Ethnicity and Substance Abuse - Book Report/Review Example

Ethnicity and Substance Abuse Dr. Grace Xueqin Ma is an associate professor at Temple University and is a distinguished authority on trans-cultural health issues. Dr. George Henderson is a professor at the University of Oklahoma with an international reputation in the fields of substance abuse in minority groups, trans-cultural health care, and cross-cultural counseling. Thus, both are eminently suited to write on the subjects they have attempted to tackle in the book. Table of Contents of the book: Apart from Preface and Epilogue, the book contains sixteen chapters and provides the detailed perspectives on the concerned issues. The subjects covered are: Concepts of Addiction in Ethnic Minority Populations, Effective Cross-Cultural Communication in Drug Abuse Intervention Among Ethnic Minority Populations, Social Ecology and Substance Abuse Programs, African American Substance Users and Abusers, Smoking Cessation Among African Americans, African Americans and Crack Cocaine, Substance Abuse Among Southeast Asians in the U.S.: Implications for Practice and Research, Treating Southeast Asian Immigrants: Mien Opium Users in California, Smoking Prevention and Intervention in Asian American Communities: A Case Study, Hispanic Substance Abusers in the United States, Hispanic Heroin Users: Up Close and Personal, Inhalant Use and Abuse Among Hispanics, Trends in Drug Abuse Among Native Americans, Substance Abuse Treatment for Native Americans, A Model for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Prevention in Native American Population and Tips and Techniques for Substance Abuse Service Providers. Area of Crisis Intervention that this book covers: The main scope of the book is, it covers the problems within the U.S ethnic minority community and throws light with a fresh interdisciplinary approach to understanding of drug abuse amongst them. African Americans, Asian Pacific American, Native Americans, and the Hispanics are some of the communities that are covered for the purpose of study. Categorizes of drugs/substances are many. Some of them are, “Depressants, Cannabis, stimulants, hallucinogens, inhalants and narcotics.”(p.9) The book provides the worthwhile study, though brief, of all of them. Drug issues are related to health issues. Well researched details are also given about model practices, intervention and prevention strategies. The book concentrates on ethnic minorities; this however, is not to say that it ignores the rest. In the ultimate analysis, drug users and addicts form one group, and ethnic minorities take inspiration from their white peers. The main focus of the authors is to create an awareness amongst the care providers how cultural factors affect substance abuse and cessation, to review and update about multidisciplinary research studies to enable helpful and unhelpful health care practices, to make available practical suggestions to improve community-wise substance intervention and prevention programs. Summarize the key points of this book as they regard to the class's overall topic of Crisis Intervention: The approach of the authors to the subjective is comprehensive. To deal with the causes first and then offer tangible solutions. Grace Ma writes, “Substance abuse has four characteristics :(1) it is primary;(2) it is progressive;(3) it is chronic; and (4) sometimes it is fatal. Ideally, treatment of addicts involves whole persons, which includes their physical, mental, psychological and spiritual domains. And there are four mood-altering stages of substance use; experimental, regular, daily and dependency.” (p.7) Apart from the merit of the treatment, the caregiver needs to have a great human heart and must try to understand the psychology of the patient well. Drug-addiction is not a disease as such. It is a cultivated, difficult personality imbalance. The patient is in addiction due to 'circumstances beyond one's control.' Though one takes to drugs in search of happiness, there can not be a single happy drug addict! Each one of them wishes to come out of addiction permanently, but does not know how! The escape route seems to be sealed. The book tries to provide the solutions to three substance-abuse related questions. Treatment and services presently available in the hospitals, clinics and community rehabilitation centers to ethnic minority substance abusers, the effectiveness of such programs, the steps to be taken to augment and improve the treatment facilities and services. Researched study indicates triadic relationship between culture, ethnicity and substance abuse. Providing standardized facilities is one aspect of the treatment. What kind of care the abusers receive is more important. Treatments are basically psycho-analytical. Module of treatment may be the same. But its practical application varies from individual to individual depending upon the backgrounder information provided by the addict. This book has good and usable material for every class—college and university professors, social workers and those with the philanthropic organizations taking care of drug addiction issue, workshop conductors, in-service consultants professionals and paraprofessionals whose goal is to render quality service to substance abusers. What are your views of these key points? Please share your intellectual and emotional reactions? Before giving my reactions on the subject, let me connect two issues related to addiction shared by the author. How addiction develops, and the thinking of the World Health Organization as for the scope of drug addiction. The author writes, “When a substance addiction develops, the dependent individual cannot wait too long between doses before his or her craving for it and dependence on it results in physical withdrawal symptoms.”