Sarah started using heroin when she was 16, and soon after that she left home to live with her dealer. Heroin was one of the ways he had power over her. He was older than her, and often unfaithful. Over the three years that they were together, they frequently fought, sometimes violently. She would end up staying with friends or on the streets. She would steal to get money for heroin until he convinced her to return, partially through the promise of more drugs. Eventually she was arrested for shoplifting and sent to prison. Her boyfriend ended the relationship while she was in custody. In response, Sarah cut her wrists. It began a lasting pattern of self-harm through cutting.
Sarah received treatment for her addiction in prison, and had frequent contact with mental health professionals, but she has never successfully gone without heroin for more than a few days, despite repeated efforts. She funds her habit through state benefits, loans from her mother, and theft. Her father died when she was three. Her mother raised her on her own, working two jobs to make ends meet. Her mother was and is her only stable source of support. Sarah hates herself deeply.
This is a fictional case study, based on the real addicts I come across in my work. But when you picture Sarah, who do you see? One person might imagine a violent and depraved young woman, who has chosen to live on the edge of society and is responsible for her drug use and crimes. Another will see a suffering soul, someone who can’t control her desire for heroin and can’t be held responsible for the harm she perpetrates on herself or others. Of course, both images of addiction are stereotypes that a moment’s reflection should dispel. They polarise and capture our collective imagination. In reality they stop us from facing hard truths about why people become addicts. Continue reading
Sources
- Aeon
- Image: Hawaii Island Recovery
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