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Biological approach to addiction
Biological approach to addiction
Refelction on addiction
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Addiction & Grace- Book Report Gerald May does an incredible job of integrating spiritual concepts and theology into the treatment of addictions in his book Addiction and Grace. He clearly asserts that all humans are born with the desire for God’s love. This desire is what gives our lives personal meaning. Addiction is defined as any personal attachment that takes an individual’s focus away from God. As human beings, we all have addictions; personal attachments that can be viewed as positive or negative. Addictions are not limited to substance abuse (i.e. drugs, alcohol, and food). Addictions can also include behaviors (i.e. love, work, family, exercise). It can be difficult to view loving someone as a negative addiction; however, Gerald …show more content…
It is imperative for a counselor to identify these qualities and know how to navigate an addict through these phases. Addiction has psychological, neurological, and spiritual elements that are important to understand in order to provide quality counseling. Psychologically, an individual suffering from addiction will often practice various methods of self-deception: denial & repression, rationalization, hiding, delaying tactics, breakdown, and collusion. Habits are formed in three stages. During stage one, a person learns that a specific behavior either provides pleasure or pain relief. Stage two is when a person actively seeks the effects of that behavior in everyday life, causing the formation of the habit. Finally, in stage three, a person is now dependent on the effect of the behavior and develops feelings of distress when the behavior and feeling are not easily …show more content…
You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It’s for you I created the universe. I love you. There’s only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach and take it is a gift too. May (1988) writes that “grace is the active expression of God’s love” (p. 120), which is the ultimate desire of all humans. Grace is a difficult concept to understand because there is nothing a person can do to receive it; rather, it is freely given as a gift from God. Grace is given to all who believe in Him, regardless of their sins. Guilt is almost always attached to addiction. The Christian counselor can use the concept of spiritual grace and the supporting theology to help the client change his or her feelings of guilt into feelings of hope for personal change and forgiveness through
The start of this article focuses on a Christian client named George who is plagued with feelings of worthlessness, depression, low self-esteem, and suicide. His mother had also battled depression, and his father had an abusive relationship with alcohol, which caused his father to have verbally and physically abusive altercations with George and his mother. The abusive experiences that George was exposed to as a child paved the way for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as an adult (Garzon, 2005). With all of these factors present in this client’s life, a treatment plan was created that involved scripture interventions. The author made sure to touch on the fact that every client is unique in the hopes that counselors would be aware that one type of scripture intervention might work for one client and not work for another. The article highlights three guiding values when considering these types of interventions; “respect for the client’s autonomy/freedom, sensitivity to and empathy for the client’s religious and spiritual beliefs, and flexibility and responsiveness to the client’s religious and spiritual beliefs.”(Garzon, 2005). ...
Clinton, T. & Ohlschlager, G. (2002). Competent Christian counseling: Foundations and practice of compassionate soul care. Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBrook Press.
In the words of Brennan Manning, “something is radically wrong.” As American citizens, we find the Gospel of Grace burdensome. God’s grace seems to be some ephemeral promise that sounds phenomenal but cannot possibly be authentic. We grasp the concept in words but we act utterly opposite. Hidden in our subconscious is the supposition that we must earn all that we receive and that anything given to us freely is of no worth. We believe things such as “There is no free lunch”, “You want love? Earn it”, and “You get what you deserve.” We have sold ourselves into a “no pain-no gain” spirituality downplaying God’s grace but emphasizing our own personal efforts. Brennan Manning put it this way: “Though the Scriptures insist on God’s initiative in the work of salvation – that by grace we are saved, that the Tremendous Lover has taken to the chase – our spirituality often starts with self, not God.” So what does God’s grace actually entail and why is it so difficult for us to accept? (Manning)
Grace is arguably the most important idea in the Bible, Christianity, and the universe. Grace is “the love of God shown to the unlovely; the peace of God given to the restless; the unmerited favor of God,” (Holcomb). It’s the idea that humans are granted salvation by God, and that He has the ability
Addiction is the result of a gradual accretion of neurological tendencies based upon the ingestion of a particular substance or the taking of a particular action. It is cumulative, building over time, and varies in strength from individual to individual based on their own abilities to exercise willpower over themselves and their actions. Some people become addicted more easily than others. In the end, addiction is the result of a series of choices made by the individual. These choices usually have a massive impact upon the life of the person, modifying their friendships, family life, professional life and psychological/spiritual well being. The cumulative aspect of addiction is built up by an individual willfully choosing to either not see the direction they are heading in or to not take action even though they sense themselves following the path of an addict. Some kind of deterioration in their life is bound to take place, and willful ignorance is all that could keep one from noticing that. Likewise, addiction can he helped and cured by an individual choosing to do something different, to adjust their habitual reliance on a specific substance or action for pleasure or escape or whatever quality they are searching for. Only the individual can make that choice, but once they have made that choice other people and institutions can help them.
