People and drugs, one is the subject and the other is the object. They are two indispensable factors that constitute drug abuse. If there is no effect of drugs on the human body, there will naturally be no drug abuse. As the main body, people have two different reactions to the temptation of drugs-refusing or accepting the temptation, which is determined by subjective and objective factors. Subjective factors refer to the physiological and psychological changes of drug addicts; The objective reason is the social environment in which people live, and the interaction between them makes drug users show specific epidemiological characteristics in the crowd.
First, the causes of drugs themselves
The reason why drugs are banned is mainly because drugs will have drug dependence after acting on human nervous system. The so-called drug dependence, also known as "drug addiction", refers to the periodic state of extreme excitement caused by people's frequent use of drugs. This state of excitement can only be achieved by supplementing new drugs, otherwise drug addicts will suffer a series of unbearable physiological and psychological reactions. Drug dependence has two aspects: physical dependence and psychological dependence.
(a) Psychological dependence on drugs
After drugs act on human body, people's spirit and mood will change, and even drug addicts will experience an abnormal euphoria. This unusual euphoria not only freed them from the troubles, nervousness and depression in reality, but also allowed them to have a "wonderful magical journey" in the world of feeling. Because most drugs are drug-resistant, drug addicts must constantly increase the dose to re-experience the pleasure of taking drugs. However, the use of large doses of drugs may lead to serious consequences and even life-threatening. However, the feeling brought by drugs is so wonderful that they are driven to take new drugs again at no cost to repeat the wonderful feeling brought by drugs. Drug addicts' thirst for drugs is what medicine calls psychological dependence. Different types of drugs have different effects on human nervous system, and drug addicts have different psychological dependence on different types of drugs.
Heroin: considered as the king of drugs, no matter its euphoria, addiction speed and drug resistance, other drugs can't compare with it. Heroin's extraordinary euphoria is as indescribable as dreaming, and drug addicts often describe it as "ecstasy" in sex. Heroin addiction is fast and drug-resistant. Excessive heroin addiction can cause convulsions, coma and even death.
Cocaine:1The most abused drug in the United States in the 1980s was cocaine. It is a stimulant. Taking cocaine can stimulate the cerebral cortex, activate the central nervous system, make people feel excited and have abnormal euphoria. Cocaine is drug-resistant, and drug addicts can only achieve the expected strong excitement by increasing the dosage, but excessive use will cause poisoning symptoms. It makes drug addicts crazy and restless, their pulse quickens, and they have convulsions, hallucinations and even death. In order to alleviate the symptoms of cocaine poisoning and improve the effect of using cocaine, some drug addicts often use cocaine together with sedatives such as heroin, which further increases the risk of using cocaine.
Marijuana: Marijuana is a soft drug. Because it is less harmful to human body, it is the most used drug among all illegal drugs. In the United States, the marijuana market is almost open, and more than 12 of the population have13 tasted marijuana. Cocaine consumers only account for 1/3 of cannabis consumers. Cannabis drugs can produce abnormal euphoria, enhance appetite, relax the central nervous system, make people feel at ease and comfortable, and improve their sensitivity to things. Cannabis is resistant to drugs. Although high-dose use will not lead to death, it will make people tired, delusional, extremely nervous and unresponsive.
Masour, a consultant of the World Health Organization, made a comparative study of cocaine, heroin and marijuana in a report, and thought that heroin addiction was the fastest in terms of the speed of addiction, because it had a very rapid effect on people's nerves, and people could become addicted as long as they smoked several times. Cocaine addiction is relatively slow, and it usually takes several months to become addicted. From the perspective of drug resistance, the risk of acute death caused by excessive use of heroin and cocaine is the greatest, while marijuana is smaller.
(B) the physiological dependence of drugs
The physiological dependence of drugs refers to the feeling that drug addicts are accustomed to the effects of drugs after taking drugs for a long time. They must rely on new drugs, and once they give up drugs, they will suffer a series of unbearable physiological reactions. Different types of drugs have different withdrawal reactions and different degrees.
