The topic of the paper will be discussing the behavioral problem of substance abuse and the use of aversion therapy. Aversion therapy is a learned response that causes a person to give up an undesirable behavior, when associated with an unpleasant stimulus. It is created by pairing an unpleasant stimulus with a conditioned stimulus and establishes an unconditioned response to that previously conditioned stimulus. Clients usually participate in a behavior they enjoy while being exposed to something that is unpleasant to them. This type of procedure can become truly vital when someone needs to modify their behavior if they feel as if they have a dependency on a substance, or want to get rid of a bad habit. This can be most beneficial to those …show more content…
Though the nausea associated with the drug and mental imaging can deter patients away from alcohol and other substance abuse it does not eliminate the withdrawal symptoms associated with the cessation of using a substance. Although the disulfiram drugs can help prevent relapse, clients will still experience dependency symptoms. It is best that the disulfiram is combined with other treatments to be most effective. Another drawback of this research is that it can be considered unethical from some critics. The act of making clients induce their own sickness to stop a behavior could be detrimental to the patient’s health. The same goes for the administering of electric shock. In the past, it was not uncommon for electric shocks to be used on homosexual patients. This treatment is considered unethical because of the negative stigma around it from harming people in the past. It is also important to notice that these treatments may only be addressing the negative behavior instead of the underlying motivation behind the clients’ urges. It can be easy for the client to then just substitute the undesirable behavior with another one. Another point raised is that aversion therapy will not work on its’ own. Taking drugs to reduce the effects of a negative behavior usually results in clients dropping out of the treatment. Treatment may not always work. In learned behavior, extinction can sometimes occur that …show more content…
The participants signed consent forms and were subject to the 10-item Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), the 10-item Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST), and the Missouri Alcoholism Severity Scale (MASS). Also, a one-way variance (ANOVA) was used to determine group differences. Patients were asked to drink large quantities on non-alcoholic liquids before treatment. When in the testing room, patients were given an “oral dose of emetine hydrochloride in a glass filled with 600 ml of saline solution; intramuscular injections of pilocarpine hydrochloride (to close the pyloric sphincter and thereby retard the absorption of alcohol) and ephedrine sulfate (to control hypotension),” all while surrounded by alcoholic beverages. Before the patients felt the onset of nausea, a nurse would pour the patient their preferred drink of choice and have them sip it, swirl it around in their mouth, and then have them spit it out. This protocol ensured that the patients were able to see, smell, and taste the alcohol before feeling nauseous. The measures the patients had to take were that of a questionnaire, an interview, and psychophysiological assessments before and after the treatment. The results yielded the findings of support for a conditioned
In this book his focus is on removing the stigmatization attached with drugs, addiction and the addicts. He clearly outlines the problems and the main factors of the society which leads to addiction amongst people. Throughout this book he provides various
The term addiction can be interpreted in many ways, concering both illegal and legal substances. Not only can one become addicted to a substance, but also activities like gambling, shoplifting, and sex. Prior to considering addiction, one must first understand what constitutes a substance. Levinthal (2002) describes a drug as a chemical substance that changes the functioning of the body when ingested (4). Although illegal drugs may come to mind when hearing this definition, alcohol and tobacco fit under this criteria as well. For the purpose of this essay, controlled and regulated (licit/legal) substances will be focused upon. Alcohol is a regulated substance that can be thought of as a social drug (Levinthal, 2002, p.192) and arguably tobacco
Understanding psychological disorders are very important in human development, the first step is to define what is meant by a disorder. How do psychologists determine that there something is psychologically wrong with a person? What behaviours are abnormal? A psychological disorder, also known as a mental disorder, is a pattern of behavioural or psychological symptoms that impact multiple life areas and/or create distress for the person experiencing these symptoms. A clear sign of abnormal behaviour or mental state is when an individual's behaviour is destructive to themselves or their social group, such as family, friends. Above all psychological disorders create a maladaptive pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that lead to detriments in relationships and other life areas. There are several ethical issues in treating psychological disorders. There two ways of treating psychological disorders through; psychotherapy this form of treatment involves social interactions between a trained professional (therapist) and client. This is delivered on a one-to-one, face-to-face meeting. Another way of treating psychological disorder is through pharmacological treatments. This is the use of proactive drugs to treat certain disorders. This essay will aim to highlight the pros and cons of using pharmacological and psychological treatments.
There are many options for substance addiction treatment and utilizing medication as a means of eliminating substance use is one that has been called a double edge sword. There are two schools of thought with medically assisted treatment. First, let 's define medication assisted treatment (MAT): “it is the use of pharmacological medications, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a “whole patient” approach to the treatment of substance use disorders. Research indicates that a combination of medication and behavioral therapies can successfully treat substance use disorders, and for some people struggling with addiction, MAT can help sustain recovery” (Watkins, 2016). One side of this treatment option is that it provides that extra little nudge to start recovery with less or more withdrawal symptoms. For example, disulfiram is an alcohol aversion agent, that when taken with alcohol the person becomes very ill (Watkins, 2016). There are also other medications that help with reducing symptoms of withdrawal, such as methadone.
