Abstract
Introduction:
policies aimed at use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs in recent years have shown their limitations in responding to the healthcare needs of workers who use and/or abuse alcohol and other drugs to alleviate the adverse effects from hostile work-related mechanisms.
Objective:
to articulate approaches that gather a theoretical-conceptual set that adequately addresses complex and multi-causal topics, such as the relation between psychological distress and work, with the use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs as their main element.
Results:
scientific evidence points out to the relation between neoliberal labor market changes, moral and ethical violence in the professional environment and negative effects on workers’ physical and mental health. Studies argue about the need to break with the logic of subjectivist functionalism on the topic of work-related use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs.
Conclusion:
political strategies aimed at psychological suffering resulting from the use/abuse of alcohol and other drugs must go beyond practices solely focused on abstinence and include the interface between integrative theoretical contributions and harm reduction while considering the interaction between suffering and subjects’ defenses, work and environment.
Keywords:
occupational health; mental health; work; drug; harm reduction policies