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Social impacts of drug abuse
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The effects of substance abuse introduction essay
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Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Centers
According to the National Institutes of Health, substance abuse costs the government over 600 billion dollars every year (“Best in Treatment.”). Consequently, substance abuse and addiction are not something to take lightly. Addiction to substances is very serious brain disease that affects both the brain and the body. Addiction is considered to be a chronic disease, in the same way asthma is, that needs to be treated in the long-term in order to help individuals to be able to fully recover (“The Truth About “Rehab” & Drug Addiction.”). Although the path of addiction may begin with the initial decision of using a substance, after so long, the individual’s ability to say “no” diminishes. Substance abuse and addiction requires treatment, and while there are many rehabilitation centers all around the United States, there are many different approaches used to treat addiction, as well as new discoveries on the different treatment options, and problems with relapse throughout the recovery process.
There were 23.2 million people over the age of twelve that needed substance abuse treatment in the year 2001, but only 2.4 million people actually got the treatment they needed, leaving about 20 million people without any treatment at all. The problem with so many people not getting the help they need is many of these individuals do not admit to having a problem in the first place (“The Truth About “Rehab” & Drug Addiction.”). The Treatment Episode of Data Set reports that there were about 1.8 million people admitted for treatment of substance abuse to facilities in 2008. About 41% of those admissions were due to alcohol addiction, about 60% of the admissions were Caucasian, and 14.8% were between the ...
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“Best in Treatment.” Psychology Today. 86-106. n.p.: Sussex Publishers LLC, 2013. Academic Search Elite. Web. 7 Nov. 2013.
“DrugFacts: Treatment Approaches for Drug Addiction.” National Institute on Drug Abuse. NIH, Sept. 2009. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/treatment-approaches- drug-addiction.
“DrugFacts: Treatment Statistics.” National Institute on Drug Abuse. NIH, Mar. 2011. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/treatment-statistics.
Kelly, Raina. “Ask The Pro: Rehab.” Newsweek 147.8 (2006): 74. Academic Search Elite. Web. 7 Nov. 2013.
Schnabel, Jim. “Neuroscience: Rethinking Rehab.” Nature 458.7234 (2009): 25-27. Academic Search Elite. Web. 7 Nov. 2013.
“The Truth About “Rehab” & Drug Addiction.” Scholastic Scope 57.14 (2009): 20-22. Academic Search Elite. Web. 7 Nov. 2013.
(2011, October 17). Research Examines Approaches to Treating Substance Abuse Among African-Americans. Retrieved October 20, 2014, from http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.aspx?id=14425
McGovern, M. P., Xie, H., Segal, S. R., Siembab, L., & Drake, R. E. (2006). Addiction treatment
Today, it is known that addiction is something usually caused by a multitude of factors either controllable and/or uncontrollable by the individual. Generally speaking addiction has been accepted as a disease and should be treated as such. And although continuing to offer help and funding for a group of people seemingly unwilling and unyielding to the services provided, makes it extremely difficult for one’s inherent stereotyping of a group of people to change; it does not disreg...
There are many contributing factors and political issues that address substance abuse. Throughout the years, many researchers have designed many interventions and social policies designed to treat people who have used, abused, and became addicted to substances. Today, there are many new studies that address substance abuse at the individual, group, family, and community or policy levels. Today, there are many services that are effective for decreasing recidivism in youth who have completed a substance abuse program. A substance abuse treatment program or center is the best way to treat individuals who have abused substances.
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.
Many people dislike the term ‘addiction’ in relation to drugs or other substances, particularly as it infers that a person is powerless over their use of a particular drug or in some circumstances, a number of substances. Whilst others maintain it is this powerlessness that is the foundation of diagnosis and treatment – that treatment is not possible without recognition of addiction itself as the ‘problem’ being addressed. The professional and public perception of addiction is complicated. There are many approaches and models to explain addiction, the role of the addict, and their environment. This essay will compare and contrast two of these approaches, the medical/disease and the social model. Initially this essay will describe the origins of each model, and follow by explaining their respective strengths and weaknesses, and finish with an overview of the key differences between them. This essay will conclude by demonstrating that a holistic approach, and a cross-pollination of these models is the most successful approach to treating addicts. As is the case for all diseases, there are multiple treatment options, and as ever person is different, the results in each individual cannot be predicted.
