Stereotypes Of Drug Addiction Essay

Specific Purpose: At the end of my speech my audience will be persuaded not to use heroin.

In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, two children grow up facing issues of race, poverty, and identity in Mississippi during the 1930s. Their family bonds even as a trial for life continues to create discourse through the town’s normal dynamic. Throughout the novel, there are many opportunities where readers can learn life lessons alongside the characters which in turn allows for lessons then to be expanded on in their own lives after reading. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Lee uses her characters’ false pretenses to prove that appearances can be inaccurate.

This essay will tackle the topic of substance use disorder as a psychology topic. The film that will be reviewed for the topic is 28 Days. This is a film written by Susannah Grant and written by Betty Thomas. The film stars Sandra Bullock as a columnist for a New York newspaper (Thomas). In the film, Bullock acts as Gwen Cummings, an alcoholic forced to attend rehab for 28 days. This is because of her escapades of the day that ended up with her crushing a stolen wedding limo into a house (Thomas). The film explores substance use disorder through the eyes and life of Cummings and the people she meets in the rehab. It also explores the challenges they go through in trying to get clean. This essay will show how substance abuse and its related disorder is being portrayed in the film.

Addiction is a condition in which a person is compelled to continue an act even if it interferes with ordinary life responsibilities. Life with addiction can become overwhelming and even stressful because there is such a need for a specific item. Addictions cause harm, abuse, fatality, behavioral problems such as, aggressiveness, loss of self-control and paranoia. In “Sonny’s Blues” we see a different type of addiction than what we see in “A River Runs Through It.” In “Sonny’s Blues” Sonny was addicted to heroine, a drug that triggers a release of dopamine into the brain. In the story “A River Runs Through It” Paul was caught in the wrath of alcohol and gambling. Addiction overtakes Paul’s life in “A River Runs Through It” by excessive drinking

Some substance abusers life is “dominated by drug related activates” (Stevens & Smith, pg. 113). The entire day is spent in the pursuit of their next fix” (Stevens & Smith, pg. 113). A person who uses drugs; “will immerse themselves in talking about drug and other people who use” (Stevens & Smith, pg. 113). When a person has no regard for personal harm to gain drugs they are completely out of control. There only purpose in life completely revolves around their drug use and they’ll do anything to get it.

Both internal and external conflict can take an emotional toll on a patient who is dealing with the psychological and physiological effects of addiction. Also, these patients lose their able to function normally, and some healthcare personnel perceive their behaviors as deliberately preformed causing an excessive amount of stigma. Addiction leaves patients having to manage the pain and suffering of not being in control of their own bodies without much guidance of healthcare personnel. However, patients would not have to persevere through addition consequences of addiction if professionals – especially pharmacists – had enhanced education of addiction which would possibly alleviate

“But addiction is another one of those words— dismissive, full of judgment, too encompassing—and while that is to some extent on the mark, a cautionary on many levels” (pg. 8). This section directly relates to the taboo recreation idea of addiction and is one of the reason drugs are considered taboo. Unlike other forms of leisure drugs can affect your body in such a way that you need them and without them you will experience withdrawals. Because of the physiological effects many drugs are illegal and so are a form of formal disobedience.

Opiate addiction is much different than that of other substances that are abused and can cause addiction. Opiate addiction is a serious problem in our country and will become an even bigger problem in the years ahead. The persistent use of opiates and is thought to be a disorder of the central nervous system. Though opiate painkillers are prescribed by physicians, opiate addiction is an insidious medical disease. But since opiate addiction is far more than a behavior problem, treatment requires more than just therapy.

A person that is not an addict would at someone who is an addict as a weak minded person who wouldn’t be able to live in the real world. Addicts are perceived as people who will never be able to change because they are hooked and will never to let go of the addiction. It is believed that the addict will eventually go back to the addiction. The American public is more likely to think of addiction as a moral failing than a medical condition and thus most addicts suffer from depression. Addicts can also be seen as people with mental illnesses and moral deficiency. All addicts are commonly perceived as in denial because they do not want to acknowledge the fact that they are

As long as people have access to illegal and dangerous substances, American will continue to have issues with substance abuse. If you have fallen victim to the insidious disease of addiction, it is incumbent on you and perhaps your family members to become aware of all that could potentially go wrong with extended substance abuse. It 's also important for you and perhaps your family members to know help is out there and available.

Research studies on current addiction treatment show that programs are typically are divided into several general types. Addiction is viewed in the context of an individual’s social and psychological deficits, and treatment focuses on developing personal accountability and responsibility as well as socially productive lives (Drug). While the methods for treatment and individual programs continue to evolve and diversify, there should be more rules and regulations when it comes to treatment. As of right now, long-term residential treatment provides care 24 hours a day, generally in non-hospital settings. Treatment is designed to help residents examine damaging beliefs, self concepts, and destructive patterns of behavior and adopt new, more harmonious and constructive ways to interact with others (Drug). This type of treatment is a step in the right direction in solving the problem, but there is so much more that could be done. Along with developing even more personalized methods for treatment, there should be a set time that a patient must remain under treatment and periodic follow-up check-ins once a person is released as “relapse is common in addiction treatment, with relapse rates being between 40 and 60 percent,”

The diversity and scope of individuals’ experiences with addiction is infinite; addiction targets all walks of life, regardless of age, gender, socioeconomic status, etc. Addiction itself manifests in a variety of contexts in a person’s life, including inter- and intrapersonal function, employment, social, and environment, and observable changes can offer clues and insights into progression, severity, and levels of needed treatment (Wahler & Otis, 2014). To properly aid in the treatment and recovery of individuals with substance use disorders, counselors must employ a variety of effective tools and insights, to effectively align an individual’s addiction with a complete diagnostic

People have different ways of coping with their own or someone else’s addictions. I have had to do both, niether of them are easy, and are very confusing. More

Alcoholics are not simply people who drink alcohol; instead, their entire lives revolve around it. At first, everyone who starts drinking alcoholic beverages, thinks that its something normal, and that it's okay to do it, but what they really don't know yet, is that this particular habit has a way of turning itself into one of the worst addictions in the world. As the dictionary defines it, addiction is the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice, or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma. And as it is well known to all of us, its not easy to get yourself out of such thing.

Addiction is the reliance on a routine. There are many addictive stages. Addiction, as it comes along, becomes a way of life. The persistent use of the substance causes to the user serious physical or psychological problems and dysfunctions in major areas of his or her life. The drug user continues to use substances and the compulsive behavior despite the harmful consequences, and tries to systematically avoid responsibility and reality, while he or she tends to isolate himself/herself from others because of guilt and pain (Angres, & Bettinardi-Angres, 2008). All these characteristics led to the conclusion that drug addiction is a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use. It is considered as a brain disease because drugs change the structure of the brain, and how it works. Every drug affects different systems of the brain. For example, in the case of cocaine, as the brain is adapted in the presence of the specific drug, brain regions responsible for judgment, decision-making, learning, and memory begin to physically change, making certain behaviors “hard-wired.” In some brain regions, connections between neurons are pruned back. In others, neurons form more connections. (Martin, 2000) These brain changes can be long-lasting and can lead to the harmful behaviors seen in people who abuse drugs.