Examples of significant life events
Question:
Discuss about the Impact and Management of Significant Life Events.
A significant life event can be defined as the one that involves events resulting in either loss or gain and may have either a positive or a negative impact. Such events completely change the lives of individuals experiencing such significant life events. Their outlook towards life totally changes and they cannot return to the previous life, which they were leading (Folkman 2013). Some life events can have significant impacts on the lives of individuals. These impacts can be either positive or negative; however, the perception of the impacts of such changes differs among different individuals. Some life events can have a positive impact on certain individuals, while the same life event can have a negative impact on another individual (Luhmann et al. 2012).
Some of the examples of significant life events, which are experienced by individuals during their lifetime include marriage, divorce, death of loved ones, birth, disease, career, changes in financial statistics, among others (Schetter and Tanner 2012; Fletcher and Sarkar 2013). This essay describes the case study of Josephus, who is a cocaine addict and he had been sent to an addiction program in order to undergo recovery from his problems. This essay describes the case study and defines the impact this significant life event had on Josephus, his wife Selma and other individuals involved in his caring.
This essay at first describes the case study, followed by analyzing the impact such event had on the lives of the individuals described in this case study, followed by management strategies in order to enable the individuals to cope with such significant life events.
Impact of significant life events
This is case study about Josephus, who is a 42-year-old man suffering from cocaine addiction. He suffered from symptoms of withdrawal like nasal perforation, dilated pupils, stomach cramps, muscle spasms, disturbed sleep, feeling of cold sensations, increased blood pressure and heart rate. Moreover, he also suffers from constant fever. He suffered from cocaine addiction for 3 years, after which he was sent to an addiction program by his wife. This condition of Josephus had a negative impact on his family members, particularly his wife as she behaved in a rude manner with him. After he returned from the addiction program, his wife became sick as a result of food poisoning. With such a situation, Josephus felt helpless, as he was not able to control the situation. He was unable to run the house and remained highly stressed. This in turn gave rise to complete chaos and lack of organization in his house. The cocaine addiction suffered by Josephus, significantly affected his wife. She probably did not take care of her personal hygiene as well as did not give proper attention to cooking the food properly, which may have resulted in her suffering from food poisoning. She was very upset with his condition and as a result remained sad and depressed, which may have resulted in her rude behavior towards him. Moreover, she had to use the health insurance in order to send him to rehabilitation. They had no health insurance to fall back if needed in the future and that sense of insecurity resulted in venting out her emotions on Josephus. Moreover, the impacts on Josephus were that he remained isolated and as a result lost his confidence. Moreover, his friends also abandoned him in such a situation, which may have further affected him.
Negative impact of cocaine addiction on Josephus and his family
Group Responses
Group responses to significant life events include the responses of families, friends and healthcare support. Families provide strength and help the person to carry out their daily activities. Friends provide moral support and can help in financial matters. Healthcare sectors provide necessary treatment and management strategies in order to cope with the problem (Www.adfam.org.uk 2017). However, in the case of Josephus, because of his addiction problem and annoying or angry attitude, his friends had abandoned him. His cocaine addiction coupled with his withdrawal prevented him from interacting with his friends and socializing with them, which to some extent could have reduced his stress.
Impact of health and social care workers
Individuals suffering from addiction problems, usually show signs of withdrawal and have negative views about the care and treatments provided by the healthcare sectors (Chartoff et al. 2012). This results in rejection of care, however, the healthcare workers have a vital role to play in carrying out harm reduction strategies and providing evidence based care to the addicted individuals. It is necessary for the healthcare worker to approach the individual with a positive frame of mind in order to provide effective care. Negative attitudes affect the ability of the caregiver to assess the problems of the patient and thereby resulting in generating a caring relationship. In such situations, the care-givers try to avoid the patient, thereby affecting their ability to provide help to the individual suffering from addiction (van Boekel et al. 2014). The healthcare worker Malcolm at the rehabilitation centre also had a negative attitude towards the condition of Josephus and was unable to handle his behaviour. As a result, Josephus did not benefit from attending the addiction program. However, George, who was a leader of a support group had a positive impact on Josephus, as he tried to understand Josephus’s problems by interacting with him and empathizing with his situation. Such a positive attitude enabled him to assess the problems and providing necessary solutions. Such actions of George helped Josephus to cope with his addiction problem, gain his confidence and lead a healthy life.
