(MENAFN- Iraq Business News) Mental Health, Drug Abuse and Seeking Solutions
Those vulnerable to drug abuse and those experiencing drug addictions, are people living with conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - where extreme acts of violence and isolation due to instability - has left people turning to illegal drugs to "numb" the pain of conflict.
While treatments for such conditions often vary, the Narconon rehabilitation service, holds a different perspective to other treatments offered for drug and substance abuse. Narconon don't have "patients", "victims" or even "addicts". They have "students who are learning to live a successful drug-free life."
As people are often proscribed legal drugs, to suppress cravings or to dumb down the psychological element of addiction, Narconon offers more therapeutic remedies, with "no substitute drugs" and they also seek long lasting solutions by addressing the question; "what drove a person to drugs in the first place?"
In an approach similar to rehabilitation techniques like Mindfulness or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Narconon recognises the connection between mental health and addiction, where "a person's attention can be stuck in thousands of different moments", which then impacts a persons overall behaviour in the present.
Quite often, people living with PTSD can also experience sleeplessness, feelings of detachment, alienation, a lack of motivation and suicidal thoughts. The traumatic experience gives so much mental attention to the past - that even years after the traumatic incident - the person is often left with "little or no attention for the here and now."
Repairing the mind, body and spirit
As Iraq emerges from the battle with Islamic State and as the country seeks to rehabilitate its infrastructure, people need their own rehabilitation services to overcome the hidden wounds of war. People also need to be mindful, that Iraq's approaches to Mental Health may also be under-developed due to neglect, a lack of investment and displacement.
While the professional brain drain Iraq experienced due to conflict, may mean conditions like PTSD and addictions have been left untreated, it's worth giving consideration to the fact; bricks and mortar can replace the material scars of war but drug abuse and the absence of mental health services, can lead to other long term conflicts.
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