QUESTION: "Dr. Remington, no doubt but that the Coastal Samaritan Counseling Center works every day with people abusing drugs. Could you give your personal opinion as to why people do drugs?”
ANSWER: That question intrigues me daily; it haunts me almost constantly; it forces me to try and find the answer, or answers.
How doing drugs starts is pretty well documented. “Here, try this. It will make you feel real good.” Drugs are tried; they work; the experimenter gets hooked! Peer invitation and pressures.
All around us, perhaps in co-workers, close friends, relatives, even in church attenders, the devastation of doing drugs is seen. How tragic! In our country and globally, lives are being destroyed and wasted by snorting, ingesting by needle, and swallowing drugs. I include alcohol abuse and nicotine as doing drugs. Misusing food may be included as an addiction. Destroyed relationships; ruined marriages; wasted lives; crime and often death, are the results of doing drugs. All races, cultures, socio-economical levels, social statuses, education and genders are allowing their lives to be damaged, if not ended, by doing drugs. WHY?
Let’s note that the cause(s) may be neurological, chemical imbalance, deep-seated psychiatric issues, or modeling. Here is my personal opinion: EGO. That part of us that focuses exclusively on us. ME-ISM. There is a mental health category listing this action and attitude, “narcissism.” Consider this. Wanting to numb out, feel beautiful or competent, extraordinary, unusually perceptive, super intellectual, spiritually advanced, sensually seductive, all boil down to what I want. An over-exaggerated ego; unbridled arrogance. How sorry we feel for people stuck on their own selves.
My strong hunch is this. The person who feels relatively comfortable with oneself and who is enjoying life will have no need to have these changed by mind-altering drugs of any kind.
Back to the ego. Good mental health – not needing drugs – is a healthy balance between really liking oneself as one is, but not over-focusing on self. Romans 12:3, For by grace given to me I say… not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. Yes, think highly of oneself as a creation of God, but don’t overdo that.
We get out of “me-ism” by acknowledging and acting that we are all connected at a deep level. This is accurate Biblical theology; confirmed by Quantum Physics. In the thought-provoking book, The Shack, we read this. ‘When you chose independence over relationship, you become a danger to one another. Others become objects to be manipulated or managed for your own happiness.’ And, Jesus picked up the conversation, “As the crowning glory of creation, you were made in our image, unencumbered by structure and free to simply “be” in relationship with me and one another. If you had truly learned to regard one another’s concerns as significant as your own, there would be no need for hierarchy.’ (pp. 125-26).
Serious addictions healing usually involve an in-patient stay, followed by consistent participation in AA (Alcohol Anonymous) and NA (Narcotics Anonymous) along with professional counseling that is faith-integrated, as we offer.
READER: Submit questions to Ask-A-Counselor, obtain information, or make an appointment by calling 843-448-4820, Fax: 448-9875, send to the Coastal Samaritan Counseling Center, 901 N. Kings Highway, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577, or log on to http://coastalsamaritan.blogspot.com.
