Prevention of self-destructive addictions
Prevention of self-destructive addictions

Author(s): Markéta Požárová, Alice Prokopová, Jitka Slaná Reissmannová
Subject(s): Education, Psychology, Behaviorism, Substance abuse and addiction, Health and medicine and law
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: self-destructive addiction; mental illness; risky behavior; violent behavior; health education;
Summary/Abstract: Self-destructive addictions include for example overuse alcohol use or smoking. In the Czech Republic, alcohol consumption is still very popular and for many people it is not risky to overuse it. Unfortunately, the number of people addicted to alcohol is not declining, which is why primary prevention is still very important. Primary prevention takes place from an early age in the family, but the school itself is an irreplaceable component of primary prevention. In the schools primary prevention takes place mainly in the subject of health education. Unfortunately, despite the exclusive position of primary prevention in schools, its effectiveness is ineffective. The biggest mistakes in primary prevention include intimidation, targeting the pupil's cognitive component, unconceptual conception or condemnation of addicts and emphasizing their weakness. The paper focuses on alcoholism as a maladaptation to a crisis situation in connection with its prevention in elementary school. Sinha (2009) draws attention to the connection between alcoholism and maladaptation in his research. The research used an analysis of the literature, research and articles from which the theoretical basis was created and then the qualitative research itself was conducted, which consisted of narrative interviews with five respondents who had experienced a crisis, used maladaptive strategies and subsequently became alcoholics. Then, case studies were written from the statements of the respondents, which were also used in the methodological materials created as didactic transformations for elementary school teachers. The results of the research show the connection between maladaptive strategies and the progress of alcohol dependence and the necessary systematic connection in primary prevention so that the student understands this issue in a context not randomly. In connection with primary prevention at elementary school were created 10 methodological materials for elementary school teachers, which will provide didactic transformation. The methodological materials therefore form a complex of preparations on the topic of self-destructive addictions, where in addition to the issue of addictions, students are also introduced to topics such as mental illness, violent behavior, adaptive and maladaptive strategies, crises and the use of relaxation techniques. Thus, the materials point to an important connection between these topics, thanks to which students would be given a systematic and comprehensive view of self-destructive addictions.

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