Is the phrase "Self Medicate" simply a euphism for something more sinister?

Arrogance.
They refuse to acknowledge the fact that someone other than themselves would have better knowledge and judgement about their health.
They also do not want others to tell them what to do, and they definitely do not want others to tell them that they are wrong.
It is almost american.

I’ve never heard of anyone using this phrase “legitimately”. I’ve only heard it used ironically.

I’ve never seen it used as an actual medication therapy. If someone says they’re self-medicating they know it’s destructive and they are also not taking/doing it as a prescription. Nobody says oh I need 4 drinks a night to get through it all, but I’ve only had 3 I must have another so I’m properly medicated.

@josie “Every Case”?? It is blanket generalizations like this that highlight the pervasive ignorance to the struggles so many among us face. Yes people self medicate primarily because they cannot afford the high cost of the psychological support they otherwise need. Be grateful you never felt the suffocating pressures that was the last straw that pushed those of us to “self medicate”.... you are stronger than I or just lucky….only you know.

I thought the expression of self medicating with shit like drugs or booze was just that, an expression. Self medicate, as in, doing whatever the hell makes one keep going in life, if just for a bit. Has absolutely nothing to do with actually getting better, medical breakthroughs or facing problems, it’s just a way to ’‘deal with shit’’, hence the term. It’s a word thing, but it isn’t related in any way to healthy methods of ’‘dealing with shit’’.

Incidentally I read in the paper last Friday that meditation and reversed placebo effects actually work for certain things like diabetes or manic depression…but eh, fuck the paper. ’‘glug glug glug’’

I always thought it was new found “medical speak.” It probably looks better on a report.

I use the term self medicate. Maybe because I worked in a chemical dependency outpatient facility. I think maybe that is where I learned the expressions, or maybe it was before I worked there, I am not sure. I don’t see a problem with using it to describe someone who is troubled and uses drugs and alcohol to try to cope. It doesn’t mean a doctor would not have prescribed for them. There are plenty of people who take prescribed meds and also simultaneously self medicate.

Anyone who has taken a drink to relax at night self medicated. If they do it with regularity, daily, they are probably an addict, but plenty of people do it only now and then and are not alcoholics. We don’t use the term self medicate to describe the occaional user, not to be confused with abuser.

Self medication often occurs when the person involved has no access (or maybe perceives there is no access) to proper medical or psychological care. At that point, rather than finding a cure, the person often is just looking for a way to “cope”. Unfortunately, there is usually no good outcome to that.

I self medicate with otc drugs when I have a minor illness. (cold, sinus, etc) or things I know the doctor would tell me nothing I do not know (“Yep, that’s broken but we can’t splint toes”).
I also “self medicate” when I am bored which is more in line with what I think you are thinking and yes, it is a euphemism for drinking and (less and less) other pharmaceuticals.

I’ve only heard it used to refer to people who use drugs, but especially alcohol, to get through emotional things.

No. The term is used by mental health professionals to describe the process of self-medicating. When I worked with schizophrenics, many of their charts had the same story. They had suffered for a few years in their teens or early twenties with paranoia, depression, voices, and delusions. They would experiment with every possible drug in an attempt to alleviate symptoms. These drugs were not prescribed by a medical doctor. These people were self-medicating.

The term doesn’t imply anything about the efficacy or place any value judgement on the activity. It is a simple explanation of the facts. Again, no conspiracy here.