Author: Carla Wüthrich

As a psychology student working with patients with addiction, I know a lot about the fate of our patients and how their addiction developed throughout their lives. I have always been interested in the turns someone’s life takes to lead them into an addiction, how they can overcome it and where they can find the motivation to do so. There is one story I have heard from some of our heroin-addicted patients and it made me wonder where it comes from. They had a normal and inconspicuous life before they started taking drugs. It all started when they were prescribed, opioid-based pain killers. 

Worldwide, especially in the United States, cases like the one described above exist. The problem is known as the opioid crisis.  In 2016 more than 42’000 people died in the United States alone, due to an overdose based on prescribed opioids. The World Health Organisation announced a public health emergency and programs to combat the epidemic. The problem stems from the 1990s when pharmaceutical companies downplayed the addictive effects of opioid-based pain-killers and sold them in great quantities. The problem isn’t restricted to the United States, Switzerland has also been widely affected. 

One of the side effects of consumption is the development of tolerance toward the opioids. To get the same pain releasing effect each time, the doses have to be taken in higher amounts. However, there is usually a limit on the legal prescription dose and even the highest amounts end up being insufficient in relieving pain. 

• If you are interested in how the drug functions in the human body and how the tolerance development works, you can find out more here.

The affected people have the option to go through a withdrawal (which is very painful – see video below). Therefore, a lot of patients end up reaching for other opioid-based drugs like heroin. This shift in substances leads to more uncontrolled consumption and overdoses. The development of an opium addiction is a gradual process and most of the patients are not aware of it until it is too late. It can happen to anyone. 

• If you want to know more about the symptoms and the withdrawal of an opioid addiction, you can check out Travis Rieder’s TED-Talk. He talks about his personal experiences during his opioid withdrawal and explains the stages a lot of patients go through very accurately. 

As a budding psychologist, you might be confronted with the ongoing problem if you are working with addiction or chronic-pain patients. Moreover, if you are working in prevention, this is certainly a subject on which awareness should be raised, for patients as well as society. 

Bibiography

U.S. Department of Health and Human Service. 2020.  https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/index.html. 

Featrured Image

Quelle: https://pixabay.com/de/photos/thermometer-kopfschmerzen-schmerz-1539191/

Author: Carla Wüthrich

To be interested in health psychology means for me to care about mental health in our society. The WHO announced depression as the leading cause of diseases by 2030. In Switzerland, one-fifth of all inhabitants are affected by a mental disorder.

But have you ever heart speaking someone about it in public or even in private conversations?

It is still a big taboo in our society and most people remain silent out of fear to get stigmatized. As it happens with a lot of the global challenges today, people start to talk about it on the internet. It gives them a platform to speak openly about their experiences and to connect with others affected.

Out of this idea of connection, ZETA Movement was created by a group of young people who didn’t want to remain silent about this global issue. It all started at a workshop against stigmatization where the founders of the movement met. They all had direct or indirect experienced what it means to suffer from mental illness and where thereby aware of the social stigma around it. They decided to create a social movement and an open community where members could speak freely about all the issues and challenges, they have experienced with it.

The name ZETA was developed out of the thought that generation Z should be the last generation that is impacted by social stigmatization of mental health issues.

Therefore, ZETA works with the concept of open communication and storytelling. The core idea is to build up a community where “ambassadors” can share their personal experiences with mental health issues. Their goal is to be operative in schools and other youth-related organizations. Furthermore, the associations will focus on the building of a community, the organization of training courses for the ambassadors, and the organization and mediation between ambassadors and authorities.

Like any other social movement, ZETA can just achieve it’s goals if there are young people out there which are interested in being part of a movement and which feel responsible for the mental health of our society. If you have new ideas or inputs, if you are impacted in the topic and you would like to become an ambassador, or if you want to be part of the association, ZETA is happy about every input and new member they can reach to achieve their global goal. There is still a lot to do and help can be needed from everyone so don’t hesitate to get in touch. Rather Either on social media or you can directly contact the board by e-mail.

Page: www.zetamovement.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ZETAmovement

Instagram: zeta.movement

E-Mail: zeta.movement@gmail.com

Author: Carla Wüthrich