Drug addiction is a long-term problem. Physical dependence from drug addiction

What is the reason drug addiction? Dissatisfaction with life? Coincidence or curiosity? Having tried the state of “high” just once at an early age, a teenager will see it as a way out of contact with real life. The teenager finds not just pleasure in using drugs, but with the help of psychotropic drugs he tries to find compensation for dissatisfaction.

Most often, it is teenagers with an unbalanced character who begin to use such compensators. Sometimes in “wrong” families, where there is no trust and mutual understanding, teenagers look for a replacement for these normal human relationships and allegedly “find” it in drugs.

As a result of scandals and the desire to show oneself to those around oneself as old enough and independent, the first acquaintance with psychotropic substances occurs. Most often this happens in families of drug addicts - drugs are easily available, parents usually do not even know when their child will try a harmful potion for the first time.

Craving for drugs - the reason for its occurrence

It is worth dividing the attraction to drugs into physical and psychological. Due to the use of narcotic substances, the human body is rebuilt, so-called addiction occurs. Children's body susceptible to such effects of psychotropic substances much more than an adult. Not all types of drugs can be so addictive

Psychological dependence on psychotropic substances includes an irresistible desire to experience a feeling of comfort and “morbid happiness.”

Dependence can occur even after one use of psychotropic substances.

Such drug addiction can occur in both adolescents and adults. Compulsive and mental dependence are observed. With compulsive addiction, the patient cannot think about anything else but the opportunity to get the coveted “dose.” At mental dependence dissatisfaction with everything around and a depressed state arises, but as soon as the opportunity to obtain the desired remedy arises, the person becomes lively and joyful. Drug addicts also develop tolerance to drugs, when the dose has to be increased each time.

Video about the problem “Drug addiction” from Oleg Boldyrev

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How to recognize a drug addict?

It is not always possible to recognize a drug addict in a person walking towards you. It is clear that a person for a long time who uses psychotropic substances is different from others, he has such external signs, How

Detached look
Regardless of the lighting, pupils are too dilated or narrow
Untidyness in all appearance - dirty hair, hands, damaged teeth
The man slouches all the time
Speaks slowly and with delays
Tries to wear long sleeves
Rude in communication and irritable
Clumsy movements with no smell of alcohol at all
On the back of the hands, marks from injections are visible - such marks can be anywhere and merge into a continuous groove.

People living with a person may notice drug addiction more quickly. It depends on your loved ones whether you will have time to recognize the onset of the disease. The first signs are known to everyone:

Relationships with family deteriorate, secrecy appears
Sleep patterns change
Previously favorite activities do not bring satisfaction
Adolescents experience declines in school performance
Behavior changes; in the absence of the smell of alcohol, a person behaves as if drunk
Continuous search for money, sometimes things start disappearing from the house
Strange acquaintances appear, suspicious telephone conversations are heard
Sudden change of mood
Injection marks appear on the hands

Recovery depends only on the loved ones around the person. Only those who use drugs themselves all the time can just let it go. For everyone else, it is important to return the person to a normal state, and since recovery takes a lot of time, there is no need to delay contacting doctors. The sooner you turn first to psychologists and then to doctors, the higher the likelihood of complete healing.

Drug addiction at any stage requires treatment at the clinic

You will probably hear promises to cope with your addiction yourself. But without compulsory treatment you still can't do it. It is best to refer the sick person to a clinic where timely treatment will be provided. health care. It is important to prevent even a short-term relapse, because to get rid of the second time dangerous condition much harder. The right help from psychologists is important here; a person cannot admit to himself that he is dangerously ill. There are always justifiable reasons for repeated use of psychotropic substances; the patient tries to evoke pity for himself, tries to put so much pressure on his relatives that they will meet him halfway. This is a disastrous step; a drug addict, like an alcoholic, can only be cured by force.

In modern clinics, a whole rehabilitation system has been created - it all starts with the elimination of withdrawal symptoms and detoxification of the entire body. Only after this does the struggle for a person begin. This is really a real fight, in which on the one hand there is dependence, weak character sick, unwillingness to fight and memory, so helpfully suggesting that there, beyond the black line, there is no need to care about anything. And on the other hand real life with all its shortcomings and joys.

Only the subtle, correct work of psychologists and sensitive medical personnel can bring a person back to life, and help is often needed not only by the patient himself, but also by his relatives.

Drug addiction is a long road to recovery

After rehabilitation comes adaptation - this is also a long way to normal life, you can’t do it without the help of your family. So, let's summarize. To get rid of drug addiction, you will have to go through four circles of hell into which a person finds himself:

Cleansing the body of drug poison and relieving withdrawal symptoms
Restoring normal functioning of the body
Removal main reason dependencies
Compliance with conditions in which the patient cannot fall into a relapse, from which it is much more difficult to pull out.

How does drug addiction occur?

Drug addiction is a disease accompanied by a pathological craving for consumption. psychoactive substances. This “virus” infects indiscriminately, its victims are successful businessmen and unfulfilled youths, hardy athletes and fragile young ladies, children of police officers and street children, penthouse residents and slum dwellers. The mechanism for the spread of drug addiction is the same - after a single dose, euphoria sets in, a person is overtaken by a wave of pleasure, crazy joy. Upon completion of the drug’s effect and in the absence of the next dose, “withdrawal” occurs, manifested by various symptoms. Drug addiction is a social disease, and therefore it must be eliminated through joint efforts.

Signs of drug addiction

The described type of addiction is insidious and multifaceted, since there are many types of narcotic substances and each individually affects the human body.

External manifestations, mental and behavioral changes can differ significantly between cocaine lovers and substance abusers. However, it is possible to identify a number of common signs of drug addiction that confirm the use of drugs that give euphoria. And, first of all, it is necessary to highlight the manifestations that occur in external appearance:

– the epidermis either turns red or turns pale, shiny, or flaky;

– the eyes also turn red and have an unhealthy shine;

– the pupils are steadily dilated or constricted to the point of invisibility;

– severe irritation often appears around the mouth or in the corners;

– facial expressions change: the face becomes too lively or acquires a stable expression;

– lacrimation, which is accompanied by a runny nose;

– the tongue is coated and longitudinal cracks may appear.

In addition, the appearance of a subject suffering from the type of addiction in question becomes sloppy. Such individuals wear wrinkled, dirty clothes. Preference is given to darker shades. Hair is usually unwashed, unkempt nails. Drug addicts wear glasses with tinted lenses even on a cloudy day.

It is also possible to identify secondary signs of drug addiction, which appear much later, when the subject has been consuming drugs for a long period of time, namely:

– crumbling of teeth, as well as their loss;

– premature appearance of wrinkles;

– brittle nails;

– skin ulcers.

When ulcers appear on the dermis, this indicates the transition of drug addiction to the final stage. The body is on at this stage very weakened, his systems and organs gradually fail, which often leads to death.

In chronic drug addicts, behavioral reactions change significantly with frequent drug use. The severity of manifestations is determined by the type of drug, frequency of use, daily dose and route of administration. In individuals suffering from drug addiction, as a rule, talkativeness and good nature suddenly change without reason. In addition, signs of enslavement to a destructive passion are often expressed by euphoria and motor retardation.

