Addiction Prevention Strategies in Adults

An addiction can take multiple forms, be it drugs, alcohol, tobacco, and more recently, the internet. When a person becomes addicted, the pleasures he submits to become momentary, as he must then face an avalanche of guilt and remorse for what he has committed. This is a very difficult situation for that person and for others. And it is that, when someone suffers from an addiction, not only their physical and mental health is deteriorated; but it also brings consequences in the family environment and in their social relationships.

For this reason, it is to be expected that people close to a loved one who perceive that they may be at risk of falling into problematic use want to take action on the matter. A wide range of scientific investigations have developed devices for the prevention of addictions in children and adolescents, several of them aiming at school intervention or in the family. However, many people are unaware of the existence of addiction prevention strategies in adults, which we will develop throughout this article.

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What is an addiction?

Before pointing to strategies to prevent addictions in adults, it is necessary that we consider what is meant by addiction and what its dynamics are. Well, in the first instance, all addiction is based on compulsive consumption. In many cases, the user can ponder the consequences of that behavior, but ends up losing control over what they eat or the behaviors they carry out.

A central characteristic of addictions is that they have a cyclical nature.. First, the person experiences the pleasurable sensations of that substance or behavior to which he is addicted (for example, gambling or alcohol). The latter, for example, produces relaxation in social relationships, a partial euphoric state, and reduces anxiety. By repeatedly activating the basal ganglia reward system (which, in a simplified way, means that by feeling pleasure over and over again reinforces a tendency to repeat that behavior), the person will consolidate habits typical of a addiction.

Secondly, when the substance is no longer available, either by choice or by external circumstances, the person will experience a negative emotional state. If it is a sustained effort over time, you could present withdrawal symptoms, which oppose the pleasant sensations of what is consumed. The sources of these feelings lie in a low activation of the reward systems, but also increased activation of stress systems in the brain. Eventually, when faced with a stressful stimulus, the addicted person will turn to alcohol again to alleviate symptoms and she will want to use again even though she can partially see that it is not a favorable decision for her life or for the lives of others. the rest. In this way, he re-enters the characteristic loop of all addiction.

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Addiction prevention strategies in adults

Once we consider how addictions work in general, we can address possible strategies to prevent addictions. As we said, these usually target groups of children, but especially adolescents. The reason for this is that during adolescence there are various times of risk to fall into consumption, such as the divorce of parents, the death of grandparents or the change of school. Also, at the level of brain development, the prefrontal cortex —where the executive functions reside functionally, including decision-making, which is extremely important for evaluating the consequences of consumption—has not finished developing, so adolescents are more prone to falling into this type of behaviors. Nevertheless, adults also face situations of emotional fragility that could lead them to consume even never having fallen into these behaviors before. Therefore, let's see some preventive strategies to respond to this problem.

1. Provide knowledge about addictions

It is essential that prevention aims at knowledge about the consumption of substances or drugs. The fact that a person who is at risk of becoming addicted knows about the consequences of these behaviors will not encourage consumption, but rather it can be a highly preventive. That way, know about the loop they could enter by overusing certain substances, as well as the way in which it would affect their different vital areas —such as family, work or leisure—, will be useful for the prevention of addictions in adults.

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2. Promote healthy lifestyle habits

Various investigations have shed light on the correlation between some healthy lifestyle habits and a low consumption of substances. For example, certain findings indicated that the practice of physical activity is related to not using tobacco; others, that in a group of regular drinkers, those who practiced little sport consumed more compared to those who exercised daily. Encouraging the implementation of healthy lifestyle habits also suggests being a great strategy for the prevention of addictions in general.

3. Emotional intelligence development

Emotional Intelligence, understood as the ability to perceive and regulate emotional states of self and others, is a capacity closely related to consumption. Many studies have been carried out on this. One of them found that there is a relationship between low Emotional Intelligence and a high level of perceived stress. What is more interesting is that it also showed that there are significant differences between those who had consumption problems and those who did not; the former presenting a higher level of perceived stress and lower Emotional Intelligence compared to non-consumers.

We know that emotional problems are those that prompt consumption in the first instance. In this way, addiction prevention strategies should target this element, since developing a greater Emotional Intelligence will allow the person to recognize their own emotions and feelings and assign to those states a meaning. The mere fact of recognizing them will mean a reduction in stress. That is, perceiving internal experiences would reduce the risk that the person resorts to the momentary gratification of consumption in order to suppress her emotions; that is, it would prevent the person from “acting as if nothing is happening” and becoming aware of what is happening to them.

Consult with a mental health professional

Although as a close person it is possible to accompany someone who is at risk of suffering an addiction, it is at this point where we consider it extremely important to highlight the fact that the intervention of a psychotherapist will help the person to be in contact with what happens to him safely. In this way, psychotherapy is key to fostering a space to develop Emotional Intelligence and previously developed strategies for the prevention of addictions.