Model of crisis intervention
Addiction from a Professional Perspective:
Drug addiction is the repeated, obsessive use of drugs in dangerous quantities despite the adverse consequences, and withdrawal symptoms become challenging if the individual decides to stop drug usage. Capuzzi and Stauffer (2020) define Addiction as a chemical dependence that is considered a behavioral pattern. Drug addiction effects are profound and challenging because they affect the users physically and psychologically. The results of alcohol are experienced in the body as long as ethanol remains in the body causing mood-altering effects and perception (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2020). Frank & Nagel (2017) assert that the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) characterizes Addiction as … a chronic, relapsing brain disease characterized by compulsive drug seeking use despite harmful consequences. Addiction is considered a brain disease because drugs change the brain structure and how it works. Brain changes can be long-lasting and lead to unhealthy behaviors seen in people who abuse drugs. People who abuse drugs are often ostracized by society and looked down on as low-life individuals (Doweiko, 2019).
Some people become alcohol abusers because of a lack of executive control. Others want to escape from perceived injustices at the hand of fate or to reduce physical pain, stress, depression, and anxiety (Doweiko, 2019). Addiction can come in different forms. For example, individuals who misuse alcohol, illicit narcotics, hallucinogens, cocaine, and even prescription drugs, marijuana, and compounds such as inhalants and anabolic steroids can lead to Addiction (Doweiko, 2019). The initial decision to take drugs is voluntary for most people, but repeated drug use can lead to brain changes which can challenge an addicted person's self-control and interfere with their ability to resist intense urges to take drugs. Garrett (2012) explained that Addiction is its own consequence because Addiction distorts and stereotypes the psyche of the addict by enslaving the self to a false and unhealthy center. According to Garrett (2012), freedom, flexibility, spontaneity, and independence of thought are sacrificed to the interests and demands of the Idol of the Addiction that has become the addict's jealous god. Besides, the individual's mind is, in a sense, no longer his mind but has become an agent and tool.
Addiction also has several adverse side effects on the emotional wellbeing of addicted persons. Addicted persons experience a sense of overwhelming sadness as they feel trapped in their current situation. These feelings can progress into depression, which is much harder to treat. Depression can become a source of suicidal thoughts and attempts, which portray the great emotional turmoil the individual is experiencing. Individuals may experience internal and external adverse consequences. Some internal consequences include depression, aggression, anxiety, paranoia, stressed-induced physical problems, a feeling of inadequacy, guilt, and shame (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2020). Examples of external consequences may include DUI charges, being hurt physically, loss of job, health issues, car accidents, and relationships or marriage challenges (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2020). Nonetheless, the ultimate effect of drug abuse on the addicts is death, which may result from an overdose, heart failure, or drug-induced diseases like cancer.
Models of Addiction:
Neurobiological Models:
Capuzzi and Strauffer (2020) explain that the transmitter dopamine plays an essential role in the limbic system and develops into Addiction. These brain changes can be persistent, which is why drug addiction is considered a "relapsing" disease. Most drugs affect the brain's "reward circuit," causing euphoria and flooding it with the chemical messenger dopamine. A properly functioning reward system motivates a person to repeat behaviors needed to thrive, such as eating and spending time with loved ones. Surges of dopamine in the reward circuit cause the reinforcement of pleasurable but unhealthy behaviors like taking drugs, leading people to repeat the behavior repeatedly. Individuals who start using drugs begin to experience changes in the brain chemistry of the limbic system, which leads to Addiction; however, medications with counseling can reverse Addiction for those seeking treatment. Thus, people in recovery from drug use disorders are at increased risk of returning to drug use even after years of not taking the drug. This neuroscience perspective offers the opportunity to understand more about the physical and chemical mechanisms behind addictive processes.
Disease and Moral Model:
The disease model believes that Addiction is an inherited brain disease that chemically alters the body in such a way that the individual is permanently ill at a genetic level. The question is, is there any gene that causes one to become an alcoholic? What will life be for Marge without Addiction? Although Addiction is a choice made by individuals, the long-term effects of these wrong choices have much more on society, family members, and the government. However, the moral model of Addiction argues that the person suffering from Addiction is doing so because they are irresponsible, impulsive, and engages in careless behavior due to weak character (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2020).
Cognitive Behavioral Model:
Cognitive-Behavioral Models focus on the primary causation of Addiction with cognitive and behavioral motivations and reinforcers (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2016). Cognitive-behavioral model is a type of talk therapy based on the psychological principles of behaviorism. Which is about how people's behaviors can be controlled or modified, and theories of cognition focus on understanding how people think, feel, and view themselves and the world around them. The model is a psychological treatment that focuses on efforts to change thinking and behavioral patterns and how thoughts and beliefs influence a client's addictive behavior.
Marge believes that she might be suffering from the disease model of Addiction. She stated that her father and uncle drank to their graves. Her constant dependence on drugs and other addictive substances has adversely affected her physical and emotional wellbeing and she fells it maybe genetic. Since Marge challenges are not genetically permanent, I believe that her challenges are connected with the cognitive-behavioral models. Initially, her quest for drinking was for pleasure. Then as she drank, it became a pattern, and then she used alcohol to reduce her stress level from her son's challenges. So, it became a daily affair; in the morning, before she went to work and after she returned, she hid her drinking habits just to feel normal. However, she could not hide from the external consequences as a result her husband and friends seek treatment which made her angry and anxious. The effective use of cognitive behavioral theories and Marge's readiness for treatment will help in her journey to recovery.
Reference:
Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, M. D. (2020). Foundations of Addictions counseling. (4th ed.): New York: NY: Pearson Education, Inc.
Doweiko, H. E. (2019). Concepts of chemical dependency (10th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage.
Frank, L. E., & Nagel, S. K. (2017). Addiction and moralization: The role of the underlying model of Addiction. Neuroethics, 10(1), 129-139. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12152-017-9307-x
Garret, F. P. (2012). Getting away with Addiction? Retrieved from http:// www.bma-wellness.com/papers/getting_away_addiction.html