Through the Looking-Glass: Substance Abuse and Introspection : Part 1

"But as I looked into the mirror, I screamed, and my heart shuddered: for I saw not myself but the mocking, leering, face of a devil." Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

The fundamentals of introspection has been revealed to be a vexing mechanism of individual cognition. A large body of academic inquiry is handled regarding how people come to know themselves; indeed whole scientific publications are dedicated to ideas about self. At the very least it can be stated that how we come to terms with ourselves is a source of abundant questioning for both academics and non-experts. One specific theory, self-awareness theory, has interesting consequences in the field of psychology. Consequently, many theoretical discoveries in psychology help to illuminate the complicated world of chemical dependency.

Self-awareness theory fits snugly with a more changing of addiction. Over-arching themes including attitudes, perception, self-efficacy, goal striving, and internal standards pertain in a discussion of self-awareness as it is relavent to substance abuse. While this project may be an ambitious one (relatively speaking), inferences derived from the previously mentioned points of discussion could be a valuable resource in boosting addiction treatment programs.

Self-Awareness Theory

Self-awareness theory is borrowed from social psychology - which can be appropriated to substance abuse, addiction, and treatment. Stated clearly, self-awareness theory suggests that when individuals focus their attention on themselves, they evaluate and contrast their behavior to their internal metrics and morals. Most of the time people consciously observe others from an objective lens. Self-awareness theory claims that when people become observers of themselves, they naturally relate their own personal standards with their behavior.

The Self-Aware Perspective

This relationship results in a series of remarkable interactions between an individual's thoughts and behavior. If an individual encounters a reflecting moment like a mirror or counseling, an individual's self-focus will be started. Starting a state of self-focus enables awareness and thoughts pertaining to the self. From this an individual begins to weigh their metrics for themselves with their actual behavior. There exist two consequences of this: either (a) an individual's actual conduct mirrors their internal standards for themselves, or (b) their internal standardsmetrics do not match their actual behavior. If (a) results, a steady state of mind occurs because there is no incongruency between metrics or ideals of the self and the actual self. Trouble is settled. If (b) results, there exists an incongruency between one's metrics and behavior. This divergence must be resolved to find a normalized state, so an individual resolves the discrepancy by either (c) changing their manner so it mirrors personal standards, thus achieving a state of inner peace, or (d) dodging or leaving a state of self-awareness because conduct cannot or will not be adapted to match internal metrics. If a person uses option (d) they effectively avoid a point of view of self-awareness and therefore discourage ideation of discrepancies between individual metrics & actual behavior.

From another perspective, "if a discrepancy was found between self and standards, negative affect was said to arise. This aversive state then motivated the restoration of consistency. Two behavioral routes were proposed. People could either actively change their actions, attitudes or traits to be more congruent with the representations of the standard or could avoid the self-focusing stimuli and circumstances. Avoidance effectively terminates the comparison process and hence all self-evaluation"

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