Personal meaning, drug use, and addiction: An evolutionary constructivist perspective

The present article asserts that evolutionary constructivism is a useful vantage point for understanding substance use. The authors argue that people's subjective experiences with and relationships to substances depend largely on personally and socially constructed meanings. Substance use is viewed as part of people's efforts to anticipate the future and construct viable solutions to constructive challenges or problems of meaning. Constructive processes are largely tacit, but substance users are considered agents making choices, who "know more than they can tell" despite reports of lack of control or understanding. An evolutionary constructivist perspective suggests that substance-centered selves (i.e., "addictions") evolve in the course of a person's active efforts to construct meaning and adapt to construed social contexts. Selected implications for theory, research, and practice are described.