Physiological dependence of heroin: the withdrawal reaction of heroin is the biggest among all drugs. Heroin usually lasts 8 ~ 12 hours. If drug addicts don't come later, they will have the following reactions: runny nose, excessive sweating, itchy skin, cold and hot, cold sweat and hot sweat, severe spasm, upset stomach, dilated pupils and diplopia. If the drug is not available within 3 ~ 8 hours, the drug addict will enter a painful withdrawal process, and the withdrawal reaction will deepen and reach a climax within 36 ~ 72 hours after stopping the drug. His whole body twitched as if he were going to cry. All slow physiological processes suddenly accelerate. His blood pressure, body temperature, metabolism and breathing all rose rapidly and accelerated. His heart beat faster, his secretions increased, he kept vomiting and diarrhea, his nose and tears kept flowing, and he was top-heavy. The whole person seems to explode. After that, the symptoms began to decline and gradually disappeared after 5 ~ 10 days. However, the feelings of anxiety and general discomfort will not gradually disappear until two or three months later.
Physiological dependence of cocaine: Generally speaking, cocaine use will not form physiological dependence. Therefore, when the supply of cocaine is cut off, drug addicts will not have a withdrawal reaction similar to heroin, but will feel extremely depressed and hallucinate, which will last for some time.
Physiological dependence of cannabis drugs: cannabis will not produce drug dependence similar to morphine drugs. However, according to Dr. David Ausubel's research in the book Drug Addiction: "Long-term use of marijuana makes people have a strong desire to reuse, otherwise they will have anxiety, anxiety, irritability and even depression after stopping taking the drug, which may lead to suicide. More dangerously, drug addicts tend to use hard drugs after they get into the habit of smoking marijuana. Facts have proved that a considerable number of people who use narcotic drugs smoke marijuana first and then heroin. "
Because detoxification brings unbearable physiological reactions to drug addicts, once they are addicted to drugs, it is difficult for them to get rid of the demonic entanglement of drugs. In addition, the unbearable withdrawal reaction also sets an insurmountable obstacle for drug rehabilitation.
Physical dependence and psychological dependence are two aspects of drug dependence. According to drug experts, psychological dependence on drugs is more unbearable than physical dependence for drug addicts. Usually, drug addicts with a little will can bear the withdrawal reaction of drugs, but for most people, they can't get rid of their psychological thirst for drugs. This makes many drug addicts still unable to forget the wonderful feeling and abnormal euphoria brought by drugs after eliminating the withdrawal reaction. Their psychological craving for drugs often exceeds their physical pain. To this end, many people give up drugs and then take drugs again to meet their psychological needs and thirst for drugs.
(C) the duality of drugs
Drug dependence is the main cause of drug abuse, but it is impossible for human society to completely ban drugs. Because drugs are not only harmful to human beings, but also contribute to human medicine, such as morphine, which has sedative effect and is widely used in surgery, fracture, burn and cancer treatment. Other kinds of "drugs" also have their specific functions in medical treatment. Because of the duality of drugs, it is impossible for countries around the world and the international community to completely eradicate drugs while controlling drug use. So far, human society has not found a synthetic "drug" that can completely replace drugs without drug dependence after use. In view of this role of drugs, human society should reserve a certain position for "drugs" among many drugs, rather than completely denying the role of drugs in medical care because of choking on food. The United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (196 1) and the Convention on Psychotropic Substances (197 1) both affirmed the medical and scientific values of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, so the role of "drugs" in medicine should be respected. However, due to the application of drugs in medical treatment and scientific research, it is inevitable that legal drugs will be used for illegal purposes. There are three main aspects in which legal drugs are used for illegal purposes:
1. Iatrogenic drug dependence. This refers to drug dependence when people use drugs for medical treatment.
2. Although all countries have strict anti-drug regulations, especially for doctors to prescribe drugs, due to the illegal demand for drugs by the international community, the poor management of medical departments in some countries and the high profits in the black market of drugs, some doctors abuse their powers, leading to some drugs for medical purposes flowing into the black market, thus causing abuse in society.
3. In some countries, opium poppy, coca and other medicinal plants legally cultivated for medical and scientific purposes flow into the black market and are used for illegal purposes.
Second, people's subjective factors.
Among drug addicts, many are addicted to drugs for medical purposes. As we all know, poppy has analgesic, sedative and antidiarrheal effects. Some people are addicted to "smoking a few mouthfuls" just to cure diseases and regret it for life. In rural China, many people process poppies themselves or buy them to make small pills to take when they are sick. However, due to the lack of strict control and scientific use methods, many people are infected with poison "disease" while treating diseases, and they want to pull it out.
