The Foundation of Humanity: How to Understand Basic Behaviors?

Although crises may be an opportunity for development, it does sometimes happen that a young person faces problems that exceed his or her capabilities. Left alone, without the proper support and protection, they choose one of the previously mentioned options: to face up to the challenge, or run away… The problem arises when such an escape consists solely of replacement strategies, in particular, a temporary change in the state of consciousness.

Fighting is the ultimate solution, although it doesn’t guarantee success. If possible, a much safer way is to escape. It allows for the preservation of integrity (avoiding physical harm), and in the psychological sphere, for the protection of the ego, whose status quo is threatened. Anna Freud, using her father’s achievements, named many of the defense mechanisms applied unconsciously by patients during therapy. They are one of the factors manifesting resistance, the breaking of which allows to achieve a breakthrough in treatment. Outside the therapy room, however, there is an external world that tempts – especially young people – with quick ways to achieve a sense of bliss and temporary detachment from pain and suffering.

Addiction: What Exactly is It?

The answer to what you can become addicted to may be a hint. And it reads: from everything. Sweets, sex, sport, order… seemingly beneficial things can sometimes cause problems, but the important factors in the definition of addiction in the clinical sense are subjective feelings of suffering and social harm.

Psychology presents two basic types of addictions: physiological and behavioral. The first is the body’s reaction to taking certain substances for a certain period, which causes our organism to adapt to functioning under their influence. During the period of withdrawal from stimulants, the brain sends a warning that it needs them to achieve a state of allostasis, that is, a kind of balance. A thought then appears in consciousness: “I need substance X.” Failure to satisfy this need is commonly called “craving.” Depending on the source of the addiction, we then feel concern, irritation, anxiety, and in extreme cases aggression or suicidal thoughts. Vegetative symptoms include tremors, dizziness, cold sweats, muscle spasms, and disorders of consciousness. Of course, the presented process is a description of quite an extreme form of withdrawal syndrome. In some cases, the reaction of the body works on the same principle, but the physiological symptoms are less intensified.

Similarly, behavioral addiction can be described. It is characterized by excessive attachment to specific conduct or activities. This could be, for example, computer use or sex. Taking specific behaviors activates the reward system in our body, and thus the feeling of pleasure. Therefore, behavioral addictions are in a way indirect ones, because they are, as a matter of fact, only means to trigger a reaction within our body – a release of dopamine, commonly called the “pleasure hormone” (although in a chemical sense, it is not a hormone).

At What Price?

Addictions, apart from subjective suffering, entail huge social and economic costs. Alcoholism, which causes more than 3 million people to die each year worldwide (World Health Organization data from 2022), is draining national budgets. In the United States, the associated costs are US$249 billion in losses. Excessive drinking of Poles, on the other hand, costs the state budget PLN 31 billion (State Agency for Solving Alcohol Problems – 2018). Meanwhile, the income from excise duty is PLN 13 billion. The numbers speak for themselves, so one can conclude that addictions cost money.

Someone, Somewhere is Making Money

Using zero-sum game theory, it can be said that where someone loses, someone else gains. In 2022, the alcohol industry in the world earned a cool US$1.69 trillion (Statista Market Insights 2023).

Does counteracting the most common addictions lie heavy on governments’ hearts?

Each country uses different methods to reduce harmful alcohol consumption. One of the oldest ways to fight alcoholism is prohibition. A success of the American Society for the Promotion of Temperance, prohibition was in force in the United States between 1920 and 1933. Nowadays, in Europe, the tightest restrictions on the sale of alcoholic beverages are in Scandinavian countries, where they have high prices, a limited number of points of purchase and specified hours outside which the sale of alcohol is banned.

In Poland, on the other hand, when it comes to state action in this sphere, there is a kind of hypocrisy. Reports of violence in sports stadiums contrast with the fact that alcohol may be purchased in such places where the risk of such behaviors is increased. Polish petrol stations have long looked like small supermarkets and traded alcoholic beverages, the consumption of which may lead to driving a vehicle, which is in itself a crime. In addition, they often serve as night shops, supplying already intoxicated alcohol enthusiasts.

So-called miniatures, which have been talked about a lot recently because of an attempt to limit their sales, are still standing on store shelves, only in another form, not prohibited by law. In addition, it is thought-provoking that these colorful bottles, together with electronic cigarettes of various flavors, are often at the eye level of the average seven-year-old. Isn’t this “educating” future customers?

One of the principles of marketing says that the target group of promotional activities are school-aged children, who are to get used to the sight of the mentioned products, as a result of which a cognitive representation is to be created in the minds of future buyers. When the time and the need come, a teenager or young adult will know where to get alcohol or e-cigarettes. What is more, it is worth asking the question of whether the ubiquitous promotion of so-called 0% beers is an attempt to replace harmful habits of excessive drinking, e.g. at parties, or an action that evokes the belief that every meeting with friends is “better” when we have a bottle or can in hand.

Fair Prevention

It is no secret that addiction prevention, like the aforementioned marketing activities, should take place as early as possible. According to current knowledge, the most effective way to protect children and young people from contact with harmful substances is to support the family in upbringing, ensure healthy psychosocial development and build high self-esteem in the youngest. A person characterized by well-being and low manifestations of psychopathology (according to Keyes and Waterman’s Three-Dimensional Concept of Mental Health) has a lower tendency to health-damaging behaviors, including reaching for harmful substances. When the environment in which the child lives is non-supportive or detrimental, the likelihood of harmful conduct, including going for various types of stimulants, increases. In this case, second-degree prevention should be applied. It consists primarily of locating a group of children and youth who have already been in contact with harmful substances and providing them with psychological support, to prevent the development of addiction or limit its effects at an early stage. This is a very critical time, which is why the methods of dealing and proper preparation of specialists to take such actions are extremely important.

There are many effective and well-described prevention programs in different countries, most of them in the United States. Familia Adelante is addressed to Latin American youth and involves the use of the phenomenon of copying, that is, teaching positive adaptation strategies in stressful situations by using behavioral methods. It is also worth mentioning the “SFP 10-14” program. Its assumption is to provide comprehensive support for the entire child’s ecosystem: family, school and peer group.

In Germany, there is an IPSY (Information+Psychosocial Competence) program for students and their teachers, which includes the psychoeducation of both to create a supportive school environment. The methods mentioned above have shown high effectiveness confirmed by studies. It is worth mentioning that they all contain a common element: support for the child’s development environment. Unfortunately, such measures are not the standard of prevention in all countries.

Threatening Will Not Help

We have known for a long time that drastic images on cigarette packets do not make much impression on smokers. In many cases, governments seem to be one step behind in comparison to the emerging and more and more new threats. Actions against addictions are mostly reactive and resemble extinguishing fires. They do not constitute prevention, because they do not work in advance.

To develop a society free of addictions, we must act comprehensively, taking into account the achievements of modern psychology. The above-mentioned exemplary prevention costs, but not using the experience gained by experimenters for financial reasons is a short-sighted action because the expenditure on social health will pay off in future generations. Human well-being means fewer diseases, more motivation to work, and thus an indirect benefit for the whole economy. It’s just a pity that some people don’t want to notice it…