Karissa's Addiction: A Case Study

Karissa is a 28 years old female Caucasian. Karissa is single at this moment. Karissa prefers to dress like a man, also she has visible tattoos in her arms. Karissa declares to be lesbian and her last girlfriend died in a motorcycle accident five years ago since them, Karissa has not been able to be with another couple seriously. Karissa and family lives in Village of Central Square , NY; which is a small town in upstate NY. Karissa is living with his brother Steven which is a strong support for her. Working in the restaurant Karissa was surrounded by her family, her mother Robin, aunt Tricia, aunt Cheri, stepfather Terry, and father Ray. There was a continuous involvement of the family in Karissa’s addiction, but nothing serious. Karissa

Karissa works for her drugs, however she has been always supported indirectly or directly by her family. For instance, the mother gives her monety every week in advance, the aunt usually is taking care of her addiction to tobacco. The father and stepfather gives Karissa money for anything that she may need. This issue create a new dilemma about Karissa been a functional addict. In other words the family is helping her to support her addiction. At this point, Karissa was addicted to heroin. At the same time, Karissa was buying benzodiazepines and she mixed them with heroin to reach a bigger and longer high. As per the National Institute of health “Mixing Benzodiazepines with heroin can cause respiratory failure”. Further, Karissa uses Suboxone which is an opioid medication used to treat narcotic addiction. Heroin is an expensive addiction or at least the the type of heroin that Karissa was using is expensive. Karissa was spending close to $1400 a week in heroin. It was not clear how she exactly got the money to satisfy her addiction, but she was able to handle it. For instance, Karissa got her prescription from her Doctor for Suboxone. However, Karissa almost immediately sells the Suboxone for $480 which is good for 10 bags of heroin. During the interview, Karissa stated that she needs a least 30 to 32 bags of heroin and at least 20 mg of benzodiazepines to get the ultimate high. After Karissa shoots all those bags she can barely walk or breath. She can barely verbalize what she is speaking. As mention before Karissa lives with her brother and he is the only one who is able to help her if she overdose to the point that the brother has a Narcan kit pack which is a medication used to reverse the effect of opioids during an overdose episode. At the time that Karissa has to get to work she needs to shoot 10 bags to function normally. There was any history of drug or alcohol abuse in the family. There was any psychiatric,