Violence in substance use disorders: how are they related?

Substance use disorders can have a wide range of repercussions, in some cases even violent tendencies.

In these lines we will delve into the possible relationship that exists between some of these pathologies due to drug use and hostile behavior or even violence, trying to identify the causes and situations in which this type of behavior is more likely to take place.

• Related article: "The 11 types of violence (and the different types of aggression)"

Cases of violence in substance use disorders

Substance use disorders are one of the many types of psychopathological disorders that are contemplated in the main psychology diagnostic manuals, such as the DSM-V or the ICD-10. This range may include the abuse of elements such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs or other drugs, generally illegal in terms of their commercialization. This consumption It becomes a disorder when it generates a dependency such that its consumption is beyond the control of the individual and it becomes a necessity.

When suffering from this pathology, it is very common to also experience a series of associated symptoms, which can be of very diverse nature, but the one that interests us in this case is that of violence in drug use disorders. substances.

These violent behaviors have a significantly higher prevalence in these individuals compared to the general population.

In fact, studies indicate that a person addicted to some substance will have between 4 and 10 times more likely to maintain violent attitudes than those who do not abuse any of those products. The difference, therefore, is extremely worrying and allows us to establish violence in substance use disorders as one of the most important causes of these behaviors antisocial.

In addition, these studies speak of It is not a specific substance that leads to violent behavior, but it is the fact of suffering from addiction, since the symptoms are shared among those people who consume substances as diverse as opiates, sedative drugs, hallucinogenic mushrooms, stimulant drugs such as cocaine and also the cannabis. There are more types, but these are the ones that occupy the bulk of individuals with violent behaviors.

The context of violence

The most recent meta-analysis on violence in substance use disorders brings together data from 18 different studies that have been been published over the last three decades and accumulates the data of almost 600,000 people with these pathologies and their behaviors aggressive. This work allows us to draw very interesting conclusions, some about the contexts where this violence is usually carried out.

Although several of the studies affect the amount of violent behaviors that substance addicts engage in in the intrafamily context, that is, in the category of gender violence or within the couple, the reality is that a difference was not observed with respect to the rest of contexts, so the conclusion is what violence in substance use disorders is pervasive in any situation, not just that of the partner in the family home.

It is possible that these cases stand out more since due to a question of probability, the partner is the person with whom the most time tends to pass the individual in question and therefore it will be more likely that he is the target of such attitudes violent But this does not mean that people who abuse substances tend to be more aggressive in the family context than in other contexts, but they will be in all of them.

Likewise, another important difference in the results is observed and it is the one that occurs between the cohort studies and the case-control studies. In the cohort studies, that is, those in which cases are observed and analyzed as they happen, it was concluded that there was a lower prevalence of these violent behaviors compared to those in which the case of people with substance addictions was compared to a control group of individuals without happiness pathology.

• You may be interested in: "Types of drugs: know their characteristics and effects"

Implications of this relationship

Leaving aside the divergences between the different perspectives provided by the types of studies analyzed, what is evident is that there is a general conclusion, and it is that in fact there is a problem of violence in substance use disorders. Once we have this problem on the table, we must take advantage of it to find a solution that addresses the two situations that we want to solve.

On the one hand, there is the fact of having individuals who are abusing harmful substances and therefore are experiencing a progressive deterioration at a physical, psychological and social, which will be more or less accentuated depending on the level of consumption and the characteristics of the person, their protection and risk factors, the type of substance consumed, etc.

On the other hand, there is the violence exerted, which is but one of the many consequences that the abusive use of substances is causing, with the exception that, Unlike most symptoms, this directly affects third parties, who are the ones who receive said aggressive behaviors, either verbally or physically.

This does not mean that they are the only victims of violence, because even the aggressors themselves can also suffer the consequences, either being in dangerous situations that they have generated, such as arguments or fights, and even at the judicial level, which may be the object of complaints, arrests, sanctions and even prison sentences if the conduct exercised has been especially serious and the justice so dictates.

Once we are aware of the deep scope of the problem, we should understand the importance of dedicating more resources through specialized personnel and programs that help people addicted to substances to heal this pathology, since once resolved, all the symptoms and repercussions would be eliminated, including the behaviors of violence that we have already verified that affect both the person who exercises it and especially those who receive.

The importance of prevention

If we saw that to solve cases of violence in substance use disorders it was It is essential to invest in adequate treatments that achieve improvements and cures of these diseases, the truth is that the thing is even more important is working to prevent these situations and dedicate all the public resources that are necessary in that direction.

The logic of the matter is clear and unappealable, even at an economic level, because if we add the costs of detoxification programs, the possible medical costs for the consequences suffered, the costs at an emotional and social level for the sick person and for all those around him who have suffered of violence, the amount we obtain is much higher than what awareness campaigns would cost us so that this addiction never has place.

Obviously this It is something that is already being worked on and there are important foundations that constantly remind the most vulnerable population, generally adolescents and young people, the risks posed by the consumption of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, and as a false feeling of control, peer pressure, and thrill-seeking, among many other factors, can have terrible repercussions.

The key must be perseverance in these campaigns and adaptation to the language and form of communication of the youngest, since we know that it is rapidly changing and therefore the message that It arrived yesterday and therefore it was effective, it does not have to be today and they can ignore it completely, throwing away the entire prevention program and all the work and resources behind it.

A few years ago the most common was to carry out these campaigns mainly through television commercials. However, today the paradigm has changed, and young people hardly connect with these media, while they constantly communicate through their mobile phones. Therefore, it will be essential to take advantage of the entry point that social networks represent, applications in which adolescents are authentic experts.

A well-orchestrated campaign, with appropriate and spontaneous language, through a TikTok video or an Instagram photo, will probably be immensely more powerful than a television spot, radio spot, or other message delivered through a more traditional. It will be vitally important, therefore, that experts make use of this possibility and thus work on the prevention of violence in substance use disorders.

Bibliographic references:

• Hopenhayn, M. (2002). Drugs and violence: ghosts of the new Latin American metropolis. Polis. Latin American Magazine.
• Vaiz, R.G., Nakano, A.M.S. (2004). Intra-family violence, drug use in the partner, from the perspective of the battered woman. Latin American Journal of Nursing.
• Zhong, S., Yu, R., Fazel, S. (2020). Drug Use Disorders and Violence: Associations With Individual Drug Categories. Epidemiologic Reviews.