Addictive Behavior Analysis Paper

Analysis Paper 1-What Have You Learned? Ed Potter
Behavioral Addictions: An Overview
There is a growing trend that outside of substance use, activities that individuals engage in which they exhibit additive tendencies are now being considered to be addictions rather than the result of poor impulse control. For example, rather than using substances to cope or to achieve pleasurable feelings, individuals are also inclined to indulge in nondrug related self-rewarding behaviors for the same purposes (Karim & Chaudhri, 2012). The correlation between the use of substances and addictive behaviors is the way in which the brain interprets these feelings and how the brain’s reward system is triggered. By engaging in nondrug related activities,

Despite Mignon’s (2015) acknowledgment that the “abstinence model” (p. 22) of treatment has been the primary focus of treatment in the past, today that is no longer the case. In addition, Mignon (2015) noted that defining abstinence a complicated task, but also when individuals continue to fail at abstinence, recovery may be increasingly difficult to achieve. Likewise, when abstinence is not the goal of a client, they may be looked upon as not fully engaging, or buying into treatment, or the recovery process (Mignon, 2015). Moreover, the “war on drugs” (Mignon, 2015, p. 28) has accomplished neither harm reduction nor has it presented more opportunities for treatment, and at the same time has been primarily attributed to the rise of the prison population. Instead, the goal of harm reduction is to reduce the consequences of substance use while one still actively engages in the use of either drugs or alcohol (Mignon, 2015). However, because of these reasons, and similar to the abstinence model of treatment, harm reduction is not without its detractors. The primary concern surrounding harm reduction is that while the individual’s external relationships and environment may benefit from this method of treatment, the individual themselves may not necessarily have a desire to discontinue engaging in the use of

Specifically, treatment planning for offenders is often challenging due to the inaccurate self-reporting by the individual of their substance abuse, along with other factors such as psychiatric and traumatic backgrounds (Substance Abuse Treatment for Adults in the Criminal Justice System, 2005). As such, it is crucial that a comprehensive assessment and screening is conducted and the individual’s history thoroughly vetted. Furthermore, Mignon (2015) discussed other difficulties in measuring treatment effectiveness such as: complications regarding how to accurately measure treatment effectiveness, how to appropriately define treatment and use of substances, and the lack of research regarding different treatment modules. Ultimately, treatment is considered effective when there is a decrease in an individual’s substance use; however, there is no clear measurement regarding which type of treatment is the most effective (Mignon,