Trauma, violence and recovery in the life stories of people who have injected drugs
This paper reports qualitative data about violence and trauma amongst drug injectors in Scotland, collected using a life story method with 55 drug injectors currently in recovery. It focusses on different types of violence and trauma that occurred whilst using drugs. Stories told of very severe and...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
2020-10-01
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| Series: | Qualitative Research in Medicine & Healthcare |
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| Online Access: | https://www.pagepressjournals.org/index.php/qrmh/article/view/9073 |
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| author | Richard Hammersley Marie Reid Phil Dalgarno Jason Wallace Dave Liddell |
| author_facet | Richard Hammersley Marie Reid Phil Dalgarno Jason Wallace Dave Liddell |
| author_sort | Richard Hammersley |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper reports qualitative data about violence and trauma amongst drug injectors in Scotland, collected using a life story method with 55 drug injectors currently in recovery. It focusses on different types of violence and trauma that occurred whilst using drugs. Stories told of very severe and repeated traumas often involving extreme violence. One motive for escalating and continuing drug use was avoidant coping to deaden the emotions and thoughts regarding these traumas. Many traumas were due partly to the criminal drug milieu, so respondents were in a vicious cycle of using opiates and other sedative drugs to cope with the consequences of being involved in a lifestyle of using, supplying and obtaining illegal sedative drugs. Drugs were used as a dynamic method of self-medication or avoidant coping to cope with life in a criminal milieu. Traumatic events were more often described as worsening the lifestyle than as being motives for quitting. Amongst the traumas recounted were many incidents of extreme violence. Using drugs to block the psychological effects of such traumas may help explain why people persist using opiates despite experiencing evident serious harms. Interventions need to recognise this, be trauma-aware and appreciate that violence and trauma have severe adverse effects on drug injectors even when they are themselves hardened and violent. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-94144d0b7e4d4ffc9707ea745accb7d5 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2532-2044 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-10-01 |
| publisher | KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Qualitative Research in Medicine & Healthcare |
| spelling | doaj-art-94144d0b7e4d4ffc9707ea745accb7d52025-08-20T03:57:08ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Qualitative Research in Medicine & Healthcare2532-20442020-10-014210.4081/qrmh.2020.9073Trauma, violence and recovery in the life stories of people who have injected drugsRichard Hammersley0Marie Reid1Phil Dalgarno2Jason Wallace3Dave Liddell4Department of Psychology, University of Hull, GlasgowDepartment of Psychology, University of Hull, GlasgowSchool of Health and Life Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, GlasgowScottish Drugs Forum, GlasgowScottish Drugs Forum, GlasgowThis paper reports qualitative data about violence and trauma amongst drug injectors in Scotland, collected using a life story method with 55 drug injectors currently in recovery. It focusses on different types of violence and trauma that occurred whilst using drugs. Stories told of very severe and repeated traumas often involving extreme violence. One motive for escalating and continuing drug use was avoidant coping to deaden the emotions and thoughts regarding these traumas. Many traumas were due partly to the criminal drug milieu, so respondents were in a vicious cycle of using opiates and other sedative drugs to cope with the consequences of being involved in a lifestyle of using, supplying and obtaining illegal sedative drugs. Drugs were used as a dynamic method of self-medication or avoidant coping to cope with life in a criminal milieu. Traumatic events were more often described as worsening the lifestyle than as being motives for quitting. Amongst the traumas recounted were many incidents of extreme violence. Using drugs to block the psychological effects of such traumas may help explain why people persist using opiates despite experiencing evident serious harms. Interventions need to recognise this, be trauma-aware and appreciate that violence and trauma have severe adverse effects on drug injectors even when they are themselves hardened and violent.https://www.pagepressjournals.org/index.php/qrmh/article/view/9073drug injectingherointraumaviolencerecoveryself-medication |
| spellingShingle | Richard Hammersley Marie Reid Phil Dalgarno Jason Wallace Dave Liddell Trauma, violence and recovery in the life stories of people who have injected drugs Qualitative Research in Medicine & Healthcare drug injecting heroin trauma violence recovery self-medication |
| title | Trauma, violence and recovery in the life stories of people who have injected drugs |
| title_full | Trauma, violence and recovery in the life stories of people who have injected drugs |
| title_fullStr | Trauma, violence and recovery in the life stories of people who have injected drugs |
| title_full_unstemmed | Trauma, violence and recovery in the life stories of people who have injected drugs |
| title_short | Trauma, violence and recovery in the life stories of people who have injected drugs |
| title_sort | trauma violence and recovery in the life stories of people who have injected drugs |
| topic | drug injecting heroin trauma violence recovery self-medication |
| url | https://www.pagepressjournals.org/index.php/qrmh/article/view/9073 |
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