As a surrendered life to Christ, my intentions on earth are good. However, I live a human life, wretched and sinful by the simplest measures perhaps unrecognizable to most, yet blatantly known to God. In this truth I find comfort. I know that no matter how hard it gets when attempting to behave as Jesus would have me in the face of any and all adversity, “God gives me Grace!” He already knows my heart and my failures even before I experience them. He set up a way for me to be redeemed and to overcome through His son, Christ Jesus. He did this for me through grace, and He offers His love and blessings to me regardless of me. I can’t buy God’s grace. I can’t gain God’s grace by doing good deeds. God freely grants it to me, and you, simply because He loves us, who are undeserving of His love. This act of grace is nearly unfathomable as a human being! My entire being melts to ground at His feet where I wade in pool of gratitude for this benevolent undeserving gift, His grace. The moment we start to think that we deserve His grace because we are good or righteous, is a moment when we are seriously misguided and in danger. We are not perfect. We are not God. The best of us are like filthy rags when compared to His holiness. “…all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” Isaiah 64:6
A big challenge that I will face is deciding which side I will take on a big debate in substance abuse counseling. Some people say that addiction is purely physical, while others disagree and believe that addiction is mostly psychological. Those who believe that it is psychological believe that it usually stems from abuse or as Jane Adams (2003) thinks an over dependence on parents. This side also says that addiction is operant conditioning and that cycle has to be broken (Silverman, Roll, & Higgins, 2008, p. 472). The other physical side of addi...
The human experience is what connects people to one another. What we experience defines who we are and who we become. It also defines how we interact with others. The amazing thing is that not only do the events that bring joy, peace and happiness connect us but also those that bring anxiety, fear and despair. This brings to light the fact that God somehow in his sovereignty uses all things for the good of those who love Him. These ideas are brought to light in Jerry Sittser’s book, A Grace Disguised which is his personal journey of loss and the insight and experience that was gained in the face of great tragedy. In his book, Sittser discusses various insights he has gained, such as how Christian’s view sorrow, how families recover when someone they love develops a mental disorder, and the Christian view on suffering and forgiveness. I believe that the author has written a book that has many universal truths that can be applied to anyone’s life and they have the ability to bring healing to many. His ideas can also aid professionals who work with the mentally ill in becoming more compassionate.
“Addiction is a brain disease expressed in the form of compulsive behavior,” says by Alan Leshner in his article, “Addiction Is a Brain Disease” featured in the book Drug Abuse: Opposing Viewpoints. Addiction has a variety of meanings depending on what your viewpoint of addiction. According to dictionary.com, the concrete definition of the word addiction is, “the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.” Basically various doctors and therapist consider addiction to be a genetic disorder. “Provocative, controversial, unquestionably incomplete, the dopamine hypothesis provides a basic framework for understanding how a genetically encoded trait — such as a tendency to produce too little dopamine — might intersect with environmental influences to create a serious behavioral disorder. Therapists have long known of patients who, in addition to having psychological problems, abuse drugs as well. Could their drug problems be linked to some inborn quirk?” (Nash, and Parker, pg 2 of 8). Along with addiction being possibly a genetic disorder, a minority of scientist believe that the word ‘addiction’ is too broad in its denotation. “If addiction means ‘compulsive, out of control use of a dangerous drug’ is this the same as a person’s being ‘addicted’ to a cell phone? Scientist cannot work or live with this imprecision.” (Erickson, 2 of 253). They believe that the word is misunderstood in denotation. “It is important to correct the common misimpression that drug use, abuse and addiction are points on a single continuum along which one slides back and forth over time, moving from user to addict, th...