Among many drug addicts, people who are tempted to start taking drugs account for the largest proportion. The main reason is that people don't know enough about the harm of drugs, and at the same time they don't pay due attention to those drugs sent by hidden means. Fundamentally speaking, this kind of drug addicts initially rejected drugs, but when they became addicted to drugs, some were willing to indulge in smoke, while others often couldn't stop despite regret.
Man is the subject of all actions, so individuals should be responsible for the consequences of any actions, whether normal or deviant. Individual is composed of two parts: physiology and psychology, which is the preparation process of human behavior. As a deviant behavior, drug abuse is caused by human physiological and pathological changes and abnormal psychological activities. Coble's research shows that 86% of drug addicts surveyed had mental disorders before taking drugs. Japan's diagnosis of people sentenced for drug crimes shows that 55.6% of men are mentally abnormal, weak-willed and mentally ill, and 58% of women are mentally ill. Because people's psychological and physiological changes are different, it constitutes the differences between people. It is precisely because of this difference that people will have completely different reactions when faced with the "temptation" of drugs.
(A) the interpretation of physiology
As early as more than a century ago, people explained the drug dependence of drugs from the physiological point of view. They think that the nervous system of drug addicts is born with more energy or more nerve fibers, and drugs provide a necessary but very scarce substance for the nervous system of drug addicts. When a person finds that drugs can satisfy the lack of this substance in his nervous system, it will lead to repeated use of drugs.
Modern physiology put forward the "compensation theory" of the causes of drug dependence based on the above viewpoint, and found some evidence in animal experiments. Compensation theory holds that drug addicts lack certain substances in their nervous system, and these chemicals have the function of controlling emotions in the human body. Without these chemicals, people's mental state will be very poor. When drug addicts find that drugs can help them get rid of mental problems such as apathy and depression, they will use them repeatedly and become addicted to drugs. Specifically, "drug addicts are addicted to opium because they can't naturally produce a substance similar to opium-endorphins, forcing them to use opium constantly to make up for the shortage of this substance."
Compensation theory finds more evidence in cocaine addicts. They believe that drug addicts abuse cocaine because they lack the chemical dopamine in their bodies. Dopamine is naturally produced by human body and can activate sympathetic nerve. If the human body lacks it, it will lead to Parkinson's disease. When drug addicts use cocaine, dopamine will be concentrated in the brain, and when the effect of cocaine gradually disappears, dopamine will be lacking in large quantities. Lack of dopamine will make drug addicts want to take cocaine, which may explain why drug addicts must continue to take cocaine all day. In addition, stimulants can make up for the lack of norepinephrine.
Vincent Doyle and Mary Naiswand in the United States also agree with this theory, but they use metabolic disorder to describe the physical diseases of drug addicts. They believe that once people with metabolic disorders use narcotic drugs, they must continue to use them, just as diabetics must use insulin. Physiology's explanation of drug addiction is based on scientific experiments, so its explanation is scientific, so the current measures for drug rehabilitation also depend on the biochemical theoretical analysis of drug addiction.
However, the physiological explanation of drug dependence overemphasizes the driving effect of drugs on drug addicts and ignores the influence of human psychological factors and social environment on drug dependence. Secondly, the physiological explanation of drug dependence is more inclined to a genetic point of view, which holds that the pathological changes of some drug addicts are congenital, and the happiness that drugs bring to drug addicts is the inherent reaction of the human body to drugs, because they are born with a tolerance or susceptibility to drugs including alcohol, and make them experience abnormal pleasure. Some people even think that dependence on alcohol and drugs can be inherited.
Because physiologists' explanation of drug abuse is too one-sided, they can't make reasonable explanations for many problems, such as why people of different races, nationalities, economic income and social status use different kinds of drugs. Why do many people who drink or take drugs have no genetic connection? If the happiness that drugs bring to drug addicts is innate, then why can't many first-time drug addicts realize the extraordinary happiness that drugs bring to them? To answer these questions, it is not enough to explain them only by physiology. We must give comprehensive answers to these questions from other aspects and through other disciplines.
(B) psychological interpretation
Out of curiosity and the pursuit of excitement or liberation, a considerable number of drug addicts, especially teenagers, take drugs because of the pursuit of excitement. This psychology of pursuing excitement is actually a kind of curiosity, or the two are closely related.
