Sexual Behavior of Addicted Adolescents - Where Epidemiology meets Psychodynamics?

Drug and Alcohol Unit, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

*Corresponding Author:

Thiago M. Fidalgo
Associate Director
Drug and Alcohol Unit, Federal University of São Paulo
São Paulo, Brazil
Tel: +55 11 9645 0170
E-mail: marquesfidalgo@yahoo.com.br

Received June 11, 2012; Accepted June 13, 2012; Published June 15, 2012

Citation: Fidalgo TM (2012) Sexual Behavior of Addicted Adolescents – Where Epidemiology meets Psychodynamics? J Addict Res Ther 3:e106. doi:10.4172/21556105.1000e106

Copyright: © 2012 Fidalgo TM, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Adolescence can be defined a period where it is hard to establish boundaries between what is normal and what is pathological. It is a period where it is abnormal for the existence of a stable balance [1]. This social birth is a crucial period in human life [2]. The child’s universe and personality give place to a young adult, whose universe gets progressively more and more enlarged. In addition, intense corporal changes take place. It is trough this new corporal perception that the adolescent begins the construction of his sexuality, assuming his social role as a member of a specific gender; a great importance step to the building of an adult identity. Drug dependence is also a phenomenon that commonly starts in this period of life.

Addiction can be thought as a tripod composed by the environment, the psychoactive substance itself, and the personal characteristics of the users [3], who may become an addict or not according to the pattern of relationship he/she establishes with the substance [4,5]. All these factors associated can eventually converge to a disastrous meeting with the drug, particularly likely to occur during adolescence [6]. Some authors suggest that sexual intercourses can fill the same gap that psychotropic substances do, as a means to escape reality [3,6]. As a consequence, sexual behavior of the drug dependent becomes an important subject to be investigated, once it can reflect a relationship similar to that established with the drug.

On this context alcohol play an important role once it is one of the most disseminated psychotropic substance due to its low cost and legal status. This is especially significant when it is considered that several epidemiologic studies confirm this psychodynamic view connecting these two important phenomena: alcohol abuse and sexual risk behavior [7-12]. However, a clear cause-effect relationship between alcohol intake and sexual risk behavior has not been proved yet [13].

All these stated that we have reached an interesting point here. A psychodynamic hypothesis finds epidemiological evidence to be supported. All the psychoanalytical reflections about adolescent sexuality and about teenagers that abuse of psychotropic have been confirmed by the traditional empirical science. A rich dialogue can bear from these two apparently conflicting views and news hypothesis can be raised. Scientist and patients only have to win if we open our minds.

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