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Definition paper on addiction
The struggle with addiction
Addiction
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Recommended: Definition paper on addiction
Many of the chapter’s in Gabor Mate’s book go in depth to define addiction, to make sense of addiction. Chapter 28 defines the ways society is trying to create solutions for addicts, instead of defining addiction this passage defines harm reduction. The author begins by asking a question “what is harm reduction?”, this creates an opportunity for the reader to formulate their own definition of harm reduction before exploring the doctor's definition. The definition then formulated by the author is a multitude of definitions formed into one complex definition with many aspects. The language the author uses is clear and concise with a level of complexity. The complexity comes from the words the author uses, and from the research he has consulted.
In the short story “a demotic dilemma” written by Carson Mccullers deals with how a parent has to be responsible and must sacrifice their wants and need to take care and provide for their family. As well as the negative effects of a dysfunctional family on a young child. Therefore, it talks about a woman by the name of Emily's that has two children a boy named Andy and a girl named Marianna. Moreover, in the short story Emily's husband Martin has his job translocated by the company he works for to a big city away from the southern life away from family and friends. Which, resulted in Emily losing her stability and social life causing her to relieve this stress and life of isolation by drinking her sorrows away causing her to stumbles down
Everyone’s lives are affected by the decisions they have made and past experiences they have had. In the novel A River Runs Through It, author Norman Maclean uses the theme of experiences to portray the difficulties a person can face throughout life. Although Norman and Paul are brothers and bond through fly fishing, they are two different people who have different life paths. Norman chose to get a stable job and live a domestic life, whereas Paul chose to become a bachelor and a lower class reporter. The main character is Norman himself, and he also experiences the difficulties his troubled brother Paul is faced with. Unlike his brother, Paul has chosen a different route in life, and he has an addiction problem. As a result of Paul’s alcoholism, his life is destroyed by financial issues, family disconnects and gambling.
The novel “Beautiful Boy” written by David Sheff is a non-fiction story told through his perspective based on his experience of with addiction. His son Nicholas Sheff has an addiction; his drug of choice is methamphetamine, documented to be one of the hardest drug addictions to combat. The novel shows the progression of Nic’s life told through the eyes of his father, from the moment he was born until he was twenty three years of age. Before Nic’s addiction he started off as a well-rounded child who enjoyed many activities and was quite intelligent. Through the progression of the book Nic started getting into trouble with substance abuse, he was admitted to rehab which failed. He returned again, but had the same result he was in and out of rehab for the majority of the novel.
Nic Sheff wrote a masterpiece that is viewed both as a fiction as well as the educational and life changing book. It became one of the most selling books due to its portrayal of the effects of drug addictions. Tweak gives a chronology of events that transpired during growth time of the character both in a forward and backward manner. Nic in the first pages of the book gives as some faint reason as to why he got hooked to drug addiction. It is at this point that we come to learn about his backgrounds and family life. He was brought up in a privileged family where his stepmother is an artist while his father is a writer working for the national magazines. The family dwells in the city of San Francesco although it has another house in the rural. Their family is popular and well known which means they have a great connection and knowing several people in the journalism world. What made a great turning point in Nic’s life was his parents
Watson, M. (1991). Harm Reduction- Why Do it? International Journal or Drug policy, vol. 2, no. 5 pp 13- 15
Gabor Mate 's essay “Embraced by the Needle” addresses important issues on the negative effects that childhood experiences have on the development of addictions, and the long term effects that drugs play throughout an addict 's life. The author states that addictions originate from unhappiness and pain that is often inflicted upon addicts at early age such as infancy. In Mate essay, he uses many patients past childhood experiences to help create a picture of the trauma that an addict faced as child and the link it plays with who they are today. Mate builds an impressive argument based on the way he organizes his ideas on what addiction is, and how it corresponds to a person 's childhood experience. The author does this effectively
Toates, F. (2010) ‘The nature of addictions: scientific evidence and personal accounts’ in SDK228 The science of the mind: investigating mental health, Book 3, Addictions, Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 1-30.
