Originally Posted by
Blaze
there are these terms in the counseling field called ego-syntonic and ego-dystonic. they refer to moods or mental states or levels of energy and how people subjectively experience them. people can experience their natural ego states as either comfortable or uncomfortable. if their ego state is uncomfortable, then they might use substances which change their mood or energy level in the opposite direction of their natural state. if they are comfortable in their natural ego state, then they might use substances which enhance their natural ego state.
as a side-bar, why would a person experience their natural ego state as uncomfortable? a socionics answer would be that they have not been around people who value their ego. a social work answer is that there could be some type of stress or challenge or trauma. a doctor's answer might be that there is something wrong in their body.
so, what is interesting about this socionically is that most people are comfortable with their ego functions, but at the same time, seek balance with their dual seeking and hidden agenda functions. so, drug use can manifiest socionically in two ways: drug experiences that intensify ego functions or drug experiences that mimic dual seeking and/or hidden agenda functions.
however, the trouble with drugs is that there is chemistry going on inside the body that operates on it over time, so the pleasureable effects of the substance begin to be outweighed by the toll that they take on the person's body. this toll, along with tolerance, is the reason the good effects of the drug use start to become less and less prominant.
i'll talk about my experience here, this is not saying anything about anybody else, so don't anybody freak out. for me, drug use kinda filled ego functions and super-id functions at first, but over time, became strictly super-id filling. it's because my ego became stronger and stronger over time. it needed less and less "help" to express itself and self-identify. i began to see more and more the negative effects of the superego functional weakness. so i began to choose drugs that satisfied my dual seeking, not ones that enhanced my ego (like hallucinogens) lol LSD is like Ne gone wild.....
i started to say that there was an absence of socionically compatible people in my life who could have helped me in my addiction but that's really not true. while i don't remember any duals, there were activity, illusionary, benefactors, beneficiaries, mirrors and semi duals around who i would not listen to and who i hurt with my addiction. (didn't kill 'em though lol) but really who was i hurting? not them as much as myself.
it's a lot harder for me to live clean and sober for sure. it's harder now than it ever was, too, keeps getting harder and harder. the world's a tough place. doesn't mean i don't enjoy it.....there's lots of bonuses that come....but fundamentally life is hard. some of us have a tougher row to hoe than others though and i have to wonder what God's reasons are for that. but when i get to feeling really down, i say to myelf, hey, here in america we have clean water to drink. it could be worse. much worse.