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Behavioral Theory (also known as Social Learning Theory)
When teens in high school try to find their place in a social group, they may use substances to be accepted by their peers. Doing what their friends are doing may help them avoid the social anxiety of not fitting in.
This pressure may be multiplied by their home environment. Kids who grow up in a home with users are more likely to be users as well.
Sociocultural Theory
Society and culture can influence people to use drugs.
If a neighborhood or a culture thinks it’s okay to drink a lot, more people there might have problems with alcohol. Different cultures have different ideas about drinking alcohol, and this affects how much people drink.
Disease/Medical Theory
This theory says that drug problems are a brain sickness that gets worse over time if not treated.
Drugs and addictive behaviors make the brain feel good by releasing a chemical called dopamine that makes us feel happy. Over time, the brain needs more of the drug or behavior to feel the same amount of happiness.
Then, as people increase their use of drugs or addictive behaviors, the brain starts to think it needs these things to survive. The brain wasn’t made to handle so much of this feel-good chemical, and it gets tricked into thinking it needs that much to live.
This medical model sees drug problems as lasting a long time and returning even after being eliminated. So, a person with a drug problem is never considered completely cured, just “getting better” or “not using right now.”
Your Inner-Body’s Reaction Theory
This theory maintains that chemical problems in a person’s body might make people get addicted to drugs like heroin. When people with this chemical problem start taking the drug, their body starts to need it to survive, like people with diabetes need insulin. The drug makes their body feel normal.
It’s Your Genes/How You Were Created Theory
Some people might be more likely to get diabetes, be overweight, or have heart problems because of their genes. The theory believes that the genes we’re born with can make us more likely to have problems with drugs and alcohol. A gene or group of genes can affect how our body reacts to drugs — like how drunk we get, or if we feel sick from a small amount of drugs instead of a lot.
Drug problems often run in families because they can be passed down from parents to children through genes. Your family history can tell you if you might have problems with addiction. For example, if someone in your close family has had drug problems, you should be extra careful.
Dr. Glen R. Hanson (PhD, DDS, and former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse) says, “Just because you might get addicted doesn’t mean you will. It just means you have to be careful.”
Clean-Living Theory (also known as The Moral Theory)
This theory proposes that using drugs is bad and wrong. People start using drugs because they are making wrong choices and can’t seem to control themselves.
Because the clean-living/moral theory thinks using drugs is a choice, it maintains that people keep using them because they choose to.
But what about
…The Absence of God Theory?
There’s so much temptation around and trouble to get into when we try to numb our hurts or just have a few minutes of fake fun. But these things rob us of the good living God intended for us. Instead, they leave us broken and empty. That’s what the absence of God looks like.
Emptiness is a wake-up call to come to God. Only God can turn emptiness into fullness. Only God can fill us with all of who He is. This is hard to describe, but I know it to be true.
God says, “I am God, there is none like me. I declare from the beginning how it will end.” (Isaiah 46:10 tpt) He knows what will happen in the future. More important, God will be there for you when it happens if you’ve chosen to invite Him into your life. Psalm 46:1 (msg) is not a theory, but a truth to hold onto for life. “God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him.”
When we bring God into our “theories” and into the problems of our addictions, everything can change!
Why do I believe this so much?
Because I came from chaos — abuse, addiction, and nights spent clinging to a telephone pole as my security blanket, just trying to feel safe. My life was anything but perfect.
But God had a plan. He took my pain and turned it into purpose. He delivered my father from alcoholism, healed our relationship, and gave me a mission to help others find freedom. I am living proof: God’s presence changed everything. God isn’t just a theory. He’s real, and He saves.
MaryAnn Gardner, MS, M.Ed-HS-BCP, currently is the Director of Trainee and Community Engagement of the Bridgeport Rescue Mission. She is passionate about inspiring hope and teaching life skills so clients have the help needed to become all they can be. If in Bridgeport, CT, tune into to her radio show on WICC 600 dealing with the crisis of opioid addiction.