Types of drug addiction

Conventionally, the type of addiction considered can be divided into psychological dependence and physical dependence.

Psychological addiction to drugs is a painful desire of an individual to periodically or permanently eliminate mental discomfort through means that cause euphoria, or to experience sweet sensations. This drug addiction occurs as a result of repeated use of psychoactive drugs, but it can also be caused by a single use of psychoactive substances.

Pathological dependence on the need to constantly take drugs is formed as a result of the individual’s harmful desire to transform his own state through drugs. Such cravings can be compulsive or mental.

Compulsive craving is an irresistible desire to get a portion of the desired drug, which completely covers the addict and controls his behavior, guides his desires in order to get the drug.

Mental attraction is found in persistent thoughts about the desired substance, depressed mood, liveliness and elation in anticipation of receiving a dose and dissatisfaction in the absence of it.

Physical addiction to drugs is a state of restructuring of the body due to prolonged use of psychoactive substances. It manifests itself as severe mental dysfunction and somatic disorders in the absence of a dose or neutralization of the drug through specific antagonists (withdrawal syndrome, withdrawal syndrome). Relief of symptoms or its relief occurs after the resumption of the drug in the body. Clinical picture withdrawal syndrome is determined by the specifics of the drug used. Physical dependence can be caused individual species drugs, namely: cocaine, cannabinoids, amphetamines, designer drugs (fentanyl) or several substances together (polydrug addiction).

Cannabinoid slavery takes a long time to form. This is where the danger of this addiction lies. At first, a person thinks that he is achieving peace and relaxation, but later the drug turns into the only meaning of existence.

All types of harmful addiction to drugs have similarities - an individual begins to use drugs in order to escape from an unsatisfactory reality or solve problems, but the result is a destructive addiction.

Cocaine is a common drug. It shows a stimulating effect on nervous system, generating euphoria, and also has an analgesic effect.

After taking the dose, the captive individual feels a short-term influx of energy. But after a few hours, a sharp decline in strength sets in, and the mood worsens. To obtain the initial feeling of euphoria, the individual constantly needs to take more and more frequent doses of cocaine. Therefore, this drug is also called a “fast killer.”

Immediately after administration narcotic substance the capillaries narrow sharply, the pulse quickens, and pressure rises. Therefore, drug addicts often experience hypertensive crises, as well as myocardial attacks, leading to death.

Cocaine slavery causes causeless, which becomes more complicated and develops. The individual may feel as if insects are crawling under the dermis. Long-term use of the drug leads to exhaustion and loss of sleep.

Often cocaine slaves also use other substances, for example, heroin, sleeping pills, tranquilizers. This causes the development of so-called polydrug addiction.

Amphetamines are synthesized narcotic substances and are an analogue of ephedrine. They are classified as mental stimulants, with effects similar to cocaine.

An amphetamine addict initially feels elated and cheerful, but after increasing the dosage, hallucinations and delusions occur. Stopping the use of amphetamines causes insomnia, lethargy and a depressed mood.

Even short-term use of these drugs often causes severe complications:, disorder of brain functions, damage to the myocardium and capillaries, increase or decrease in pressure.

The consequences of drug addiction from long-term use of amphetamines include the development of the following irreversible consequences: paralysis of the limbs. Most cases end in death.

Polydrug addiction occurs when there is simultaneous dependence on several types of drugs. Often, to enhance the effect of narcotic drugs, patients consume alcohol-containing liquids. There are often cases when a drug addict, after stopping taking intoxicants, begins to consume alcohol-containing liquids. This is also a manifestation of polydrug addiction. The described type of addiction affects the dysfunction of the supporting mechanism of the brain, which results in the inability to tolerate a state of sobriety. Such patients lose sleep, appetite, and are constantly in a bad mood. This leads to a breakdown in social ties, loss of interaction with relatives, and loss of work.

The most popular type of drug addiction is the abuse of cannabis, which contains cannabinoids that have a psychoactive effect. She is characterized by unpleasant sensations at the first “acquaintance” - dryness in oral cavity, nausea, difficulty breathing, trembling, dizziness. However, the majority still try the substance again. As the dose increases, the following manifestations are detected: absent-minded attention, talkativeness, inadequate laughter, increased appetite, hypersexuality, increased heart rate, drowsiness, and aggressiveness.

A large portion of cannabis causes poisoning, manifested by delirium, confusion, and hallucinations. Similar symptoms are observed in schizophrenia.

Stages of drug addiction

Due to lack of awareness about drug addiction, most people firmly believe that the interval between the first try of this “ forbidden fruit"and the formation of persistent dependence is quite large. They believe that they will have the time to recognize that they are enslaved by drugs and will be able to stop. This is the main catch of any narcotic substance. The very first use creates addiction. Because narcotic drugs can give euphoria and unusual sensations. Therefore, the individual strives to prolong the pleasure or feel it again at least once. Since the pleasure received lasts for a rather short period, the individual wants to feel the “high” more and more. A stable psychological craving appears after a month.

There is no exact scheme for the formation of the described addiction. However, based on systematized facts, three stages are distinguished.

The first stage is the stage of psychological bondage from the drug. It is characterized by an irresistible urge to take drugs. This is the so-called “pink” period of addiction. Lasts up to six months. The feeling of euphoria subsides with each dose of the substance. Therefore, in order to achieve the desired effect, a person has to increase the dose. At this stage, due to the consumption of psychoactive drugs, the addict becomes dulled, as a result of which he denies the presence of a harmful attraction.

Withdrawal syndrome is mild here. However, in the absence of a dose, the individual feels dissatisfaction, discomfort, his performance decreases, he becomes irritable, nervous, which is replaced by apathy and a depressive mood. As a result, all thoughts of the dependent subject are aimed only at obtaining the desired substance. Further drug use causes the formation of the next stage of drug addiction.

The development of a stable physical craving for drugs marks the beginning of the second stage of the disease.

With regular consumption of psychoactive substances, the human body adapts to the state of drug intoxication. When the intake of the intoxicating substance stops, withdrawal syndrome occurs. It manifests itself as an increase in the secretory function of the mucous membranes, sneezing, lacrimation, runny nose, chills can be replaced by a feeling of heat. Muscle pain and periodic convulsions of the leg muscles occur. Vomiting, intestinal dysfunction, and gastrointestinal pain often occur. Appetite declines sharply. The addict becomes restless, angry and irritable. There are mood swings, from overly excited to apathetic. If the patient abstains from using intoxicating substances for a certain period, his condition will return to normal. In this case, manifestations often appear over several months. In the absence of timely therapeutic intervention, the disease will progress, which will lead to an increase in the dosage of the drug.

At the same time, taking psychoactive substances, even in large portions, is no longer capable of generating the acute euphoria that the addict feels in the long run. initial stage illness. At this stage, the drug can only eliminate withdrawal symptoms. The specificity of this stage lies in the lack of understanding of the severity of the disease. The drug addict does not associate his own problems with taking psychoactive drugs. Most often, during this period, patients do not consider drug addiction to be a disease.

