It happens that some of you also come to me as addicts (I note that I am not an addiction therapist). The initial states in which such people report are very difficult in the process of psychotherapy.
First of all, you need to accept the fact that you are an addict and then understand why. Very often it is a matter of the environment that needs to be changed.
That is:
Not only do I know how big my problem is, that it is difficult to treat, that regardless of the length of the process, you have to control the need to use psychoactive substances or behavioral activities, but I also realize that I have created my entire world based on maintaining addiction. Both the environment, gaining access to resources, and everyday life rituals.
I am with you (if I undertake cooperation) only at the stage of acknowledging the knowledge about yourself that you are an addict. On the other hand, in the case of pornography addiction, if the patient is a young person, it happens that the entire therapy process can be completed.
But what exactly I wanted to share with you.
All of you, as my patients, know what my attitude to psychoactive substances is. Being a systemic-cultural psychotherapist, I believe that we do not have any cultural context at the moment that allows us to use drugs in a safe, healing way, and integrating a social group.
Therefore, the consequences of drug use are severe addictions, problems with sleep, memory, psychomotor arousal, lack of ability to withstand frustration, serious damage to the nervous system and others that damage other organs.
What can be a cure, even in the form of alcohol (there are also such administrations) in people without susceptibility to addiction, means a huge threat for many. This may result from growing up in a dysfunctional home and environment, or traumas and lack of knowledge. There is also the problem of wanting to be in a group above all else, resulting from the conviction that I cannot cope alone.
Also, the ceremony and the ayahuasca experience shown here are risky. What a person representing Western Culture can experience in the jungle are restorative processes, for which you have to prepare for years anyway and which can be deadly dangerous.
Fields such as psychology or medicine have also become interested in the various effects of psychoactive substances as therapeutic substances. However, there is still no support in longitudinal studies.
Everything is addictive, you need a safe group, and a doctor or psychologist who does not skimp on this kind of experience cannot be a scientific point of reference. He can only describe his own experiences and compare them with the experiences of patients.
There is no basis for experiencing the world of illusion and drugs that has been with us since the beginning. Serious research and observation and a healthy distance are needed. Marijuana is also destructive, also addictive, despite its availability and changes in social and moral views.
Solution:
- Investment in research and the time it takes to carry it out, and access to uncontaminated psychoactive substances to be able to treat them as treatments.
- Staying away from environments where the use of psychoactive substances is the norm. They are often associated with adherence to antisocial norms (vandalism and forms of self-destruction, and building bonds based on playing together, rather than responsibility for health and life).
- Supervising youth and young adults. In intelligent people, puberty occurs a little later, especially if they have experienced traumas. They must not come into contact with stimulants, as they negatively affect their brains, leading to permanent damage.
My advice for people who want to experience the beneficial effects of psychoactive substances to learn or treat:
Self-responsibility is necessary, because if I am interested in psychoactive substances, I do not share it with others, I do not promote drugs and other such behaviors. I can share experiences, but not substances. I understand my motives, I am mature and fully aware, I know the risks. I don’t look for social groups where drugs are taken, I stay alone with my curiosity and need.
I strive for health, not disease. This is the norm. These substances can also be a medicine or a solution on the spiritual path. It cannot be judged harshly either. But I can’t be in psychotherapy, such treatment would require another, psychotherapeutic contract. And this is where the problem arises, because there is no basis in the form of a suitable psychotherapist, whose basis for the relationship is the ethics of the profession.
I am convinced that drug use cannot be legal, because there is no safeguard for it in the form of a healthy social context – there is no social base. There should be permits and access only to pure forms of substances. It must be controlled.
Remember that our brains themselves produce all the substances that are stimulated by drugs (such as dopamine). There is also a separate field dealing only with the study of altered states of consciousness, which uses the study of working on the breath or with the body or dreams, etc.
Greetings and attached a link to the music video that inspired me to share my approach, knowledge and experience with you.
Paulina Kubś, MA
Link to the song:
Poranguí – Ayahuasca (Liquid Bloom and Poranguí Remix) [Official Music Video] – YouTube