Alexander explains that in Canada there has been three major waves of drug intervention, the ‘“harm reduction’ techniques” (225) being the most resent consisted of: clean injectable heroin, clean needles, methadone, and housing. Although, each of the methods are devoted and knowledgeable they have done little to decreased the deaths or supress the unhappiness. While clean heroin did work well few addicts quit using and many found the conditions of reserving the drugs to be repulsive. Yet another method is legalization which is nothing new and will do little to help.
In the book, Addiction & Grace: Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions, May explores how addiction develops and can be treated from a psychological, physiological, and spiritual standpoint. This theme is clearly shown throughout the text as it shows addiction from a whole person's perspective. The book covers the development of addiction from desire through the experience of addiction. The key focus is on looking at the matter of addiction from multiple stand points then broken down by explaining how addiction is an issue psychologically, physiologically, and spiritually. By focusing on these three areas, the author is able to present the reader with a clear understanding of addiction from all sides of the problem.
If we can use an integrated approach to the study of addiction we should develop a more exact image of the difficulties that are created by addiction and what is required to be addressed in a particular treatment program. The biopsychosocial approach to the comprehension of addiction can also be used to good effect when looking at many different issues. For example, an examination of; early school leaving or the development of a healthy eating lifestyle can also be examined through the multidimensional views of the biopsychosocial approach.
Addiction is something that may seem inevitable but at the end it’s entirely the fault of a person who is addicted. In the article by Charles Duhigg ‘the power of habit’ Angie Bachmann got addicted to gambling, it was because of her fault as she kept accepting the offers from cassino and many other reasons.. Both knew what they were doing but still Angie let herself get into the situation, and the casino encouraged it. She was a well settled housewife, when everybody used to leave the house she was all alone. One fine day, while passing through the street she took a visit to casino just for a change. “She knew gambling could lead to trouble, so she set strict rules for herself. No more than one hour at the blackjack table per trip.” (pg 247,
After learning and reading more about Harm Reduction I feel as if it is an appropriate response to the prevalence of drug-related mortality and premature morbidity from preventable causes with our society. There is no one singularly effective route to take addiction intervention or prevention as the overall efficacy of programs is dependent on how they address the individual substance user needs. I have come to realize throughout this week that harm reduction encompasses a multitude of diverse settings and target groups as well as utilising multiple skills and disciplines. I feel the reason why harm reduction is controversial is that often times the nature of its practice often pushes the limits of knowledge as well as the accepted moral standards with in society. Why give an alcoholic alcohol or heroin and opiate user methadone when you are try to prevent them from using the substance in the first place? Are you not doing more harm than good? Some may even see Harm reduction as enabling in a way. Sure I can agree that giving addicts access to instruments for use (i.e. needle) or their drug of choice falls into a grey area, however it is the safe admiration and monitoring that make harm reduction
In the real world, there is very minimal benefit of having an addiction to anything. Addiction is where a person cannot keep themselves away from something, potentially causing a threatening change to their reality. In the novel, Erebos, by Ursula Poznanski, the protagonist, Nick Dunmore, and those around him become addicted to a game called Erebos. Their addiction to this game begin to cause problems to the characters in the real world. Some of which, are life-altering consequences. Possessing an extreme addiction will have negative effects on a person’s life such as distancing relationships from family and friends, and the extent some will go to satisfy that addiction.
In the article, The Fantasy of Addiction, Peter Hitchens talks about his views on the addiction to any substance. He believes that to even use the word addiction in relation to someone with a substance abuse problem is weakening the free will of people. Telling drug abusers that their body is to blame, rather than letting them deal with the consequences of their decision only reduces the chance of them making a true effort to stop using. It gives the abuser something to blame other than them. He also believes that places that are put in place to help people get over their addiction only weaken an addict, making the addict believe their addiction is a disease. In the article, Hitchens also talks about consciousness. If consciousness has no role
Addiction has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, from my earliest memories of my father, until now as I am a licensed professional in the field of addiction as well as a person in long term recovery myself.