Elizabeth Henderson's Understanding Addiction

What is addiction? According to authors Brian Shaw, Paul Ritvo and Jane Irvine in their book, Addiction & Recovery for Dummies, addiction is “. . . a combined experience of mental and physical dependence” (p. 10) On a daily basis, addiction affects millions of people across the United States and has become one of the nation’s biggest health problems. So when does a habit cross the line into addiction? Well, in her book, Understanding Addiction, author Elizabeth Henderson suggests that “Identifying the exact point at which the use of a substance constitutes an addiction ought to be easy, but it is not” (p. 3). A person with an addiction experiences severe cravings for a particular substance regardless of the negative consequences that come from consuming said substance. Some people are able to use drugs and or alcohol and never experience an addiction. It can be difficult to understand why some people

Where stigma says addicts become addicts because he or she wants to be an addict, there needs to be social workers to step up and answer the call of social justice. Social workers have a lot of work ahead of them. They need to be teachers, healers, counselors, and advocates for the addiction population. Social workers need to educate society on the different theories of why people become addicts. They need to help counsel and heal families destroyed by addiction. Social workers need to advocate for addicts because according to Lisa Cox, Carolyn Tice, and Dennis Long in their book Introduction to Social Work “People need and deserve respect and acceptance, despite their substance use disorder” (p. 219). Addicts need to be educated on the help and resources available in his or her communities. There needs to be more preventative treatment and education in high-risk communities. Social workers need to advocate for fair treatment, accessibility to resources and help to break the stigma on