El consumo de sustancias como estrategia de evitación experiencial en personas adultas en la ciudad de Quito durante el año 2024

Abstract

The aim of this research is to analyse whether substance use is an experiential avoidance strategy in adults in the city of Quito during the year 2024. The research process adheres to a qualitative methodology with a cross-sectional qualitative approach, where snowball sampling was used to select participants, given that potential participants were difficult to access, and the instrument used was the semi-structured interview for data collection. As a result of the research, it was found that substance use is an experiential avoidance strategy, that the situations in which participants have used substance use as an experiential avoidance strategy are in situations of conflict, loss and mood decline, that the most prevalent avoidance behaviours are private, but these are preceded by the public behaviour of substance use, and that substance use is an experiential avoidance strategy in both men and women. The study shows the relevance of understanding the role of substance use in the lives of subjects and suggests that experiential avoidance is a crucial aspect for the understanding of the phenomenon of substance use and for the implementation of treatments for this problem.