[Self-damaging mechanisms. Motivation of drug- and luxury-abuse, drug consumption, tendency for suicide].

Abuse of legal and illegal drugs, alcohol and cigarettes, and suicide tend to be studied separately from each other, and different organizations concern themselves with their respective treatments. A study of self-damaging behavior patterns conducted at the University of Zurich has shown that one and the same motivational structure is expressed through these different manifestations: Processes of self-devaluation explain a large part of those behaviors that reduce the chances of survival. Since inhibition of self-actualization can be explained by social structures, it follows that preventive medicine has to open a social political dimension. The conference on which this article is based presents numerous unpublished data on alcoholism, cigarette consumption, abuse of legal and illegal drugs, and suicide fantasy. The Zurich project is expected to be terminated in 1977.