The next stage is the stage of decline of the body and the occurrence of severe accompanying illnesses. The consequences of drug addiction of the third stage are the occurrence of irreversible changes. At this stage, symptoms of intoxication increase, and serious transformations in the patient’s psyche occur. At this stage, patients are apathetic and weakened. Blood pressure is usually low, pulse is slow, and coordination of movements is impaired. Taking a narcotic drug no longer creates euphoria, but serves only to get rid of withdrawal symptoms. Due to the desire to feel the same “high,” the addict increases the dosage, which often ends in death due to an overdose.

Drug addiction treatment

Today's society is very concerned about the problem of drug addiction. As a result, many specialists in various fields of activity are trying to find the treasured remedy that can forever get rid of this terrible scourge.

How to get rid of drug addiction is of most interest to relatives who are faced with this problem. Because a drug addict is capable of “destroying” his own family psychologically and often even physically. Therefore, often the relatives of a drug addict are ready to sacrifice everything in order to save their loved one.

Methods for curing the disease in question are quite varied. Moreover, they all imply: elimination of “withdrawal”, pharmacopoeial medicine and rehabilitation methods.

Elimination of withdrawal symptoms should be carried out in a hospital, where the patient is prescribed pharmacopoeial drugs, the action of which is aimed at eliminating the discomfort and painful symptoms caused by a complete refusal to take psychoactive substances. A method of detoxification of the body is also used, aimed at cleansing through medicines from drugs and removal of toxins. Extracorporeal detoxification (plasmophoresis, hemosorption) can be performed. It is aimed at modifying the composition of the patient’s blood and purifying it.

In addition, the patient is prescribed strong sedatives, antidepressants, and painkillers in order to normalize his condition and calm him down during drug withdrawal.

Below are some additional methods on how to get rid of drug addiction. First of all, reflexology is used, which helps to alleviate the condition, but it cannot eliminate psychological attraction. Coding, which can be hypnotic or medicinal, is also considered popular.

Since it is impossible to free yourself from drug addiction with the help of pharmacopoeial drugs alone, it is necessary to carry it out together with psychological therapy, namely personality-oriented psychocorrectional influence. This technique involves transforming the personality of a forced person. He is given an anti-drug attitude. Here, various methods of verbal influence on the psyche of a drug addict are used, while hypnotechniques are not used.

This psychotherapeutic technique must be used for a long time. During the period of correctional work, relapses are common. After the stage psychological impact the socialization phase begins so that the patient can adapt to normal existence in society.

Drug addiction rehabilitation

Long-term use of psychoactive drugs causes changes in the brain. The drug addict is deteriorating. The dependent individual loses interest in what is happening. For him, the only value is the drug. By using various intoxicating substances, the human subject loses the ability to exist in the real world, bear responsibility, and make decisions. Therefore, he needs rehabilitation, which helps to free him from addiction, re-adapts him to life, and helps restore broken social contacts.

The goal of rehabilitation is to form a renewed, socially adapted and mentally healthy personality. It is recommended to conduct it in specialized dispensaries, drug treatment centers, Orthodox centers, and monasteries. There they work with individuals seeking to get rid of slavery social workers, narcologists, psychotherapists, as well as volunteers from among people who have gotten rid of the addiction in question, who have previously walked this road themselves.

The basic principles of rehabilitation of addicts include: a drug addict to get rid of addiction to drugs, isolation from a harmful social environment, creating a favorable environment, complex therapy, individual approach.

Rehabilitation of drug addicts during restorative correctional intervention can use individual therapy, as well as group. Work in groups is aimed at understanding one’s own personality, building trust in other subjects, and honing communication skills. Patients simulate all sorts of situations that give rise to negative reaction, and try to overcome them. This action takes place under the supervision of an experienced psychotherapist. Individual work is aimed at understanding deep-seated personal problems and finding effective solutions. In addition, patients learn to cope with stressors without resorting to psychoactive drugs.

Prevention of drug addiction

Several social structures are simultaneously implementing measures focused on preventing the spread of drug addiction. Their activities are subordinated to a single goal - to form legal and information base, allowing for the widest possible dissemination of information about the seriousness of the harm caused by drug use, and to avoid the drug addiction of society or to alleviate the phenomena caused by taking psychoactive drugs.

In addition, preventive work must be carried out with the social environment of the dependent subject. The most effective preventive method is considered to be the use of anti-propaganda measures and measures aimed at preventing the spread of drugs.

Prevention of drug addiction should, first of all, include informing individuals who are at risk and come into contact with such people about the harmful effects of absolutely all types of drugs on physical state, morale and psychological health, as well as the popularization of a healthy lifestyle.

In traditional narcology, drug addiction is viewed as incurable disease, with more or less long remissions. In the structure of drug addiction, there are a number of main phenomena that manifest themselves during the development of the disease.

1. Mental dependence syndrome. Its essence lies in the fact that a person ceases to feel more or less integrated into life without taking drugs. The drug becomes the most important condition for a person’s contact with life, himself, and other people.

2. Physical dependence syndrome, which consists in the fact that the drug is gradually integrated into various chains metabolic processes in organism. If a drug addict does not take the appropriate amount of the drug, then he experiences physical suffering of varying degrees of severity: aches, dry skin (or, conversely, profuse sweating). This phenomenon is called withdrawal syndrome. To remove it, you need to take a drug, the doses of which are constantly increasing.

3. Syndrome of altered reactivity of the body to the action of a drug. The most important role in the structure of this syndrome is played by tolerance. Its increase, stabilization at a high level, and decrease are considered the core symptoms of drug addiction.

It can be said with complete confidence that modern narcology is focused primarily on the implementation of therapeutic effects aimed at the syndrome of physical dependence and changing the body’s reactivity to taking a narcotic substance. In the vast majority of cases, treatment comes down to hospitalization of the patient, depriving him of the opportunity to take drugs, and conducting detoxification and restorative therapy. In recent years, various means borrowed from psychiatry are increasingly being used in the treatment of drug addicts. The listed measures relieve withdrawal symptoms and destroy physical dependence. At the same time, mental dependence, in our opinion, which plays a crucial role in the development of drug addiction, remains beyond the reach of the therapeutic interventions that exist today, built in accordance with the traditional psychiatric approach. Alas, “instilling in the patient aversion to the drug he is taking when he is in a state of hypnosis and during the development of a negative reflex to the substance he is abusing” turns out to be an unproductive method of destroying mental dependence.

Clinical observations show that a purely medical approach to drug addiction is ineffective either in terms of treatment and rehabilitation, or, especially, in terms of prevention.

The low effectiveness of existing drug addiction treatment approaches in narcology is due to the fact that the syndrome of mental dependence on drugs is beyond their reach. An analysis of the specialized literature shows that various aspects of the emergence, structure, dynamics, therapy, as well as the place and function of mental dependence still remain insufficiently studied.