When we view substance use disorders, alcohol is the most widely used drug within the United States and 11 percent of workers have drinking problems (Frone, 2006). Over 20 million people used illegal substances in 2006 and 7 million people abused prescribed medications. Of the 18 million drug abusers, 18 years or older in 2006, 13.4 million (74.9 %) were employed full or part time (SAMHSA, OSA). These addiction problems have an expenditure of $276 billion dollars per year with most of this cost from loss of productivity and health care (H. Harwood, D. Fountain, and G. Livermore, 1992).
Because of the complexity of substance abuse, different concepts of relapse and reduction in drug use need to be examined. Relapse is a complex, dynamic process that must be examined carefully by researchers and clinicians. The extensive treatment histories of many clients entering and re-entering programs suggest that recovery from drug use is long term, and episodic relapses are experienced. The process of recovery occurs throughout the drug use and treatment career. A better understanding of this process should lead to improved treatment and aftercare services that will reduce overall relapse rates, extend remission periods, and reduce the duration of relapse
The repeated use of drugs often causes both physical and psychological dependence, as mentioned in an article by the Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia (“Drug Dependence”). In order for an individual to truly be set free from their addiction, seeking treatment is necessary. Rehab centers are a great place with scientifically proven methods to cure those addicted to drugs. It is important to try to end drug use in our country, rather than allowing it to continue longer than it already has. While funding for rehabilitation facilities could become an issue, drug users may continue their addiction without proper treatment, and therefore those arrested for drug use should be sent to a rehabilitation center instead of prison.
The alarming statistics of children that are living with an addicted parent within the United States today has become problematic and challenging to transform. According to Tower (2013) 12% of children that are eighteen or younger live with at least on parent that has an addiction to drugs or alcohol (p. 88). This is not a fixed statistic due to the fact that not all child welfare agencies keep statistical information on parents that abuse substances. Also, some drug treatment programs do not inquire on whether the substance abuser has children (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2009).
Drug abuse and addiction are issues that affect people everywhere. However, these issues are usually treated as criminal activity rather than issues of public health. There is a conflict over whether addiction related to drug abuse is a disease or a choice. Addiction as a choice suggests that drug abusers are completely responsible for their actions, while addiction as a disease suggests that drug abusers need help in order to break their cycle of addiction. There is a lot of evidence that suggests that addiction is a disease, and should be treated rather than punished. Drug addiction is a disease because: some people are more likely to suffer from addiction due to their genes, drug abuse brought on by addictive behavior changes the brain and worsens the addiction, and the environment a person lives in can cause the person to relapse because addiction can so strongly affect a person.
Substance use disorders and mental health disorder can be challenging for human services professionals as well as for the individual; combined these disorders together and treatment can be seemingly insurmountable. The complexity of the disorders separately, as well as together raises the need for treatment that looks at the whole person not just a set of symptoms. The debate between which disorder came first is useless at helping to resolve the problems that are currently occurring with these complex disorders. According to Stevens & Smith (2013), over five million adults have a co-occurring disorder. With such high number it’s no surprise that the amount of money that is spending on co-occurring disorders is staggering and far exceeds that
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Office of Applied Studies). Treatment Episode Data Set(TEDS): Highlights-2003. National Admissions to Substance Abuse Treatment Services, Rockville, MD: Department of Health and Human Services, 2003.
Substance abuse is a challenging battle that cannot be won over night it takes a lot of hard work and dedication from every one. Local government agencies, national, and global evolvement needs to be present to overcome substance abuse. It is important to try and overcome substance abuse due to the negative impact that it is having on society, financially and
Drug addiction is a very big problem in today’s society. Many people have had their lives ruined due to drug addiction. The people that use the drugs don’t even realize that they have an addiction. They continue to use the drug not even realizing that their whole world is crashing down around them. Drug addicts normally lose their family and friends due to drug addiction.