Financial stability always affects the psychological state of individuals. It was distinguished that people who struggle with employment or financially often develop unhealthy coping mechanisms such as substance abuse. This knowledge in practice can be easily seen on comparison charts based on such factors as employment, education level, possession of real estate, health insurance, and income level. It was uncovered that people who fall under the less fortunate category among these factors demonstrate higher prevalence towards opioid mortality (Altekruse et al., 2020). Hence the research focused on opioid addictions focuses on aforementioned microeconomic factors. The feeling of despair and helplessness that are developed when people are not able to achieve their goals such as purchasing a house or traveling around the world (Recovery Worldwide 2021). It deals a heavy blow to a person’s mental state, in return searching for comfort they are lured to the comfort of illegal drugs.
It is possible to consider addictions as cumulative in other words the cost of maintaining an addiction increases with time. As an example, it is possible to observe nicotine addiction as one’s tolerance towards cigarettes increases, one might increase the consumption rate from the initial one pack of cigarettes per week to constant purchase (Recovery Worldwide, 2021). In relation to heavy drugs such as opioids the process may have a snowball effect, especially for people with lower income. Due to heavy addictions people may start to neglect bills to satisfy the strive for drugs (Recovery Worldwide 2021). Consequently, they may acquire excessive debt, bad credit history or miss payments all together. Therefore, those who previously had lower income may fall on the brink of poverty. As a result, these factors reflect the damage received from the narcotic substances and/or possible reason for development of the addiction.
References
Altekruse, S. F., Cosgrove, C. M., Altekruse, W. C., Jenkins, R. A., & Blanco, C. (2020). Socioeconomic risk factors for fatal opioid overdoses in the United States: Findings from the mortality disparities in American Communities Study (MDAC). PLOS ONE, 15(1). Web.
Recovery Worldwide LLC. (2021). Addiction and low-income Americans. Addiction Center. Web.