In our opinion, the current situation is due to several reasons. First of all, with the fact that being one of the first (in terms of time of formation), mental dependence is at the same time the longest (in terms of time of existence) and the most difficult to eliminate phenomenon. With the development of drug addiction and the appearance of other symptoms, mental dependence both in the mind of the drug addict and in the minds of people associated with him - relatives and medical workers - recedes into the background as a less acute (in experiences) and less vivid (in manifestations) phenomenon, giving way to such phenomena such as withdrawal syndrome. Since the vast majority of drug addicts seek help at fairly late stages of the disease, the attention of specialists is concentrated primarily on physiological symptoms. In relation to the mental component of withdrawal syndrome, pharmacological agents from the arsenal of psychiatry are usually used. Without dwelling now in detail on the psychological aspect of withdrawal syndrome, we will only note that its importance in the practice of treating drug addiction is clearly underestimated. Our clinical observations of the behavior of drug addicts in a state of withdrawal crisis show that the most important role in its course is played not so much by physical suffering, but expectations this suffering and attitude to them. These observations correlate well with facts that have long been known in psychology, indicating that physical pain depends on the mood and emotional state at a particular moment. Thus, even very painful wounds in the heat of battle go unnoticed. It is known that if the focus of a drug addict’s attention during the period of exacerbation of withdrawal syndrome is shifted from the expectation of suffering to some dynamic activity (for example, driving a car, etc.), then the intensity of physical suffering is significantly reduced. No less important, in our opinion, is the fact that has not yet been scientifically recorded, but is well known from practice. responsible attitudes towards treatment and subsequent supportive psychotherapy in drug addicts who have experienced withdrawal symptoms without medical assistance (dry withdrawal).

Thus, being pushed into the background by manifestations of withdrawal syndrome, mental dependence is perceived as a secondary phenomenon in the structure of drug addiction. In this regard, the attention of researchers focuses primarily on the somatic and physiological aspects of drug addiction. The stay of a drug addict in a hospital, no matter how long it may be, is nevertheless limited. The current practice is that hospital stay is limited to the period necessary to relieve abstinence and stabilize somatic health. Thus, a drug addict who is in remission finds himself outside the medical institution while maintaining mental dependence. In conditions of extreme underdevelopment in our country of the system of outpatient psychotherapeutic and supportive care for drug addicts during remission, the persistence of mental dependence is the most important reason for the failure of the efforts of doctors and the drug addict himself in relation to treatment, the cause of relapse.

Our experience shows that in conditions of forced cessation of drug use, for example, due to stay in correctional institutions, mental dependence can persist for several years.

Another reason for the lack of research into mental dependence is its complex structure. In narcology, mental dependence is considered as a syndrome, the structure of which includes a mental (obsessive) attraction to a drug and the ability to achieve mental comfort in intoxication. At the same time, “mental attraction is expressed in constant thoughts about the drug, elation in anticipation of taking it, depression, dissatisfaction in the absence of the drug. Often attraction is accompanied by a struggle of motives. Combined with the obsessiveness of thoughts about the drug, this gives grounds to call the mental attraction obsessive.”

Let us note here that one of the characteristics of obsessive states is that they do not require certain situations to occur. Meanwhile, the same author notes that “attraction intensifies during unpleasant experiences, meetings with friends who are drug addicts, and conversations about drugs.” In fact, the range of situations aggravating the desire for a drug is much broader than what is given and should include at least a variety of family situations. The role of the family in maintaining mental dependence on drugs will be discussed in detail below. Here we draw attention to the fact that the characteristics of mental attraction as obsessive both insufficient and inadequate. Its insufficiency is due to the fact that, while capturing the obsessive nature of the desire for a drug, this definition ignores the fact that drug use itself at a certain stage in the development of drug addiction ceases to be purpose and it becomes means, i.e. In addition to the “I want” aspect, it clearly contains the “I can” aspect.

Inadequacy of the characteristics of craving for drugs as obsessive lies, in our opinion, in the fact that this attraction itself is experienced by the drug addict as his own state, while obsessive states are characterized by the fact that they are perceived by a person like strangers(our italics – S.B., K.L.).”

The low level of development of the problem of mental dependence is also revealed when correlating the phenomenon of dependence with the concept of “attraction” used to characterize it. As is known, attraction is “a mental state that expresses an undifferentiated, unconscious or insufficiently realized need of the subject. Attraction is a transient phenomenon, since the need represented in it either fades away or is realized, turning into a specific intention, desire, dream, etc.” . It is obvious what the definition is attractions very roughly correlates with the phenomenon he identified in the context of the problem of mental dependence:

a) the desire for a drug is always recognized and subjectively experienced as a desire and a specific intention, therefore, it is not an attraction. The reason why the subject seeks the drug is not realized;

b) it is also difficult to agree that in the desire for a drug, the need represented in it fades away. On the contrary, psychological analysis shows that the need represented in the desire for a drug reproduced, and is reproduced in an “extended” version.

If we now return to the classical psychoanalytic understanding of drive, formulated by S. Freud, then we will have to find out and describe such aspects as source, goal, object and force. Attempts to characterize mental dependence as an attraction, through the characteristics of its aspects, lead to the need to abandon this concept as inadequate. For example, try to differentiate the source, goal and object of attraction? Any attempt at such differentiation is unsuccessful unless various assumptions and qualifications are introduced.

Thus, we come to the understanding that the phenomenon referred to in modern narcology and psychiatry as an obsessive craving for a drug requires a more adequate name. It should be noted that in “drug addict” slang there is jargon that accurately reflects the essence of mental addiction - “craving”. Likewise, in the slang of drug addicts there is a word for physical dependence - “kumars”. Note that in the mind of a drug addict these types of addiction are also separated, as in the scientific literature. Drug addicts say: “cravings are in the head, but cravings are in the body.”

A kind of confirmation of the greater correspondence of the jargon “craving” to the essence of psychological dependence in comparison with the concept of “craving” traditionally used in psychiatry is the fact that in informal interpersonal communication when discussing professional problems, narcologists prefer to use the word “craving”.

Thus, analyzing the structure of mental dependence, we are faced with a special reality that requires special psychological designations.

In search of a designation for that special form of activity that realizes mental dependence, we settled on the word “aspirations.” We believe that the meaning that V.A. puts into the concept of “aspiration” Petrovsky, corresponds to the specifics of the phenomenon under discussion. First of all, because aspiration is a form of activity in which the drug as a goal and the drug as a means are presented simultaneously, together. In aspiration, “I want” (attraction) and “I can” (skills, knowledge, experience) act together, “supporting each other and turning into each other.” Next, let’s read the author’s text: “An aspiring person knows what he wants, has a certain scheme of action and, moreover, acts, and does not just dream. To be aspiring means to have possibilities that break out. In aspiration, it is precisely the excess of opportunities that is manifested, and not their insufficiency. The main thing here is the action itself. It is valuable in itself and contains the possibility of self-reproduction.” Of course, the addict knows what he wants; it is obvious that he has a very effective scheme actions; finally it works! The very possibility of using a drug arises as an incentive to act in the direction of the opportunity, as a means of changing the state when the state is not satisfactory.

Note that in everyday language there is also a word that combines the mode of desires and the mode of possibilities. This word hunting. This is how V. Dahl defines it: “the state of a person who wants something; desire, desire, inclination or desire; ... passion, blind love." S.I. Ozhegov gives a similar interpretation of the word “hunting”, emphasizing in it the “fraughtness of action” and uncertainty at the same time: “desire, desire...”. Hunting is worse than captivity.

