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28th Jan '13 3:10:30 PM RevolutionStone

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27th Jan '13 12:06:24 AM RevolutionStone

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27th Jan '13 12:04:49 AM RevolutionStone

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27th Jan '13 12:04:06 AM RevolutionStone

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!!!Total, complete abstinence from the behavior is impossible for the person to achieve in their present circumstances, not something the person desires enough to achieve, and at worst actively sets the person to fail, with the result of the failure to abstain being possibly more harmful than the continued behavior.

As an example, sex is one of the strongest drives of most humans who are not {{Asexual}} or demisexual, and even some who fall into the asexual or demisexual groups still feel a drive for physical sexual release on occasion. This makes most demands for sexual abstinence upon human beings almost doomed to fail aside from the most strong-willed and the most disinterested anyway (who make for most of the "success" of abstinence). Abstinence-only approaches to sex, therefore, run a very high risk of failure, and when "don't do this and if you do you'll go to hell," for example, is the only education one recieves on sex, and they have it anyway, they are ''far'' more likely to do so in an unsafe manner and get pregnant or get an STD.

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!!!Total, complete abstinence from the behavior is impossible or nearly impossible for the person to achieve in their present circumstances, not something the person desires enough to achieve, and at worst actively sets the person to fail, with the result of the failure to abstain being possibly more harmful than the continued behavior.

This principle of harm reduction is not judging those who do succeed at abstinence or who even make it their life's goal to abstain from an activity they see as specifically harmful to themselves - it is simply offering an ''alternative'' to abstinence that, while not as "safe" as abstinence is, is safe''r'' than entirely going OffTheWagon or doing something with inherent danger in the most dangerous way possible.

!!!All human behavior carries some risk, some behaviors are riskier than others to health or life. Not all risk from any given behavior can be eliminated without total abstinence, but with almost any dangerous behavior, there are ways to limit the risks, sometimes in ways that bring the risk level almost down to that of abstinence, and that at the very least reduce the chance of death somewhat.

Using the sex example above, unprotected vaginal intercourse carries a high risk of pregnancy for the female partner. Unprotected anal intercourse with an HIV-positive partner carries an even larger risk of AIDS for the receptive partner. In both cases, the insertive partner wearing a condom cuts the risk down to less than 1 percent in the pregnancy example, and less than 5 percent in the active HIV example in any given act. So there is still risk (which is why the ButWeUsedACondom trope exists) but the risk goes from high to small.

To use another example, drug use, a heroin addict using street heroin, a dirty needle, and without naloxone available faces a plethora of risks: overdose, instability of supply, and getting anything from cellulitis to HIV. A heroin addict using medical heroin with standardized amounts, clean needles, and with naloxone available to reverse an overdose is still engaging in a very risky behavior with severe health consequences - but his or her risk of ''immediate'' death and of getting cellulitis or HIV (and spreading it to others) has been reduced.

!!!Providing education (and ideally resources and supplies) on how to engage in a risky behavior in a way that causes the least harm possible (or at least very much lowers risks such as immediate death, communicable disease, and harm toward other people) is essential and ethical, and it does not encourage those who would not participate in the behavior to begin with to take it up on a large scale.

Harm reduction philosophy expressly rejects the idea that education and providing alternatives other than abstinence is somehow unethical or allowing people to "wallow" in their bad behaviors, and it also rejects the idea that risk reduction education encourages people to engage in self-harming behavior, at least when the messages are directed properly.

26th Jan '13 11:36:30 PM RevolutionStone

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There are many things in life that can cause harm to oneself, and this harm can range from something like a simple scratch or stubbed toe to death, from a moment of annoyance or anger to the destruction of a valued relationship or someone undergoing emotional torment. The philosophy of "harm reduction," most generally discussed in regard to behaviors generally considered extremely self-destructive such as drug use and SelfHarm, but which can be applicable in many other contexts, is a philosophy of being mindful of the harm one's behavior does to oneself, and planning, whether with a therapist or friend or family member or even oneself, ways to reduce the harm of a given behavior and to accept oneself, even if the behavior is never thoroughly abstained from or eradicated.

!!Principles of harm reduction philosophy

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