small course of financial literacy as a part of their education too. This would enable them to deal with the money effectively. It would make them aware of their future needs too. She as a professional deals with this point very often.

Prof Anuradha Karkare who is a senior and experienced counsellor and a social worker, has been running a de-addiction centre for the last two years and has the experience of more than 3 decades, discussed many aspects related to all kinds of addiction exhaustively.

Her observation is that everyone who tries such things does not turn addicted. Young girls and boys we see getting into this have many reasons, peer pressure is very significant, and their age makes them experiment with many things in life. Alcohol, smoking, tobacco and drugs are also treated as adventure. Sometimes they think it gives them a different image of being cool, and to an extent our entertainment world too supports this kind of fantasy.

Many families' educated and economically higher class homes have bars made at home, and even hukka desks adorn the modern homes, the variety of drinks it has is a point to boast upon and treated to be a symbol of being progressive, unfortunately. Women too extend their support by joining or by not being apprehensive about all the things. They cook for such occasions with great enthusiasm, thus it becomes a way to socialize. Children have easy access to and introduction to this world, this is a normal trend. Fathers don't become addicted, but children many times do, and then fathers have nothing but remorse and grief though it can in no way help the child.

Basically, women are not behind, in addition, this world is equally available to them. Anuradha feels this is not the kind of equality women fought for. Women wanted equal rights, independence, take education of their choice, make decisions for themselves, they did not want to tolerate injustice at any stage. Entertaining all sorts of things like alcohol, smoking, and drugs is not part of equality, the personality traits that were criticised are being embraced. Aggression or treating homemaking as an inferior task, are some prominent examples.

Changed financial position too renders a sort of complex, it is my money, I can afford. Sometimes parents too are left helpless, because they are dependent financially, they can hardly object, so addiction to a great extent is ignored and silently tolerated. In lower socio-economic class awareness is a problem that adds to the complexity. Dependence is even more in the lower income group as compared to the class where the older generation has good provision for their post-retirement phase.

One of the reasons she stated is the choice of career, one selects a path for various reasons, but one may not have a natural inclination to it. This results in frustration, one cannot adjust to the situation and some take refuge in drugs.

Many students have to shift to a new town or city, there is a probability of getting attracted to drugs alcohol or smoking due for many reasons as immediately no one from the family can notice it. The families trust the child, and the person too rationalises it as one would not turn an addict, would not be a regular to drug consumption. One does not understand how one travels from an experiment or an adventure to drug abuse. Sometimes it is not directly drug, but as one develops the feeling that one needs something else to experience the kick, one may turn to drugs.
One of the theories is ( there are many that try to explain why one goes to the extreme of addiction) that some are genetically prone to get addicted, but all are not. She stated that it is observed that 8-10% of individuals become addicted, not all who try. It is believed that there is some genetic reason too. Of course, none of the theories give a satisfactory answer to the question of why some get deep into it, but not all.

The discussion took a different turn, of course, the kind of treatment used was to be discussed, but I had many points to discuss which many had raised.

We have many spiritual or religious traditions in our society. With the education system the British developed in our country, they focused on destroying all the existing systems. Everything was pronounced to be useless, no words were minced to denounce it. Our deities were ridiculed and mocked. Many were forced under different guises to change their faith, this changed their belief system too. Western science was treated to be the only valid explanation, this westernization was the only way to modernization. The systems followed till then were labelled as regressive, everything that existed was worth just doing away with. This gradually changed our way of life to an extent and the value system too gradually driven out of our cultural set-up. So if one wants to be progressive, one has to embrace western values, social systems and social institutions. Nucleus families too in a way worked in favour of the situation, social interaction has been reduced to some extent, and there are not many people at home to whom one owes some explanation.

Many traditions were followed which could help control behaviour. The pilgrims who go to Pandharpur year after year wear a particular garland, and once they wear it, they don't entertain drinks or non-vegetarian food. This is never paid attention to as one of the ways to help one bring to the right path. We have the tradition of learning our stotras ( स्तोत्र) by heart, they are chanted every day which keeps the mind calm and unperturbed for some time. There used to be kirtans ( कीर्तन) in many temples and in open assembly places on many occasions. Many knew haripathh ( हरीपाठ ) by heart and every day it used to be sung in temples with actions sometimes. Our festivals have artis sung(आरती), which creates a good psychological ambience. These may not be the only ways, but they do help control our behaviour to an extent. Children enjoy such occasions,but such celebrations are not favoured by many schools. ( More discussion on this aspect will be a part of the next write ups )

Are these things helpful as one of the preventive measures for those who have some sort of spiritual bent of mind? I wanted to know from Anuradha, and she said of course these should not be discarded as useless, some people may find them working, so there is no harm in giving it an opportunity. Anything that may help should be tried. The thin line between faith and blind faith should always be drawn carefully. She said that the inmates of her institution like morning and evening storey chanting sessions, they find some solace in this chanting and draw strength. She talks about morality and good choices as a part of group discussion, they assist one to perceive reality.

The success rate in her institution is almost 32%, it moved from 22 to 32, of course, they take extreme care and plan the programmes meticulously. Anything that has some chance to succeed, may be tried, she stated with conviction.