Thus, "hunting" is not just a desire or desire, but own desire that is stronger will. Moreover, the semantics of the everyday word “hunting” contains the intention of qualitative transformation, self-development: give yourself over to hunting, you will be in captivity; or: from a young age - into hunting, in old age - into captivity.

Thus, we believe that mental dependence manifests an excess of opportunities for the drug addict. An indisputable, in our opinion, argument in favor of the latter thesis is the existence of a second symptom identified in narcology in the structure of the mental dependence syndrome, namely, the symptom achievement abilities state of mental comfort in intoxication. What seems most significant to us here is the understanding that “the state of mental comfort in intoxication for a drug addict means not only escape from the discomfort of sobriety, but also the restoration of mental functions. The drug becomes a necessary condition for successful mental existence and functioning.” Thus, we really see precisely an excess of opportunities, and not their insufficiency.

If we now admit that, in terms of psychological status, mental dependence on a drug is aspiration, i.e. a special form of activity of the subject, which is characterized by its ability to self-reproduction and self-propulsion, then those features of the phenomenon that were previously only recorded, but not explained, will become understandable and explainable. We mean such features as:

non-specificity;

duration ;

intractability;

development during the disease (the appearance of new features over time);

agitation;

reproducibility.

Understanding of the listed parameters of mental dependence arises in the course of the following reasoning.

Mental dependence as an aspiration is characterized by its intrinsic value. This approach completely makes sense of a completely pragmatic question: striving for what? This means that mental dependence is not specific. Aspiration as a form of activity is intrinsically valuable in itself, and intrinsic value for the subject lies in the possibility of transitioning from “I want” to “I can,” when each subsequent movement becomes a condition for increasing “I want,” and achieving what I want is a condition for increasing “I can.” Thus, the reasons for movement are not for any purpose, which would imply the possibility of answering the question “what is the drive for?” or “striving towards what?”, but in the movement itself. This explains the non-specificity of mental addiction: the drug addict, by and large, does not care “what to use.”

Understanding mental dependence as an aspiration practically eliminates the question of the reasons for its reproduction: aspiration immanently contains the possibility of self-reproduction. At the same time, the most important condition for reproduction is the “temptation of opportunity.”

The temptation of opportunity (V.A. Petrovsky) turns out to be stronger than the instinct of self-preservation.

Here by myself opportunity becomes a sufficient reason for action. Moreover, as our clinical observations show, often when using drugs, a drug addict acts not because he strives for any result, but because he strives for the implementation of the action itself. The desire to implement an action, motivated by the opportunity to act, reveals to us the difference between mental dependence as an aspiration and other aspirations, for example, emotional ones. In emotional aspirations, the mutual transition of “I want” to “I can” and back, supported by the environment, leads to an increase and expansion real the individual's capabilities. Including the ability to manage your own “I want”. As the physiological symptoms of drug addiction develop, the subject’s ability to self-regulate his “want” decreases. Thus, “I want”, as a characteristic of the subject, is replaced necessity, as a consequence of the disease. “I want” as an expression of the subject’s orientation is replaced by necessity as a consequence of a violation of the physiological organization of the individual. Therefore, mental dependence as an aspiration is cyclical. A metaphor expressing the self-movement of positive aspirations is movement in a spiral. A metaphor expressing the self-movement of mental dependence is movement in a circle. This makes it clear why mental dependence is not a condition personal growth as opposed to aspirations in the cognitive or emotional sphere.

The reasons for the difficulty of eliminating mental dependence also become clear. Obviously, the elimination of mental dependence means either a violation of the possibility of the transition of the value-goal aspect of the attitude towards a drug into an instrumental one and vice versa, or the destruction of one or both of these aspects. However, now it is enough to remember that the state of drug intoxication is a state when normal mental functioning so that the complexity of the answer to the question: “What in return?” becomes clear. What can be offered to a drug addict instead of the available, well-mastered and simple methods of achieving a state of normal functioning? Through our research and clinical practice, we have discovered one possible answer: “Only more effective ways to achieve satisfaction and balance with life...”. The practical instrumental side of this answer seems to us to be in the search for means (therapeutic methods and techniques, therapeutic environment) of development, non-drug-related aspirations. The possibility of building such a therapeutic practice is shown in the works of V.A. Petrovsky and his staff.

Our analysis gives grounds to assert that the effectiveness of primary prevention programs directly depends on the extent to which they contribute to the generation of transfinite forms of activity in the cognitive, emotional and volitional spheres of the individual. Being self-valuable and self-generating, these forms of activity act as a reliable factor in drug resistance.

In 1998 - 1999, we conducted a study, the essence of which was as follows. At the preliminary stage, 120 people (80 men and 40 women) aged 25 to 30 years were selected, whose childhood and adolescence were spent in the most saturated environment with drug risk factors and who had experience of trial drug use. We were interested in the subjective opinion of the subject when interpreting the objective factor: all of them were able to give up drugs at the experimentation stage and none of them became a drug addict. We used the conversation method. The subject was asked: “What, in your opinion, was the reason that prompted (kept) you from using drugs?” Having received the answer, the researcher asked the question: “Why was this important to you?” or “What did you need it for?”, etc. The survey ended when the subject could not give an answer or reproduced an answer that had already been given. Analysis of texts and statements of subjects shows that in 87% of cases the reason that kept the subject from further drug use were aspirations in cognitive, emotional, volitional spheres. Moreover, in 76% of cases, the aspirations of the subjects were related to social sphere life.

Another important reason for the difficulty of eliminating mental dependence seems to us to be the following. The most important features of mental dependence - self-movement, self-generation, reproducibility, etc. - give it the properties subject. The presence in the personality structure of a drug addict of mental dependence, which has the properties of a subject, leads to the appearance of subjective manifestations. The subjectivity of the behavior of an individual with mental dependence is obvious: this is behavior overcoming biological limitations (instinct of self-preservation), and social prohibitions and norms. Such subjective manifestations find their continuation in the personality of other people for whom the drug addict has personal significance (family members, friends, etc.). Thus, the mental dependence of a drug addict becomes represented in the life situation of people close to the drug addict, acting as a source of transformation of this situation. That is why the discovery of drug addiction in the family becomes the start of the rapid formation of codependency. Reflected in others, the mental dependence of a drug addict acts as an active principle that changes their (these others) view of life, themselves, and family, forming new motives in them, setting new goals for them. The life of a drug addict’s family changes fundamentally as soon as his drug addiction becomes obvious to his loved ones.

The grounds (dependence) and consequences of a drug addict’s activity have one or another personal meaning for members of his family. Let us note at the same time that the effects of the drug addict’s other existence (i.e., being in an ideal form in the psychic space of people connected with him through interpersonal relationships) turn out to be deeper and more powerful than the effects of his real existence.