Theories of drug addiction
Explaining individuals about why they become dependent on drugs involves the application of various approaches. These theories that deals with the reasons for drug addiction include the Neuroscientific theories, Psychological theories and the Sociocultural theories (West and Brown 2013). The first theory deals with the effect of the drug on the brain. The different drugs have different actions on the brain of individuals. In the case of Josephus, he is a cocaine addict and cocaine is considered to be a psychomotor stimulant. Cocaine binds to the binds to the dopamine, serotonin transporters and prevents re-uptake of dopamine. Drug addiction is generally associated with symptoms of withdrawal but there are also presence of motivational symptoms like depression, dysphoria, anxiety, irritability, among others (Nutt et al. 2015). Psychological theories explain that drug addiction is associated with individuals having impulsive or compulsive behaviour (Wise and Koob 2014). The behaviorist theory, which is a part of the psychological theory defines that a cue is developed during drug administration and these cues subsequently help to elicit a conditioned response (Walters and Rotgers 2012). The cognitive theory is based on the imposition of self-regulation by determining the effects on cognitive functions. Self-regulation involves planning and monitoring one’s behaviors in order to achieve the desired goals (Wiers et al. 2013). The personality theory explains that persons who are moody, aggressive and irritable are more likely to take drugs than those who lack this personality. According to the socio-cultural theory, individuals who are anti-social are more likely to succumb to drug addiction. Moreover, families and peer pressure also acts as a contributing factor in the development of drug addiction (Bavarian et al. 2013). The biopsychosocial model is currently used for carrying out treatment responses to individuals with addiction problems (Buckner et al. 2013).
Group responses to significant life events
Strategies to overcome challenging behaviors
In order to help individuals with drug addiction, it is necessary to monitor the challenging behaviors and provide a calming environment, use the skills of active learning to understand the problem of the individual, acknowledging their concerns, use of positive language, seeking help from the family and healthcare workers. It is necessary to support the individuals and reassure them about their value and worth, in order to prevent them from engaging in challenging behaviors (Www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov 2017).
Organizational policies
Every organization has a set of policies that describe the techniques that ensure safety of clients and personal safety of the healthcare workers. These policies or guidelines enable the healthcare workers to manage challenging situations in the case of handling drug addicts. In this context, the policies followed by the healthcare centers for management and treatment of drug or substance users include the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA). Another policy is the Affordable Care Act of 2010. According to the MHPAEA act, treatment limitations and financial burdens faced by the substance user and their families will no more be imposed on the affected individuals. Moreover, the Affordable Care Act ensures that the hospitals and the insurers offer prevention strategies, screening techniques and treatment choices to the substance users (Frank, Beronio and Glied 2014). The World Health Organization’s International Standards for the treatment of individuals, who are drug addicts, describes a set of standards and requirements that must be kept in place in healthcare organizations in order to facilitate treatment, rehabilitation, recovery or prevention. According to the guidelines, treatment should be available to individuals with drug use disorders. The treatment interventions should be available at the primary to tertiary care services and specialized treatment programs should be also be present to handle drug users. The treatment services provided by the healthcare organizations should respect the rights and the dignity of the clients and maintain confidentiality of their information. Moreover, treatment should be provided to drug users in health as well as social care systems in coordination with criminal justice systems, thereby ensuring safe and effective access to treatments to all individuals. The treatments provided should be based on evidence and meet the specific needs of the drug abused individuals. The guidelines also ensure that needs of the special subgroups of individuals are met and that good clinical governance are carried out for treatment services and other healthcare programs addressing the drug users. The guidelines also ensures the constant monitoring of the services and the policies of the healthcare organizations (Www.unodc.org 2017).
Outreach or community based programs play an important role in improving the health and subsequent well-being of the drug users and their families. The community-based programs rely on educational strategies targeted to members of a particular subculture or community, where the outcomes are based on peer support and culture. This helps to ensure a noticeable change in behavior. These community programs reach out to individuals who did not get proper treatment due to its inaccessibility or their unwillingness to undergo treatment (Walters and Rotgers 2012). In this case study, the support group of the local community also played an important role in ensuring that Josephus could talk about his experiences, which would enable them to understand his problems and provide effective solutions. This not only helped Josephus in coping with his withdrawal symptoms but also helped him to regain his confidence and his friends, which in turn had a positive impact on his family as well. However, the healthcare centre, where Josephus was initially sent did not support him and provide him with necessary interventions. Moreover, they had a negative attitude towards the patient. Instead of describing the guidelines to the family members on how to manage recurrence of symptoms, the organization just provided some leaflets, which were difficult to understand by the family members, particularly his wife.