Curiosity or the pursuit of excitement generally stems from dissatisfaction with one's established lifestyle. People will gradually feel empty, bored and numb in the repetitive monotonous lifestyle, and those who treat this feeling negatively will get older day by day in psychological age. But for most people, they will have an instinctive pursuit of changing the status quo and seeking liberation, eager to get in touch with new things and experience new lifestyles and contents. Once new fashions and new life contents appear in society, it is easy to follow suit, and this imitation and experience is often blind. Many people who go astray by taking drugs have been like this from the beginning. Their initial understanding of drugs may come from two contrasting evaluations: on the one hand, the government publicized the harm of drugs with great fanfare and banned drug use; On the other hand, drug addicts are bragging about all kinds of pleasure floating in the poisonous fog, so people who suffer from boring life are easily dominated by curiosity, try drugs and become addicts. In fact, this curiosity also contains many elements of pursuing excitement. Or it is a kind of psychology that pursues excitement. Drug abuse will make their life, which should be like water, colorful. Taking drugs will give them a special stimulus. Although this kind of stimulation is short-lived and endless, in this unspeakable stimulation, they can put aside all their troubles, forget all the pain in the world and float to the peak of bliss. It is based on this pursuit, or a strong desire to relive this physical and mental experience, that people will take drugs regardless of various dangers.
For another part of people, the pursuit of liberation is another subjective reason that urges them to take drugs. This psychological pursuit of liberation often begins with a sense of dissatisfaction, unhappiness and loss to society, the surrounding environment or one's life and work.
In today's society, no matter what class people live in, there are always some people who are more or less dissatisfied, unhappy or lost with their lives. For example, national wage earners may be depressed because of their meager income, while self-employed people may be mentally empty. All these things, they will try their best to find ways to change real life. Most people will strive for progress and improve their lives through various positive efforts, while the other kind of people will seek self-liberation by various negative and unhealthy means, such as gambling, whoring and drinking. Once the conditions are met, they will naturally anesthetize themselves with drugs and seek relief.
In the above two groups of people, most of them take drugs out of curiosity and pursuit of excitement, while most of them take drugs for relief. Based on completely different psychological movements, they fell into the quagmire of drug abuse.
Psychological development is a preparation process of people's objective behavior. Drug addicts, as a behavior that deviates from and violates social norms, must go through a process of psychological preparation, or a process of psychological crisis. Coble's research confirms this to us. In his investigation, he found that among the drug addicts surveyed; 86% people had mental disorders before taking drugs. Generally speaking, drug abuse is a way for people to seek relief and escape from reality under emptiness, depression and pressure. However, in an open, competitive and rapidly changing metropolis, people will inevitably suffer setbacks, setbacks and various pressures, but to varying degrees. But in the face of mental stress caused by psychological pressure or objective environment, why do some people have strong psychological endurance, while others have poor psychological endurance, instead of seeking drug relief?
Psychologists generally believe that people's endurance mainly depends on the personality quality and personality characteristics of the actors, or self-development. The stronger your self-ability, the more you can make a correct evaluation of yourself, and the stronger your ability to adjust your attitude and behavior in the face of pressure, the more you can form stable psychological characteristics. On the contrary, it is easy to produce psychological instability and psychological crisis. Some people with poor psychological endurance can't get rid of psychological crisis because of their lack of self-regulation ability, which leads some people to use drugs to reduce their dissatisfaction and provide happy satisfaction. Krys—tal and Raskin said in the study of 1970: "In the personality with self-deficiency, drugs are used to escape the mental trauma they face that may not cause potential harm to others ... Although they escape from reality through drug abuse, they are only temporary. When the chemical reaction faded, the real world full of evil came back to us. Some psychologists often use "dependent personality" to explain the reasons for drug abuse. It is characterized by lack of self-control and self-esteem, hedonism, lack of planning ability for the future, and mental and emotional depression. Dependent personality makes them seek the most basic satisfaction from drugs according to the principle of happiness, and on the other hand, they turn a deaf ear to the consequences of drug abuse and only seek temporary satisfaction.
