The Impact of Drug Addiction on Individuals and Families
Addiction means losing up control of the lives and also giving up the breathing when the addiction is avoided due to any reason (Lewis, 2017). However, it is much more critical to understand why some people become addicted to substances which are not good for the health and does also impact the surrounding society. One of the best explanations could be that the use of a harmful substance like drug reinforces in the mind of the addicts which keep them calling towards the substance that had pleased them previously (Lewis, 2017). The assignment is aimed at delivering answers to few questions related to understanding the psychology behind the drug addiction.
Addiction doesn’t only affect the person having the substance use disorder. Addiction rather affects the every family member as they are forced to develop unhealthy coping behaviors to keep the household environment in the equilibrium state. Family members may also deny the fact to cope with the instability (Wood & Rünger, 2016). However, they may instead play a much better role in taking the matter towards a more balanced direction where the drug addicts may find the helpful hands in running out of the issue (Wood & Rünger, 2016). Following is how the family member can help the drug addicts to overcome the drug addiction (Wood & Rünger, 2016):
Taking good care:
It can be indeed effective if a family member does take care of their physical and mental health during the recovery of substance use disorder. This may be helpful in reaching a higher level of functioning.
Having fun together:
This is an important aspect of relapse prevention where people need enjoyment without the use of the drug. Family members should find ways for making fun and consider it like their new hobby.
Facilitating important lifestyle changes:
As mentioned earlier, a family member should find another hobby to extract out time for fun making sessions. For this, they may be required to facilitate few changes to their normal lifestyle which is very important to keep the drug addicts happier after the relapse prevention.
Understanding the triggers:
Triggers can be the events or the causes that have triggered the affected person for drug use. Such triggers if occurs during the recovery process may retard the progress of recovery. Family members should know the trigger that has encouraged their loved one. They should avoid such thing to occur again.
How Family Members Can Help in Overcoming Drug Addiction
Understanding relapse and lapse:
The family member should understand the ‘lapse’ and ‘relapse’ process. They should also find ways to approach the relapse effectively. This may certainly contribute to a more powerful recovery of the loved one.
Codependency can be considered a state when a family member develops a new and a very unhealthy practice while adapting the incrementing dysfunction in the family system. Codependent ignores its own desire and willingness for worrying his or her loved one who has an addiction to drug use (Ashe, Newman & Wilson, 2015). The attractive features of a codependent can include but are not limited to like the follows (Best et al., 2016):
- Being obsessive about the loved one’s substance abuse
- Living in a state of denial where addiction of loved one is hidden from the others
- Ignoring the personal needs in regards to the physical, spiritual and expressive needs
- Reacting violently to events that have caused addiction
- Engaging in compulsive behaviors treating it like the additional ways; however, such behaviors can be unhealthy as well
Codependent has certain limitations like it does not look for finding the most appropriate solution to the problem, it rather sticks with the denial state where problems get increased (Best et al., 2016).
Both men and women can be the drug addict; however, they can have different circumstances for the addiction. They may also have differences in their drug pattern. Following is the list of differences that men and women share in regards to drug addiction (Stojek, Fischer & MacKillop, 2015):
- Men are very likely to abuse drugs than women
- Women and men both abuse prescription Opioids at an equivalent rate
- They have different reasons behind the drug abuse
- Women face different issue than men in family or the society
- A trauma is believed to be the most likely factor of addiction in women
- Women face more challenge than men in coping with the addiction treatment
- Addiction treatment is equally effective in both men and women
The society that one person lives in, does have an impact on his or her approach towards drug addiction. The friend circle, or the social gathering or the family environment can all influence the drug addiction. The socio-cultural factors do play a major role in influencing one person towards the drug addiction. The financial crisis is one kind of socio-cultural factor that may encourage men to substance use (David, Beracochea & Walton, 2018). They may adopt it to keep them feel good although nothing seems to be happening well with them.
Age is another significant factor which encourages the drug addiction. Different age groups have different reasons to drug addiction. The most general reason for women becoming addicted to drug use is the trauma like they might have lost something or are being hurt by others. In either of the situation, few women develop the tendency to switch to something which could help them forget what has happened to them. On the other hand, teenagers may have some other reasons to support their addiction to the drug (Volkow, Koob & McLellan, 2016).