Role of healthcare workers in managing addiction
Role of social networks
Social networks play an important role in promoting abstinence or reductions in drug consumptions. Social networks may also provide support to the drug abused individuals in order to enable them to the path of recovery. It is necessary to engage individuals who form a part of the patient’s social network in the treatment plan. The social network of drug abused individuals include the immediate family members and friends. Social networks not only provide support but also can monitor the patients with challenging behaviors and notify the healthcare workers at the right time in order to enable timely interventions. Social networks also can help patients with regards to finances (Www.unodc.org 2017). In this case study, Josephus’s wife played an important role in supporting him during his time of need. Moreover, the support group of the community also helped both Josephs and Selma by enabling them to discuss their problems and providing them coping techniques. However, Josephus’s friends did not play any role in providing support to him or his family.
Role of external resources
External resources include the support groups and the 12-step affiliation program. These external resources helps individuals to recover by the application of faith and spirituality as well as by conferring hope, providing emotional support, security and a sense of control (Donovan et al. 2013). In the case of Josephus, the community support group played an important role by enabling him to share his experiences and his ways of coping with others members and participants, who had also suffered from situations and have successfully coped with the situations.
Organizational responses
Organizational responses refers to the policies and guidelines that are set by the organizations like hospitals, local and state health departments, community based support groups, among others. These guidelines enable the employees of the organization to provide safe and effective care to patients. These guidelines also provides safety to the employees as well. The employees who manage the drug addicts also go through a lot of physical and mental turmoil and it is necessary for the organization to look into their needs. Employee assessment programs enable clinical assessment of the problems of the employees, referrals to community resources or counseling and follow up after providing services and obtaining training (Richard 2014). In the case of Josephus and Selma, the organizational responses to the healthcare workers were not good as the healthcare worker Malcolm was not able to properly handle the withdrawal symptoms of Josephus. This could be because the healthcare organization does not have a proper employee assessment program that determine the needs of the employees and provide necessary solutions so that the employees in turn can provide effective treatments to the patients. Moreover, the organization may not provide proper counseling of its employees and also do not carry out assessments of the employees. This negative attitude of the healthcare workers as a result of poor organizational responses resulted in poor outcomes in the case of Josephus and his wife Selma.
Reflection
In order to support individuals experiencing significant life events it is necessary to have effective communication skills. With the help of my communication skills, I have helped my friend to overcome the symptoms of withdrawal he was facing as a result of his drug addiction problem. Effective communication with him enabled him to vent his emotions in the form of crying and describing his conditions. Such a practice helped him to release all his tension and cope with his situation in an effective manner.
Theories related to drug addiction
Healthcare and social support organizations play an important role in providing individuals with the necessary care so that they can overcome their challenging behaviors. However, various improvements can be made in order to enhance the effectiveness of the care and support provided to the patients. Improvements can involve an integrated service delivery involving healthcare professionals from a number of inter-related fields in order to ensure an overall well-being of the individual. These healthcare professional could include general physicians, psychiatrists, nutritionists, psychiatrists, spiritual healers, among others. Thus, the patients will not be provided with medication but also get tips on how to bring about lifestyle changes that would ultimately result in complete recovery. The healthcare organizations should also provide services to the families by counseling them and providing them with financial aids that would enable them to use a wide range of effective treatment options (Unützer et al. 2012).
Conclusion
Drug addiction not only affects the individual but also their families. This essay is a case study of Josephus, who is a drug addict and describes how his addiction affected his family members, particularly his wife Selma. They sought help from a rehabilitation centre but did not get the necessary favorable outcome. However, a local support group helped them to overcome the problems, get confidence in order to carry out a problem-free happy life. Thus, it can be concluded that communication is a very effective technique in enabling individuals suffering from drug addiction to cope with their problems and ultimately recover from their situations.
Reference List
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