Psychologists have tested heroin addicts and found that heroin addicts have some personality weaknesses: hostility, aggression, rebellion, irresponsibility, playfulness and impulsiveness. These personality characteristics of drug addicts prove this view held by psychologists. From the above analysis, the psychological investigation of drug abuse behavior is based on personality analysis. Psychologist Robert Craig pointed out that drug abuse is caused by split personality. "The conclusion supported by psychology is that drug abuse has many characteristics of mental syndrome and neurological disorder, as well as personality split and personality split."
But psychologists believe that drug addicts' choice of different kinds of drugs has a lot to do with their self-demand to control their happy mood. The purpose of choosing drugs is either to shrink yourself or to expand yourself. Heroin addicts often use drugs to achieve self-contraction, control their violent and aggressive emotions, and seek a quiet and lonely life; Most cocaine and amphetamine abusers come from families with loving mothers and strong encouraging fathers. They use cocaine and stimulants to expand themselves and enhance their self-confidence.
Third, the objective factors of drug abuse.
The objective factors of drug abuse mainly refer to the social environment, specifically the influence of a country's comprehensive development of politics, economy, law and culture on people's social psychology and social behavior. Investigating this problem can help us clearly explain why there are so many drug addicts in a society, which is beyond subjective factors such as physiology, personality and psychology. In addition, due to the differences in politics, economy and law, different stages of social development, different speeds of social change and different social values, the degree and manifestations of drug abuse in different countries are also different. Let's take the United States as an example to analyze many objective factors of drug abuse.
Hedonism encourages the trend of drug abuse.
After the war, capitalism entered the post-industrial society, which changed the previous concept that capitalism only paid attention to production and ignored consumption, thus making capitalism enter the stage of consumption-oriented development. The development of American consumer capitalism is of typical significance. American writer Siegel pointed out in How Difficult the Journey is: The population of the United States accounts for only 6% of the world, but the consumption accounts for 40% of the world. The development of consumption economy is dual. On the one hand, it promotes economic development, on the other hand, it also brings some negative effects. The direct consequence of its negative effect is the loss of capitalist Protestant ethics and the proliferation of hedonism. In the process of capitalist development, people pay attention to production rather than consumption, which is suitable for capitalist production.
The spirit of capitalism emphasizes "prudence, thrift, no hasty repayment of debts and loans, time is money, no idleness, and austerity", "refuse extravagance and immediate consumption, postpone realistic satisfaction, and avoid all instinctive life enjoyment, thus implementing strict abstinence." In the post-industrialization stage of capitalism, people's attention has shifted from production to consumption, and from savings to consumption; From labor to leisure. The spirit of capitalism adapted to this capitalist mode of production has also undergone fundamental changes. Marcuse, the spokesman of American post-industrial society theory, once said that contemporary civilization has suppressed individual will and freedom, and the pursuit of happiness and freedom is human instinct, and absolute freedom is to fully satisfy this instinct. They put forward slogans completely different from those in the capitalist development period, that is, "If you feel good-do it" and "do your own thing". Escape from society and take a fantastic trip, do your own thing, love yourself and have fun. The direct consequence of the development of irrationalism is the proliferation of hedonism. Mr. Bai Zhongyan said: "The whole crux of hedonists is that they think they are servants of their own thoughts and senses, become servants of their own desires, and mistake their desires for freedom ... They always encourage themselves to try their best to satisfy any desires that appear in their hearts. On the contrary, anyone who tries to control his senses, including his own thoughts, is always regarded as backward and has not been freed. "
American historian Bloom said: "The capitalist consumption system encourages this new hedonism based on the principle of immediately satisfying personal desires ... The counterculture also encourages hedonism. Although the counter-mainstream culture verbally opposes the consumer society, the two coincide in the belief that the ultimate value of the individual is supreme. After all, the distance between Nuo Nuo employees and hippies does not seem far away. They are all pushing the country to a narcissistic society. "
Because drugs can improve users' sensitivity to sounds, colors and sports, they can experience a wonderful fantasy journey. Whether it is the "beat generation" in the 1950s, the "hippies" in the 1960s and 1970s, or the new generation of yuppies created in the 1980s, they all regard drugs as the key to the "illusion door" when they pursue the satisfaction of extreme individualism. They advocate drug abuse and praise the wonderful feeling brought by drug abuse.
(2) The fast pace of modern production and life has intensified people's mental and psychological pressure.
After the war, the rapid development of science and technology "finally led the United States from the mechanical age to the electronic age (some people call it the information age), which is a magical new era marked by the use of cybernetic devices to store information, exchange information, receive feedback and control management."