The reflected existence of the mental dependence of a drug addict in other people (relatives and friends), finding in them its ideal continuation and representation, becomes a factor in the development of the personality of an individual with drug addiction. Personality, according to V.A. Petrovsky, develops in the mutual transitions of reflected and returned subjectivity. Thus, reflecting the changes that the addict makes in the lives of other people, he himself develops as a person. However, it is obvious that reflected, returned And actually working do not match and cannot match! The drug addict really acts as the totality of the hypostases of his personality, in others the subjective manifestations of his mental dependence are reflected, and the returned images, completed to holistic completeness, return drug addict. Thus, the essential in the personality of an individual with mental dependence comes into conflict with what is reflected in other people and in himself (i.e., with existence). In other words, the non-narcotic essence comes into conflict with the drug-addicted existence. The last circumstance is fully confirmed by the data of empirical studies of the mental and personal characteristics of drug addicts during the period of growing up, given in the next paragraph.

We see the following as a special tragedy of the mechanism just described. Everything good and kind that a person possessed before starting to use drugs does not disappear and then, it continues to exist, but mainly in the internal space of the individual’s existence. The people around them now reflect not a previously loved and dear person, but manifestations of his drug addiction behavior. Now an individual who uses drugs is reflected in close people not in the totality of his human traits, but partially like a drug addict. It is this “partial reflection” that is returned to him, becoming the basis for the development of the special structure of his personality. Son Pavel, who uses drugs, looks at his father Peter and through him understands that he is a drug addict.

Thus, in the mutual transitions of reflected and returned subjectivity mental dependence a special hypostasis of the personality of an individual with drug addiction develops - the personality of a drug addict. Let's call her drug personality. Thus, in the space of existence of an individual who uses drugs, a pathological formation develops - a drug personality. The most important condition for its development is the reactions of people around the drug addict. The deep intrapersonal conflict that accompanies drug addiction is, in our opinion, a conflict between the personality and the drug personality of the individual. Psychological studies of drug addiction, which were discussed in the previous paragraph, clinical data, observations of the behavior of drug addicts, as well as testimonies from parents of drug addicts convincingly show not only the high stability of the drug-addicted personality, but also its greater efficiency, flexibility and adaptability. It is obvious that its “destruction” can only be the result of maladaptive manifestations of the healthy part of the personality of an individual suffering from drug addiction, noticed and supported by parents and loved ones. Thus, we believe that secondary prevention of drug addiction (rehabilitation) should be aimed at developing the aspirations of the healthy part of the drug addict’s personality.

Since, as shown above, the resulting effect of the emergence of mental dependence is the development drug personality, then it seems to us legitimate and justified to consider various types of its attribution to the existence of an individual suffering from drug addiction. Following the logic of V.A. Petrovsky, , , , we must give an intra-individual, inter-individual and meta-individual interpretation drug personality.

IN intra-individual space drug personality is described as those characteristics of an individual whose occurrence is associated with drug use. Various well-known attempts to construct “portraits” and “profiles” of drug addicts are nothing more than a description of the drug-addicted personality in the intra-individual space. The results of our research carried out in this direction are presented in detail in the next paragraph of this chapter. Here we note only the extremely conflictual nature of the relationship drug personality with other aspects of the addict's personality. This is precisely what explains the extreme inconsistency, conflict and incompatibility of the intra-individual personality traits of a drug addict, discovered by S.V. Berezin and N.A. Raschepkina when using projective methods.

One of our clients expressed the severity of the conflict very vividly and figuratively: “Well, how can you not prick yourself when you have both an executioner and a victim in your soul?” (Alexander N., 22 years old, experience of opium addiction 2 years 7 months).

We believe that the presence of a deep-seated conflict between various aspects of a drug addict’s personality at the intra-individual level acts as one of the conditions for the reproduction of mental dependence.

In the space of interindividual connections (interindividual personal attribution) drug personality manifests itself primarily in games specific to drug addiction and non-specific to it, which are played drug addicts. Deceit, laziness, conflict, ignoring moral and ethical standards in behavior, manipulativeness - this is typical for drug personality set of characteristics. Fundamental, in our opinion, is the fact that the attention of the parents of a drug addict is focused primarily on the manifestations drug personality. An analysis of the interaction between a drug addict and his family members during family sessions gives grounds to assert that communication in “drug addict” families is built precisely with drug personality. At the same time, the healthy part of the personality is practically ignored. Thus, in the system of interindividual connections we also find conditions for the reproduction of mental dependence. Such conditions, in our opinion, are a lack of spontaneity and intimacy in intra-family (and broader social) interaction, parents’ ignorance of the “healthy” part of the drug addict’s personality, and tension in interpersonal relationships. Here we are faced with the experience of that very dramatic discrepancy between “for-oneself-being” and “being-for-others”. Finally, when we talk about meta-individual attribution drug addict personality, we mean the widest range of phenomena described by the concept of “codependency”. Our position, the argumentation of which will be given in the second chapter, is that the basis of codependent relationships in drug addiction are the rigid subjective representations of the drug addict in the minds of his parents and loved ones.

Understanding codependency as a set of effects generated by the subjective representation of a drug addict in the lives of the people around him previously explains only celebrated the fact of the continued existence of codependent behavior not only outside the actual interaction of the drug addict, but also in cases where the drug addict does not physically exist (death as a result of an overdose, etc.).

Speaking about the meta-individual aspect of the drug personality, we note that we are also talking about the subject’s investments in himself, as “in another”: manifestations of the drug addict personality are reflected in others, acquiring their continuity in them, and in the drug addict himself, expanding the sphere of his presence, reducing space of the healthy part of the addict’s personality. Here we see the ring of self-causality in the development of mental dependence and drug personality. Note that the “self-causality” of the development of a drug-addicted personality explains the existence of a fundamental difference between schizophrenic splitting of personality and duality of personality in drug addiction.

Thus, we believe that the most important condition supporting mental dependence is the meta-individual representation of the drug addict in the lives of other people and his own life.

So the family is not cause anesthesia: it is condition formation of mental dependence.

Our analysis of mental dependence, carried out within the framework of the theory of personalization (A.V. Petrovsky, V.A. Petrovsky), allowed us to describe the structure, dynamics, conditions of its occurrence and reproduction.

Having discovered, in our opinion, a very promising possibility of interpreting mental dependence as a special aspiration, we are inevitably faced with the need to search and determine the conditions in which this aspiration acquires the ability for unlimited reproduction.

It is obvious, however, that the discovery of the conditions for the emergence and development of mental dependence, understood as aspiration, is only the first, although very important, from the point of view of primary and secondary prevention, step. The second step should be the search for psychological means of influence that destroy or modify the conditions that create the possibility of generating and reproducing mental dependence. We believe that the conditions that “support” the existence of psychological dependence can be grouped into three main types:

intra-individual (individual psychological);

interindividual (i.e. existing and “hiding” in the space of interindividual connections);

meta-individual (i.e. existing not just beyond the boundaries of the individual subject himself, but “beyond his actual connections with other individuals, beyond his joint activities with them") .

In this case, we use the concepts introduced by V.A. Petrovsky. And although in the work of V.A. Petrovsky we were talking about various types of personal attribution, we see the possibility of using the concepts intra-individual, interindividual And meta-individual to designate those areas of personal manifestations in which phenomena that generate and maintain mental dependence in drug addiction can be detected.

