What You Need to Understand about Khat Side Effects

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What You Need to Understand about Khat Side Effects

12 September, 2019Articles, News

The use of khat, or Catha edulis as it is known by the scientific community, is on the increase throughout South Africa. If you or a loved one is abusing this drug, we would like to offer you this opportunity to familiarise yourself with khat side effects. Empowering yourself with this information may help you or someone else to find freedom from this highly addictive substance.

What is Khat?
Khat, like many other commonly used drugs, is derived from the leaves and buds of a plant. On the street, khat is chewed, consumed as a tea or smoked in a similar way to marijuana. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), khat does in fact create dependency in drug abusers.

What are the side-effects of Khat ?

Digestive problems: Amongst the most frequently reported khat side effects is constipation. In a study published in the Ethiopian Journal of Health Science, constipation was found to be a prevalent problem in 80% of daily khat chewers. Other digestive problems which are associated with khat include haemorrhoids and gastritis.

What is Cat as opposed to Khat ?

It is available in a powder form, called methcathinone, which is snorted up through the nose. It is classed as a stimulant. What this means is that it produces an effect that raises the level of key chemicals in the brain. It produces an effect that is similar to amphetamines, leading to a faster heartbeat, increased energy levels and reduced appetite.

Cat Side Effects

Worsening mental health problems: Due to the effect that cat produces in the brain, it has been known to exacerbate existing mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder.

Weight loss: cat has a significant effect on one’s appetite if used for a prolonged period of time. Many cat users relate to the fact that feeding oneself is simply not a priority when satisfying a craving to get the next high becomes of primary importance. In the long term this leads to weight loss in many cases.

Social problems: cat produces an effect in users that temporarily boosts self-esteem – a similar effect is reported amongst users of cocaine. As a result, one of the most common cat side effects is extremely low self-esteem. Many cat abusers find social situations to be extremely intimidating and often become depressed when they cannot interact with people without first getting high. This leads to larger social problems and in many cases, isolation from loved ones and friends.

If you need help with any substance abuse, know that help is readily available. Contact us for a free consultation and we’ll support you in your recovery journey.

Sources:

The Alcohol and Drug Foundation

The Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences

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Attachment and addiction: Is there a relationship and does it really matter.

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Home / News / Archive by category "Articles" (Page 98)

Attachment and addiction: Is there a relationship and does it really matter.

10 September, 2019Articles, News

Attachment theory

Attachment theory was first developed by John Bowlby. He was a British psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst, notable for his interest in child development and for his pioneering work in attachment theory. He held various relevant positions including as deputy director of the Tavistock Clinic in London.

Bowlby (1969) believed there exists a continuity of attachment from early childhood to adulthood in such a way that the style of attachment that develops in an individual during very early years would continue to be the style manifested in adulthood in terms of relationships. “This was believed to be accomplished via a persistent mental model of self that was developed during early childhood interactions with the primary caregiver”.

Research findings

Research on Bowlby’s theory of attachment showed that infants placed in an unfamiliar situation and separated from their parents will generally react in one of three ways upon reunion with the parents:

Secure attachment: These infants showed distress upon separation but sought comfort and were easily comforted when the parents returned;
Anxious-resistant attachment: A smaller portion of infants experienced greater levels of distress and, upon reuniting with the parents, seemed both to seek comfort and to attempt to “punish” the parents for leaving.
Avoidant attachment: Infants in the third category showed no stress or minimal stress upon separation from the parents and either ignored the parents upon reuniting or actively avoided the parents (Fraley, 2010). https://positivepsychology.com/attachment-theory/

What relevance does this have if any to addiction.

Often, we see people in the treatment centre that have had very difficult attachments to their primary care givers, usually parents. Though this may not account necessarily for their addictive patterns, it has most certainly impacted their relationships in adulthood.

Research has shown insecure attachment styles can be correlated to substance abuse, emotional distress, and interpersonal problems. More specifically, most studies focus on the correlation between insecure attachment styles and substance abuse.

There is evidence that participants who exhibit higher levels of insecure attachment in their romantic relationships will have a higher tendency to abuse substances and that the participants who exhibit lower levels of insecure attachments in their romantic relationships will have a lower tendency to abuse substances.

So, what you may be asking.

There may be a hypothesis that suggests that the attachment styles do not only impact “partner” relationships but also have implications in terms of attachment to processes that are necessary for good recovery.

One may ask if a relationship exists between relationship attachments and attachment to the recovery programme, the process of recovery, the attachment to the 12 steps or even the attachment to a higher power.

We have seen, so often, clients fighting the process, fighting the concepts, fighting the programme for reasons other than logic and acceptance of its efficacy. Alternatively, some attach to the programme in an unrealistic, idealistic fashion which lacks depth and congruence.

Implications for treatment

If may be helpful in the planning of the treatment process to understand the attachment “style” or at which stage to implement specific approaches with specific individuals which would not replace the usual traditional approach but rather enhance it.

For example, Step Two (We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity). This step implies vast levels of surrender and huge levels of attaching if only to a belief. If we understood better the attachment issues in respect of all our clients, we may be able to understand better the resistances we often find in the course of the treatment process.

Another example- a thorough understanding and application of step 4 (We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves) implies the capacity to behave differently in our relationships, to develop trust and openness. Once again a good understanding of attachment style could assist in this process. There appears to be a relationship between addiction and attachment theory and it behoves us to be aware of it in our endeavours to assist addicts.