The first thing we will look at is what drug abuse is. Drug abuse is a condition that results when a person ingests a substance, such as cocaine, or heroin, that can cause pleasure, but the continued use of which becomes compulsive and will start interfering with everyday life, such as school, work, parenting responsibilities, or relationships. Addicts are not generally aware that their own behavior is out of control and are usually oblivious to the problems that they are causing to themselves and to others.(“What is Addiction?” 2014) The longer the addiction and addictive behaviors persist, the worse the person will become, and the more dependent they will become on the drug. The reason it is so hard for an addict to change their ways is because the brain’s chemistry is altered from addiction.
The fact that addiction is a brain disorder is a new detail that I learnt from the HBO video. As pointed out by Dr. Volkow, addiction as a brain disease renders the addicts unable to control themselves in relation to curbing their addiction problem. In conceptualizing addiction as a brain disease, Volkow illustrates this standpoint with the fact that the brain has a “natural reward system” that facilitates the learning of “behaviors that are necessary for survival” (NIDA 2006). Learning that the abused drugs take over this system – the dopamine system of the brain - was pivotal in finally grasping the rationale behind referring to addiction as a brain disorder. The brain with time becomes dependent on the abused drugs. This arises from the fact that natural rewards no longer have the capability to produce “normal levels of dopamine or pleasure” (NIDA 2006). As time goes on, the continued intake of drugs subsequently makes the addict lose all control over their use and dependen...
The goal of this paper is to assist the reader in understanding the process of this addiction and possible treatment plans.
...n individual’s life. Addiction is the same whether the drug is alcohol, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, or nicotine. All substances allow the individual to feel the high of feeling good, away from all the issues going on in their life. Though each individual has different reasoning’s behind doing the substance, continuing to constantly use the substance or substances makes the body dependent. Becoming dependent will make you experience uncontrollable cravings and relapse. Your body is at a point that stopping would be very difficult, causing severe physical and mental damage from withdrawal. “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change,” the first step in any process an addict faces is accepting that they are exactly that, an addict. Once that is accepted they are allowing themselves to be open to getting help (Carl Rogers).
There are many assumptions of why an individual may use different substances and perhaps go from a “social” user to becoming addicted. Understanding the different theories models of addiction many help in the process of treatment for the addict. Although people in general vary in their own ideologies of addiction when working as a clinician one must set aside their own person beliefs. Typically as a clinician it is best for the client to define how they view their addiction and their view may encompass more than one of the five theories. Some theories suggest genetic and other biological factors whiles others emphasize personality or social factors. In this study three theories are defined and given to three different people with different cultural backgrounds, different ideologies, different experiences, and most importantly different reference point of addiction.
There are many addictions in the world, and drug addiction is the biggest. People may experiment with the drug for many reasons. “If your drug use is causing problems in your life, then you likely have a drug abuse or addiction problem”.(Lawrence Robinson pg.1) Many people start out using drugs by peer pressure or out of their own curiosity. Stress, anxiety, lows self-esteem and depression could be another factor to start using drugs. The drug takes over your body and gives you a good feeling that many people tend to enjoy. The urge to use the drug can keep increasing rapidly after the first use. The urge can become so severe that your mind can find many other ways to deny the factor of addiction. Very few drug addicts can feel and realize when they have crossed the line with drugs. A drug addicts mind can build up a very large tolerance for the drug that they start to abandon the activities they used to do on a daily basis like showering, hobbies, socializing and even being associated with family members. The person with the addiction will continue to use the drug knowing that it is harming there body, but they don’t have any remorse. A drug addict will often try to hide their problem, so they can continue to use without anyone’s input. Family and friends may try to use preaching methods or tell the user that they need to stop using the drug. This method is not ...