Tatarsky, A. & Marlatt, G. (2010). State of the art in harm reduction psychotherapy: an emerging treatment for substance misuse. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 66(2), 117-122. doi: 10.1002/jclp.20672
Drug use and abuse has become a common situation with today’s citizens. Drugs are more easily accessible today than they ever were in the past. The drug trend is frightening to say the least. From the legal substances, such as alcohol and tobacco, to the illegal substances, such as marijuana and cocaine, there has been an increase in their use amongst all ages of people. It seems that the ages of the users are getting younger as time goes by. Because of this trend there are more people addicted to substances and who need treatment. There are many treatment programs out there where people can go to get help with their addictions. Programs range from alcohol treatment to substance abuse treatments and detoxification processes. Unfortunately,
The harm reduction model the most prevalent ideology within the large spectrum of substance control methods, it is defined by the Centre for Mental Health and Addiction as any program or policy designed to reduce drug-related harm without requiring the cessation of drug use. In essence instead of adhering to the conventional eradication style practices aforementioned, this style focuses on helping the offender cope with their mental illness. This not only can encourage offenders to take active participation within their treatment, but makes them the directors of their own rehabilitation using their own will power to gauge treatment. Although the harm reduct...
Addiction is a dependence on a substance where the individual who is affected feels defenseless and unable to stop the obsession to use a substance or prevent a particular behavior. Millions of Americans have addictions to drugs, alcohol, nicotine, and even to behaviors such as obsessive gambling. Pharmacotherapy is a treatment process in which a counselor can use a particular drug to counter act an addictive drug or behavior. Not all counselors agree with this type of treatment. However in order to provide a client with an ethical treatment and unbiased opinions they should be made aware of all scientific evidence of different treatment options. “Thus, attention to addiction pharmacotherapy is an ethical mandate no matter what prejudices a counselor may have” (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2008, p. 196). Some particular pharmacotherapy’s a counselor may use for the treatment of addiction are Bupropion (Wellbutrin, Zyban), Disulfiram (Antabuse), Naltrexone (ReVia, Depade), Methadone (Dolophine), and Buprenorphine (Temgesic, Suboxone).
Silverman, K., Roll, J., & Higgins, S. (2008). Introduction to the Special Issue on the Behavior Analysis and Treatment of Drug Addiction. Journal of Applied behavior Analysis, 41(4), 471-480. Retrieved June 12, 2011, from the proquest.com.navigator-ship.passhe.edu database.
According to Leshner, drug addiction is a chronic brain disease that is expressed in the form of compulsive behaviors (Leshner, 2001). He believes that drug addiction is influence by both biological, and behavioral factors, and to solve this addiction problem we need to focus on these same factors. On the other hand, Neil Levy argues that addiction is not a brain disease rather it is a behavioral disorder embedded in social context (Levy, 2013). I believe, drug addiction is a recurring brain disease that can be healed when we alter and eliminate all the factors that are reinforcing drug addiction.
Miller, P. M., Smith, G.T., & Goldman, M. S. (1990). Emergence of alcohol expectancies in childhood. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 51, 343-349.
... is represents a malfunction of human neurobehavioral adaptation. The product is used is the negative influence by the ones outcome and by the model behavior. This is when it is observe by others. According to Thombs and Osborn, “Self-Efficacy is an extremely important one in assisting people with substance disorders (183). Psychoanalytic formulations of addiction and the Cognitive models of addiction both tie together because when an addiction is formed the Psychotherapist can use the three treatment stages to see how aware the patient of their addiction and since cognitive is defined as a mental process, the clinical practice if today can perform treatment disorder test. It helps the dependence. After ready this paper one should now understand the difference and similarity between Psychoanalytic formulations of addiction and the Cognitive models of addiction.
It has become one of the major social problems of our day, leaving a great number of families and communities within our country devastated and without hope of recuperation for any of their afflicted members and loved ones. Growing to become a big social challenge affecting all aspects of the American society, addiction rates have escalated to enormous proportions within the country as reported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Addiction has been described as a chronic brain disorder,” resulting from adaptations in the brain that leads to changes in behavior”, according to Dr. Nora Volkow, who also assert that it can be treated (NIDA 2006).
What is admired about this article is that it show the numbers of many different people that is effect by this form of substance abuse. The numbers are telling how they are being effected or how they are effecting others and even how they winded up with this situation in the first place. The article is a design experiment but also give a variety of
There are many addictions in the world, and drug addiction is the biggest. People may experiment with the drug for many reasons. “If your drug use is causing problems in your life, then you likely have a drug abuse or addiction problem”.(Lawrence Robinson pg.1) Many people start out using drugs by peer pressure or out of their own curiosity. Stress, anxiety, lows self-esteem and depression could be another factor to start using drugs. The drug takes over your body and gives you a good feeling that many people tend to enjoy. The urge to use the drug can keep increasing rapidly after the first use. The urge can become so severe that your mind can find many other ways to deny the factor of addiction. Very few drug addicts can feel and realize when they have crossed the line with drugs. A drug addicts mind can build up a very large tolerance for the drug that they start to abandon the activities they used to do on a daily basis like showering, hobbies, socializing and even being associated with family members. The person with the addiction will continue to use the drug knowing that it is harming there body, but they don’t have any remorse. A drug addict will often try to hide their problem, so they can continue to use without anyone’s input. Family and friends may try to use preaching methods or tell the user that they need to stop using the drug. This method is not ...