Why does our society consider substance abuse to be a moral problem rather than a psychological one?

Our lives are filled with moral issues; almost everything we do has a moral component. Issues of right and wrong are inherent in almost every decision and for some decisions they represent the central concern. Very few people appreciate how prevalent moral issues are. Moral issues span the good, and the bad; care, responsibility, fairness, equality, freedom, opportunity, cooperation, trust, and honesty; stealing, lying, fraud, abusive influence, manipulation, personal decadence, violating human rights, and unethical acts.

Society views addictions and substance abuse very similarly. Most of society believes that the addict is simply somewhere within the realm of a moral dilemma, a dilemma which likely [supposedly] originated from a moral turpitude. Society may consider substance abuse to be a moral problem rather than a psychological problem because of this. Society has many expectations of morals and ethics. A prevalent expectation is that a person should be accountable. We are taught that most addicts are in a state of denial. The addict believes everything is happening to them, they are the victim, that it’s not their fault. If society holds on to this belief as a rigid truth, then the perception of moral turpitude prevails. Last on the list of causes is the possibility that there may be a biological influence or a psychological explanation for the addiction.

PTSD: How could a person overcome the trauma that led to the disorder?

The text, Essentials of Abnormal Psychology, discusses some of the mysteries surrounding the etiology of post traumatic stress disorder. For example, 67% percent of Vietnam war veterans developed the disorder as a result of their involvement in the war, yet 33% did not. It is clear that it is a complex issue, involving biological, psychological, and social factors.

Posttraumatic stress disorder is an extreme psychological reaction to intensely traumatic events. The reaction lasts for at least one month. Typical traumatic events which lead to PTSD are assault, rape, natural disasters, accidents, and wartime traumas. The individual’s psychological strength before the trauma is an important and a key factor. A person who was chronically distressed before the trauma and especially a person who has a history of family psychopathology is most likely to develop posttraumatic stress disorder.

Emotional coping serves as good protection against PTSD. Emotional coping is when a person deals with an event with wishful thinking, denial, emotional venting and also attributing the event to controllable causes. This means that a person who acts hopeless or feels hopeless is most vulnerable to long-term psychiatric effects. But, realistically the likelihood of posttraumatic stress disorder may depend mostly on the nature of the trauma.

We have a lot of methods to overcome the trauma, but the best way is to prepare emotionally, psychologically and perhaps physically before the traumatic event; unfortunately, it’s not a likely scenario in most cases. However, after the trauma, if you remain in control of your thoughts and emotions you are most likely to avoid PTSD. One should communicate and stay connected with others (family, friends, other victims.) I like the idea of systematic desensitization for more than just anxiety. I think that it would work well with PTSD also if introduced at a comfortable pace.

HUMANMETRICS Jung Typology Test

One of the most common personality tests that psychologists use is the Jung-Myers-Briggs Typology test. According to Jung, individuals can be classified using three criteria: extraversion-introversion, sensing-intuition, and thinking-feeling. Briggs-Myers added a forth criterion, judging-perceiving.

To learn more about this test and to see how you score on this scale, visit the site, http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm and take this short personality assessment.

The brief nature of this evaluation ensures quick results but it’s difficult to gauge the extent of the “feeling” by these tests or their level of conviction or agreeableness to their chosen “yes” or “no” response. For me I think every question could have more than one interpretation or application. It isn’t asked, but to make my point, “Have you stolen from work?” You might think, “OMG! I’m busted for stealing a pen.” Or you might think, “OMG, they know I stole that copier.”

Out of 72 questions of self-perception and 60 seconds of thought, you aren’t likely to see yourself accurately. Besides the perspective of the questions being egocentric, a person might try to guess and answer the questions as they think others perceive them trying to be “fair” in an attempt to receive unbiased results. Impossibly, sometimes the best way to see yourself is to see through someone else’s eyes.

It doesn’t take into account the conscious effort you put forth overcoming your natural tendencies. Afraid of heights, but you skydive. Should this be a factor?

Current mood also should be factored in on a test like this. This could affect many aspects including the perception of the question by the person taking the test. The perspective of the question could be difficult to determine, in addition to other aspects, due to is a brevity. One question asked, “You are consistent in your habits.” I think it depends on where you take the test. If you take the test at work you might answer based on work related habits. So, if you are referring to work habits, yes definitely. Or, if I was taking this quiz at the gym or just after my workout then I might answer based on thinking about my workout habits; if so, then yes definitely. But, by chance I might it might occur to me to think about my eating habits; in that case, no definitely. Or, it might occur to me to think about my t.v. watching habits; in that case also, “no” would definitely be my final answer.

I’m not sure if it was part of the test, or just testing my resolve, but did anyone have difficulty getting a score? I often received this one:

You haven’t answered more than two questions. Results are unreliable. Would you like to answer these questions then click ‘Back’ button on your browser. Answer these questions and press ‘Score It’ button again.

Sorry, there is not enough data for your type analysis

And then I would get this one:

Service unavailable. Please try it a little bit later.

Finally, I received a “Score” :

Your Type is ENFJ : Extraverted Intuitive Feeling Judging
Strength of the preferences % 22 50 12 22

Qualitative analysis of your type formula

You are:
slightly expressed extravert

moderately expressed intuitive personality

slightly expressed feeling personality

slightly expressed judging personality

I believe the level of “extravert” and “feeling” for me depend on the situation and my mood. However, I feel the intuitive and judging might be fairly accurate.