Drug Abuse and Families
Results from the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the latest survey available from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, estimated that 21.8 million Americans, ages twelve and up, were current (past month) drug users. The figure represented an increase of .7% over the previous year. Families of substance abusers can find themselves in crisis, experiencing a range of emotions from helplessness to frustration, fear, and anger. "Loved ones struggle with extraordinary questions about loyalty, love, support, and limits" (Denning, 2010, p. 164). There is considerable evidence in the current literature that families are often devastated by drug use and employ various means to cope. The purpose of this paper is to review three articles that discuss the challenges families face when one or more members have an addiction to drugs.
As pointed out by Saatcioglu, Erim and Cakmak, abuse is a family disease and requires joint treatment of family members (2006, p. 125). With respect to family dynamics, there are strong parallels between alcoholism and drug abuse. The authors suggest that many of the treatment approaches involving families of alcoholics may also be applied with families of drug abusers.
Saatcioglu et al. use the system theory to describe the family. There is the basic structural unit as well as subsystems that may consist of individuals, dual groups, triads, or more (e.g., parents, male family members, female family members, siblings). According to the authors, the system has to adapt to stress, such as substance abuse, and transform in a reactional manner. Families react in different ways, either ignoring or rationalizing the problem, or becoming completely dysfunctional and chaotic as a result. In some ways, however, the family dynamics the authors discuss do not wholly generalize to drug abuse. Alcohol is a legal substance for adults. Alcohol is...
Drug abuse of both legal and illegal substances has a devastatingly negative impact on American society as a whole. Definition of Drug Abuse Legal Drugs Illegal Drugs Prevalence of Drug Use Impact of Drug Use Financial Costs Impact in the Workplace Costs of Incarceration Health-Related Issues Homelessness Lost Potential Family Life Pregnancy and Health of Children Death Alcohol and Traffic-Related Injuries Initiatives to Combat Drug Use Legalization and Decriminalization Prevention Drug abuse of both legal and illegal substances has a devastatingly negative impact on American society as a whole.
Drug Abuse The findings of National Center at Columbia University on Addiction and Substance Abuse are that the entire American children population resides with an adult or parent who uses illegal drugs or is involved in heavy consumption of alcohol. When one of the family members is involved in drug abuse, their families always tend to be ruined and might even have harsh consequences on members of the household, particularly children. Family
109). To date, multidimensional family therapy has been tested in a number of controlled outcome studies within a variety of treatment and prevention settings and has been shown to be a cost effective approach when compared to standard treatment options (Dennis, Babor, Diamond, Donaldson, Godley, Titus & Tims et al., 2000). References Burrow-Sanchez, J.J. (2006). Understanding adolescent substance abuse: Prevalence, risk factors, and clinical implications. Journal of Counseling and Development, 84(3), 283-
Drug Abuse: Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or Ecstasy) Drugs abound and they consist of legal and illegal drugs. There are legal drugs that become illegal as a result of abuse and sale without prescription. Other drugs though are manufactured strictly for illegal purposes and one of which is Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or Ecstasy). Developed in the early 1900s as an aid to psychiatric counseling though never used widely, Ecstasy came in vogues again in
(Fletcher; Inciardi; Tims, 1993) This may be the reason that there is today a new concept in the treatment of drug abuse, and this is the creation of 'Mobile Health Services'. In Maryland, for example, this mobile clinic has successfully treated about 30,000 to 40,000 drug abusers, about 25,000 abusers of cocaine, and more than 70,000 users of alcohol. If this idea of serving the community by the deployment of
Drug Abuse The relationship between drug use and economic status has been one looked at research for decades. However, the topic is a complex one to consider because significant research and commentary today suggests that the older studies showing such a relationship may have had significant bias, in the form of assumptions, built into their research design. One of the largest assumptions has been that members of minorities use drugs in an
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