According to the ‘Gateway’ theory of drug abuse, the early experimentation that adolescents do with alcohol, cannabis, and tobacco most probably erupt them to substance drug use in adulthood (Wood & Rünger, 2016). However, scientists and the politicians do still revolve around to find whether soft drugs are that much harmful. The fact is still attracting numerous research works. The common illicit drugs are mainly the cocaine, Opioids, and amphetamines (Wood & Rünger, 2016). This in general means that there are some resources which act as a gateway to a drug addict. New research works have produced fresh breath to the controversial theory. Marijuana legalization and the opioid epidemic across the world have produced fresh questions. Parents now seek again the same question which is to understand the root causes of addiction (Wood & Rünger, 2016).
Understanding the Differences between Men and Women
The triple threat among adolescents is commonly recognized as tobacco, alcohol, and drugs. The adolescents get used to one of the three threats cited above which further act as a gateway to the next level. The one using tobacco and alcohol at the adolescent stage is more likely to develop the addiction to drugs (Lewis, 2017). According to Gateway theory of drug abuse, an addiction to triple threat may also lead to the substance drug use. Hence, the triple threat of potential substance will specifically affect the behavior towards the drug addiction (Lewis, 2017).
Co-occurring disorders are referred to a state where people suffer from dual abuse like substance use disorder and mental health disorders. Previously, both cases of abuse were being classified as two different concepts were being treated differently. However, there has been a change in such perception (Best et al., 2016). Treatment programs address the disorders as required to be cured under the integrated care. They follow the combining strategies which unite the psychiatry field with that of addiction treatment. They believe this could effectively reduce the relapse rate among the graduates. Moreover, this also may effectively reduce the suicidal cases (Best et al., 2016).
There are five principles of ‘Motivational Interviewing’ which are as follows (Ashe, Newman & Wilson, 2015):
- Expression of empathy to clients- Counselors or psychologists needs to express empathy while discussing with the clients. This may help to make clients believe in the process.
- Supporting the development of discrepancy- Counselors try to make clients realize the other side of life which can give many much to the client.
- Dealing with resistance- Clients are required not to act as a resistant to client’s viewpoint. This may help the counselors to understand its clients more appropriately.
- Autonomy- Counselors are required to make clients believe in its own by stating that client only bring the change in him or her.
- Supporting self-efficacy- Clients are made to realize that they can on their own change their way of living the life.
Conclusion:
To conclude, substance drug use is threatening to the various age and the cultural groups that have developed this habit. They need consultation from skilled counselors to get away from the addiction. They also need the help of their family member who by changing their way of life can make their loved one feel good. This may certainly help the drug addicts while during the relapse prevention.
References:
Ashe, M. L., Newman, M. G., & Wilson, S. J. (2015). Delay discounting and the use of mindful attention versus distraction in the treatment of drug addiction: a conceptual review. Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 103(1), 234-248.
Best, D., Beckwith, M., Haslam, C., Alexander Haslam, S., Jetten, J., Mawson, E., & Lubman, D. I. (2016). Overcoming alcohol and other drug addiction as a process of social identity transition: the social identity model of recovery (SIMOR). Addiction Research & Theory, 24(2), 111-123.
David, V., Beracochea, D., & Walton, M. (2018). Memory systems of the addicted brain: the underestimated role of drug-induced cognitive biases in addiction and its treatment. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9, 30.
Lewis, M. (2017). Addiction and the brain: development, not disease. Neuroethics, 10(1), 7-18.
Stojek, M. K., Fischer, S., & MacKillop, J. (2015). Stress, cues, and eating behavior. Using drug addiction paradigms to understand motivation for food. Appetite, 92, 252-260.
Volkow, N. D., Koob, G. F., & McLellan, A. T. (2016). Neurobiologic advances from the brain disease model of addiction. New England Journal of Medicine, 374(4), 363-371.
Wood, W., & Rünger, D. (2016). Psychology of habit. Annual Review of Psychology, 67.
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