Steve Relapse Psychology

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The person I will be studying has symptoms of alcoholism. We will call him Steve* to make it easier to reference the person. Steve will secretly drink his beer after dinner by going out to the garage or "checking on laundry" since it is close to the garage. He will not admit he has a drinking problem, but it affects his daily life. He got in a farming equipment accident recently and claimed he would make changes “for the better”. A few days later though, he relapsed. In this paper, I will explain how psychologists would explain Steve’s problem from six different perspectives. These perspectives are biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, humanistic and socio-cultural. Each perspective is different, but they also have similarities, …show more content…

(Nevid, 321) Overtime, when Steve keeps using the substance, the brain’s natural reward system becomes diluted. Regular activities that would have made Steve feel good no longer do. So Steve has to keep using the drug to feel good because it’s the only way he can feel good. Thus, making him addicted to the drug. This is also why Steve relapsed so quickly after trying to quit alcohol. 7“Without drugs, life may not seem to be worth …show more content…

His ego also never fully balanced, therefore allowing his Id to take over with the desire for pleasure through alcohol. Behavioral Behavioral learning theorists claim that substance abuse is learned and can be unlearned. (Nevid, 234) The idea is similar to cognitive because these theorists use the idea of positive and negative reinforcement, which is similar to the positive expectancies one experiences with alcohol. The positive reinforcement is the feelings of pleasure alcohol produces. The negative reinforcement is the temporary relief it may give from negative emotions such as anxiety or stress. (Nevid, 234) This theory is also similar to socio-cultural because alcohol may be used initially because of social influence. After using alcohol from social influence, the user will learn that alcohol can produce reinforcing effects and also reduce stress and anxiety. The user may learn that he can overcome social shyness if he uses alcohol. (Nevid, 234) The reason why Steve keeps using the drug is that he has become physiologically dependent on it. He will keep using the drug to gain relief from unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, the withdrawal symptoms being a negative reinforcer. (Nevid, 325) Steve may also have had parents who drank heavily around him while he was growing up. Observational learning is another important factor in the behavioral learning theory. His parents

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