Conditions intra-individual types will be discussed by us in the next section of this chapter. Traditionally, they are the subject of the vast majority of psychological studies of drug addiction.

Conditions iterindividual type in the aspect of family ties will be discussed in a special chapter. It should be noted that the literature devoted to the analysis of the conditions that give rise to and support mental dependence, which could be classified in this area, is focused mainly around two problems: the problem of codependency in the family and the problem of relationships in the “drug addict” group. Compared to the sphere of intra-individual conditions, conditions of the inter-individual type have, in our opinion, been studied extremely insufficiently.

Finally, the otherness of the drug addict, as a condition for the reproduction of mental dependence, will be considered by us in the third chapter. We were unable to find any studies in the literature that would be devoted to the study of conditions of this type.

The use of the concept of meta-individual otherness of the individual to analyze the dynamics of mental dependence on drugs allows us to extend the principles of family psychotherapy even to those cases when the drug addict lives outside the family, or was raised outside the family: the condition for the formation of codependency is not the family itself, but significance a drug addict for another and another for a drug addict.

Another important consequence that follows from the above considerations and opens up prospects for further research is the possibility of interpreting mental dependence in drug addiction as a relationship of codependency with oneself. This refers to the addict’s subjective “investments” in himself as in an “other.” Preliminary research shows that many of the phenomena characteristic of codependency are found in the relationships between various aspects of the addict's personality.

Understanding mental dependence as a specific relationship between the healthy and “narcotic” personality of an individual who uses drugs allows us to expand the arsenal of methods for psychotherapy of addiction, as well as to design methods that meet the specifics of drug addiction.

Drug addiction is a disease that occurs as a result of taking medications and other substances to which addiction is formed. Ultimately, the person feels an irresistible desire to use them again. When receiving a dose, the addict receives a number of psychotropic effects, otherwise he is tormented by painful symptoms both on the mental and physical level.

Types of drug addiction

Drug addiction is formed as a result of the use of various types drugs:

cocaine;
amphetamines;
combining different substances;
cannabinoids;
opioids;
hallucinogens;
medicines;
spice.

Trying a drug comes from a desire to experience euphoria, but very soon an addiction arises that suppresses all emotions and physical sensations.

The most common type of drug addiction is opioid use, which often results in coma and death due to overdose.

Amphetamines and salts are dangerous because they cause a persistent desire to experience euphoria again. However, with each dose, the state of health worsens, delirium develops, and subsequently schizophrenia.

Taking cocaine, although it begins with a feeling of well-being, leads to dangerous diseases.

Cannabinoid addiction takes a long time to form, and this is where its danger lies. At first, it seems to a person that he is achieving relaxation and tranquility, but later the drug becomes the only meaning of his life.

All types of drug addiction have common feature: A person starts taking substances in hopes of solving a problem, but ends up becoming addicted. Rehabilitation is always long and labor-intensive.

Cocaine addiction

Cocaine is an alkaloid and one of the most common drugs. It has a local analgesic effect and stimulates the central nervous system, causing euphoria.

After receiving the dose, the addict feels a short-term surge of energy. However, after a couple of hours, a sharp loss of strength and worsening mood occurs.

To achieve the initial euphoria, a person needs to take more and more frequent doses of cocaine, which is why this drug is called a “fast killer.”

Immediately after the administration of cocaine, the blood vessels narrow sharply. The pulse quickens, the pressure rises, and drug addicts often experience hypertensive crises and heart attacks, leading to death.

Initially, cocaine addicts experience unreasonable fear, complicated by hallucinations. Then delirium develops, and the patient begins to feel as if insects are crawling under his skin. With prolonged use of the substance, a person loses a lot of weight and loses sleep.

Cocaine addicts often take other substances: heroin, sleeping pills, tranquilizers. As a result, so-called polydrug addiction develops.

Treatment of cocaine addiction due to severe mental dependence is carried out inpatiently in the department intensive care. The main thing is to block access to the drug and eliminate the pathological symptoms.

The patient is transferred to a calm environment and prescribed sedatives and psychotherapy. After treatment, rehabilitation is required, including a change in social circle.

It is always difficult to give an accurate forecast - it depends on the severity of the addiction and the depth of personality changes. Often former cocaine addicts are haunted by depression, which becomes the cause of relapse.

Amphetamines are synthesized drugs that are analogues of ephedrine. They are classified as psychostimulants, and their effects on the psyche are similar to cocaine.

At first he feels cheerful and in high spirits, but as the dose increases, hallucinations and delirium occur. Stopping taking amphetamines provokes insomnia, apathy, and depression.

Even short-term use of amphetamines can cause serious complications:

psychoses;
damage to the heart and blood vessels;
brain function disorders;
increase or decrease in pressure;
nervous exhaustion.

As a result of prolonged use, irreversible consequences develop: paralysis of the legs, dementia. Many cases are fatal.

Polydrug addiction

The term “polydrug addiction” refers to simultaneous dependence on several types of drugs. They are often washed down with alcohol to enhance the effect.

There are common cases when, after drug withdrawal, the patient begins to drink alcohol. This is a manifestation of polydrug addiction.

This type of addiction causes a disruption of the brain’s support system, as a result of which it becomes difficult for the patient to endure a sober state. He loses sleep, his appetite decreases, and he is constantly in a bad mood.

Soon the addict falls out of society: his loved ones turn away from him, he is fired from his job, and persecution by law enforcement begins.

It's hard. The patient is admitted to the hospital, where they apply medicinal methods and psychotherapy. The main goal of treatment is to achieve long-term sobriety.

Cannabinoid addiction

Cannabis drug abuse is one of the most common types of drug addiction. These plants contain cannabinol aldehydes, which have a narcotic effect.

Cannabinoid addiction is characterized by the fact that the first sample of the substance takes place with unpleasant sensations– dry mouth, difficulty breathing, nausea, dizziness, tremor. However, people still try the substance again.

As the dose increases, signs of intoxication appear:

absent-minded attention;
inappropriate laughter;
talkativeness;
increased appetite;
hypersexuality;
drowsiness;
increased heart rate;
aggression.

A high dose of cannabis provokes acute poisoning, in which delirium, confusion, and hallucinations are observed. The same symptoms characterize schizophrenia.
A few facts about cannabis consumption:

Opium addiction

Opiates are derivatives of opium. They belong to narcotic analgesics and produce a strong analgesic effect, and also suppress feelings of fear, calm, and cause euphoria.

Opiates are divided into several types:

Natural (raw opium, morphine, poppy straw).
Homemade preparations (harka, koknard).
Semi-synthetic ().
Synthetic (methadone, promedol).

It develops quite quickly and is one of the most popular types of addictions.

Addiction caused by hallucinogens

Hallucinogens, or psychedelics, are drugs of various origins:

hemp;
peyote;
mescaline;
psilocybin mushrooms;
nutmeg;

Psychedelics cause hallucinations, disruption of brain function, followed by tissue deformation. As a result, irreversible mental pathologies develop, including schizophrenia.

Often, hallucinogens become a trigger for the manifestation of previously dormant mental disorders.

