Flying Icarus and a New Reality

Researchers are studying the possibilities that Infant Abandonment may directly tie to Adolescent Drug use. The Implications of this could be very interesting. Infant Abandonment allows for attachment development disorders, (ambivalent and avoidant attachment styles) but if as kids grow up, they feel that parents are unreliable, negligent, or unsupportive, kids may be turning to drugs to pump themselves up. Researchers are even looking at the possibility that adolescents may use drugs to develop a “family” protective net around themselves if one is not there.



The theory is being nicknamed the “Flying Icarus theory”. Adolescents find themselves flying with new found freedom on wax wings, but with no direction, they find their wax wings melting and themselves plummeting headlong into a shallow grave with no family security net to catch them. Adolescents may be using excessive drugs to falsify the confidence and comfort that has not been afforded them. However, a major issue with these findings is that as adolescents try to replicate the comfort they deeply need and desire, they begin to only feel
“whole” when they are using, and hence, they ultimately replace human interaction with drug use because it is something they feel they can count on. Their lives only feel complete when their drug of choice is available. Perhaps the only real way to combat the drug use is to interactive, available parents. Parents are often too busy with jobs or other children to make sure that their teens feel like they are being heard and that even when parents are busy, that they are there for their adolescent.  

Abstract