One consequence of the accelerated economic development is the accelerated pace of people's production and life. Alvin toffler toffler pointed out: "It is the speed of this change that has become a new factor in enterprise management, forcing the directors who are already nervous in this strange environment to reduce the reaction time as much as possible and make more and more decisions at a faster and faster speed ... (Take the company's development as an example) The company's metabolic speed is generally accelerated, and the results are various:' Shorten the product life cycle, more. More frequent buying and selling, more frequent short-term consumption of crystals, more popular products, more time training for workers (they must constantly adapt to new production procedures), more frequent revision of signed contracts, more legal and judicial work, more frequent revision of prices, more job changes, more dependence on data, and more temporary special groups. Inflation has further aggravated all this. ..... The result is a highly interesting and exciting business environment. Under the escalating pressure, it is easy to understand why so many businessmen, bankers and company directors are in a state of anxiety and don't know what they are doing and why. The accelerated pace of people's life, the development of fast food industry, the weakening of people's patience, and the popularity and development of fast-paced rock music are all products of the accelerated pace of people's life.
With the accelerated pace of people's production and life, people's psychological tension has also increased. In order to vent and relieve nervous psychology, taking drugs is an easy choice, because drugs can excite nerves and relieve psychological tension.
(C) With the intensification of the cyclical economic crisis of capitalism, people are under increasing mental pressure.
The economic crisis in the post-war capitalist world has undergone new changes: first, the cycle has been shortened, and the economic crisis in the19th century has an average of 10 years; From the beginning of the 20th century to 1937, it happened every five or six years on average; After World War II to 1973, once every four or five years on average; 1973 after the oil crisis, the economies of western countries led by the United States fell into a long-term "stagflation". Second, the crisis lasts longer. Before the war, the capitalist economic crisis usually lasted for several months, the economic crisis of 1973 ~ 1974 lasted for 19 months, and the crisis of 1979 ~ 1982 lasted for three years. Third, after the war, especially since the 1970s, although the damage degree of the economic crisis has been reduced, low-speed economic growth, rising inflation and persistently high unemployment rate have become the routine manifestations of the capitalist economy. In the 1980s, the annual growth rate of no western country reached the height of 6-7% achieved by individual countries in the 1970s, while the economic growth rate of the United States in the 1980s was only 2.2%. Due to structural unemployment, high unemployment rate has become a long-term feature in the process of economic development in western countries, rather than a unique manifestation of economic crisis.
The worsening capitalist economic crisis has led to the social impoverishment of the United States and western countries. Since 1980s, the real average income of American workers has been declining. 1980 the weekly wage of all private non-agricultural sectors is $235, and it increased to $338 in 1988+065438+ 10. If calculated according to the price of 1977, the actual weekly wage during this period decreased from 173 to 166. In addition, long-term unemployment has also led to the loss of human dignity and value. According to western scholars, human dignity and value are obtained through fixed work. Once unemployed, these basic dignity and values lose their foundation. As a result, many unemployed people become manic and depressed, and bad habits such as alcoholism, robbery and gambling also follow. Among them, drug abuse is also a way for some people to get rid of the real pressure.
(D) The modernization of social life has promoted the collapse and disintegration of the original social form.
With the development of scientific and technological revolution and the change of production mode, the social form adapted to the original economic form collapsed.
First, the disintegration of the family.
The new technological revolution and the change of social form have not brought all positive effects to people, but also brought many negative effects. For example, the improvement of women's status and employment, as well as the application of contraception and birth control technology, are generally considered as signs of women's liberation, but they have also caused the disintegration of some families and the proliferation of sexual liberation. According to the statistics center of the US Department of Health, the divorce rate in the United States is the highest in the world. 198 1 of the 2.4 million newly married couples,1200,000 couples divorced, and the divorce rate of remarriage was higher than that of first marriage. More than 80% of the generation born in the United States after World War II grew up in families with sound parents, but with the rising divorce rate, only half of them are now like this. At present, 654.38 million children in the United States experience family breakdown every year, and about the same number of babies are illegitimate children.
The disintegration of the family has a great influence on people's spirit. A study found that in the United States, the suicide rate of divorced women is twice that of unmarried women, and the suicide rate of divorced men is three times that of unmarried men. In Britain, this ratio is still