Drug abuse

Dependence on sleeping pills and tranquilizers is formed in two ways. The medical form of addiction appears as a result of treatment with any medication. Usually we are talking about a period of at least 1-2 years.

Non-medical addiction occurs at the will of a person who purposefully begins to increase the dosage of drugs in order to achieve intoxication. Initial signs drug addiction is observed after a couple of months.

If at first a single dose of the drug is required, then after 1-2 months it increases 10 times. Between medications, the person feels anxious and becomes very short-tempered.

Within six months, physical dependence on such medications develops. The euphoria disappears, so patients try to combine sleeping pills and tranquilizers, washing them down with alcohol.

Complications appear already at the initial stage. Cirrhosis and encephalopathy quickly appear, and nerve fibers are affected. Immediately after stopping the drugs, a pronounced withdrawal syndrome develops.
Video clip about the consequences of drug abuse:

Spice addiction

Spice is translated from English as “spices”. It is a mixture of herbs soaked in chemicals. They used to even be sold in stores as incense, but they have now been proven to be addictive.

The main component of spice is an artificial analogue of tetrahydrocannabinol, which is similar in principle to marijuana.

In terms of destructiveness it is not inferior to hard drugs. It causes the following symptoms:

Red eyes;
decreased appetite;
severe weight loss;
anxiety;
irritability;
slowness;
hallucinations.

In terms of destructive effects on the body, spice is 7 times greater than hashish, and its main danger is the onset of addiction from the first dose.

Quite quickly, the addict ceases to adequately assess reality, loses control over his actions, and therefore can no longer work or study. Vascular spasms lead to chronic hypoxia, and later dementia develops. This is the horror of spice addiction.

Video review of the most dangerous species drugs that quickly become addictive:

Psychotropic substances are weapons of mass destruction, the victims of which are currently several hundred thousand people throughout Russia. This is not just from those who died from an overdose or the consequences. A significant part of addicts have lost a normal life, and also the prospects of getting out of the social bottom. Constant intake of synthetic poison destroys personality and transforms successful person into a burden for family and friends.

What are psychotropic substances?

The division of prohibited substances into drugs and psychotropics is a convention that has an indirect relationship to reality. Both the first and second drugs cause persistent dependence and negatively affect personality and health. However, psychotropics act somewhat differently, causing changes already from the first dose. mental state person.

The most popular varieties of this poison are salts and spices, which are consumed various methods. The substances are produced using artisanal methods and their quality is not controlled. Unlike “traditional” drugs (heroin, methadone, cocaine, LSD, morphine), the effect of psychotropics on the human body has not been studied enough.

It's safe to say that they instantly reduce cognitive function. To be clear, a spice addict will not be able to learn new language, master another profession, independently understand a complex book. Your thoughts will be occupied with something completely different: looking for money to purchase a new dose.

The most dangerous psychotropics:

Spice(classical). The substance affects people differently and can cause death. Total deaths resulting poisoning is estimated at several hundred throughout Russia annually.
Amphetamine. The drug, which has a powerful effect on the body, can cause respiratory arrest and cardiac spasm. A sharp increase in body temperature leads to the breakdown of protein; without qualified help, a person will face inevitable death.
Methaqualone. The psychotropic, actively used in the United States in the 70-80s of the last century, was mentioned in the famous work “The Wolf of Wall Street”. The main danger of methaqualone is a complex overdose, which is practically untreatable.
Methylphenidate. The substance was developed to treat lungs mental disorders and diseases, including for the treatment of drug addiction. However, an overdose of the drug has demonstrated side effects: cerebral hemorrhage, tachycardia, complex hallucinations, the occurrence of epilepsy and much more.
Mephedrone(bath salt). The drug, which was positioned as a cheap alternative to cocaine, is a dangerous psychotropic. And although no fatal cases of poisoning have been recorded, the substance is a “springboard” for the leap to more dangerous drugs.
Ketamine. The medicine that after long-term use has actually fallen out of circulation, contributes to the formation of voids in the brain. And although many scientists dispute this thesis, it’s definitely not worth experimenting on yourself.

Mechanism of action on the body

Various psychotropic substances and their mixtures can cause certain effects, but drug addicts seek euphoria and pleasure. In addition, spices, salts, mixes, etc. can both calm and excite, provoking action. Given that all illegal substances are homemade, the concentration may vary from dose to dose.

If the relatively safe level is exceeded, irreversible consequences occur. High load on the heart forces this organ to work several times harder, which leads to heart failure. Without qualified help, this will lead to death as a result of poisoning.

Increasing pressure is a “crash test” for all body systems, primarily for the cardiovascular system. The brain suffers, bleeding into which is in best case scenario loss of functions, at worst - a “vegetable” state and subsequent death. Often, after psychotropic drugs, a person ceases to distinguish tastes and smells, and cognitive functions sharply decrease.

How psychotropic substances cause addiction

It should be noted that dependence on salts, spices, amphetamine and similar drugs- somewhat different than from traditional drugs. Opiates, morphine, methadone cause strong physiological addiction, making the production of individual enzymes impossible.

Psychotropics act differently: they “give” a range of indescribable sensations, the whole body seems to be working in emergency mode, spending its “reserves” within a few minutes. This is a release of emotions, absolutely new experience, which the addict wants to return again and again. To do this, you have to increase the dose, but the desired effect no longer occurs. Young people instantly turn into old people who cannot work, study, and need special therapy and treatment.

Psychological addiction is difficult to treat: standard detoxification is not enough, because the breakdown products of psychotropics almost do not accumulate in the tissues. But it is very difficult to get rid of the craving for thrills: it will take years of work.

Stimulating effect

Many psychotropic substances (for example, salts) are used by drug addicts to speed up the reaction. However, it is impossible to control the dose, which would bring only a stimulating effect. After it is exceeded, another extreme will occur - loss of control over oneself, severe intoxication.

In this state, a person is capable of committing senseless and desperate acts. Thus, one young man in central Russia, after taking spice, raped an old woman, for which he received a real prison sentence. In neighboring Belarus, two guys are on psychotropics with bare hands They tore out the third's eyes - he remained disabled for the rest of his life. Such stories can be continued for a very long time - there are hundreds, if not thousands.

Neurosuppressants

However, not all psychotropics cause an attack of activity: some have the exact opposite purpose. They calm you down and help regulate the production of dopamine, serotonin and other hormones that affect mood. In the United States, neurodepressants are called “legal psychotropics,” and hundreds of thousands of people use them in this country.

But these products carry many dangers, some of which have not yet been studied. A banal overdose causes exactly the same sensations as from ordinary spices and salts. The frantic work of the heart can abruptly end when it stops. A sharp increase in pressure is just one step away from a burst blood vessel in the brain, which will lead to irreversible consequences.

Consequences of using psychotropic drugs:

Rapid wear of internal organs;
Decreased cognitive function;
Strong psychological dependence;
Uncontrollable behavior;
Negative personality changes (temper, aggression, anger);
Instant loss of qualifications and ability to learn;
Deterioration of coordination;
Decreased physical skills (detrimental to athletes).

Video Top 5 most dangerous drugs

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