(p.5-6) World Health Organization's definition of drug addiction is: “Any form of substance use which goes beyond traditional and customary dietary uses or deviates from a medical regimen and results in uncontrolled compulsive intake of the substance is an addiction.”(p.6) To explain it further, drug is any substance taken to modify perception, mood, cognition, behavior or motor functions. The need for repeated doses of a drug to feel good or to avoid feeling bad is a sign of dependence /addiction. Repeated usage of a drug, results in reduced effects, or tolerance, and greater doses are needed to have the same psychoactive effects. The drug scene is grave. The present efforts being made by various Government and non-Governmental agencies, UNO agencies, medical practitioners and philanthropists in the area of substance demand reduction, are like blocking a furiously advancing avalanche with the fence of straw. Or trying to reach the moon by sitting on a kite! Or trying to control the raising flood waters of the river by filling pitchers! Statistical studies and research like the ones conducted by the authors in the cited book are no doubt needed, but it is no use digging the well when the house is on fire. The present drug-scenario is like the war situation. When there is a war, the goal is to win the war, no matter how one wins. The process of addiction to de-addiction is like driving a vehicle in the reverse gear. It is slow-- to be done with extra care and total dedication! The first thing one must understand about addiction is that alcohol and drugs are basically 'painkillers' of one kind or the other. Drugs chemically 'kill' physical and emotional pain. For a person to be attracted by the drugs, there must be some underlying happiness, sense of helplessness without its consumption, insurmountable problems or even physical pain. Peer-pressure and sheer boredom with life can also be factors for the initial try of drugs but that alone cannot cause addiction. When the drug addicts are deep into it, they are notorious and become manipulative and deviant, in order to get what they want. This is the beginning of a serious sociological problem and the society around them is adversely affected. Addicts lie, steal, borrow and indulge in all sorts of odd things, to keep their addiction fed. They are often very intelligent and creative individuals with great potential, presently on the negative side. They begin to feel worst about themselves as a result of their current actions, they do drugs again, to forget the aftermath of the previous dose. The cycle of addiction has progressed to the point where all they think about is the next drink or the next drug. Nothing else matters for them...not family, home, work, life, self-respect, self-sufficiency or safety- anything! It isn't long that the user moves into full-blown addiction and feel the need to use the drug constantly....The reformation and rehabilitation experts have one more case at hand! Though the scope of the present article is to discuss the problem with the ethnic minorities, the issue is irretrievably linked to the problem as a whole. The trade of drug smugglers is part of the international syndicate. It is no more an ethnic, regional or national problem. It is the gravest international problem that affects the social and political life of a country. The growth of drug addiction is like the octopus—it is growing in all the directions. What are your views of these key points? Please share your intellectual and emotional reactions. In other words do you agree or disagree with the author, why, and how strongly? As for the book, to sum up in one sentence, it is a very good and thought-provoking book. The issues related to the concepts of drug addiction, cross-cultural communications and social ecology have been discussed superbly. Why it is necessary for care providers to understand the culture of the patients they are treating, has been reasoned out well. Treatment demands the understanding issues that influence the suffering individual, like the family, organizations in the community, and the community itself, needs to be taken care of. These concepts are not specific to ethnic minorities; they are true for every addict. But what is the effect of the minority status, this issue that assumes priority. This book serves the purpose of a good guide to the staff in any of the disciplines involved in treating chemical dependency. Concepts discussed relate to psychiatry but the information, data and statistics provided inform the reader about the prevalence of the many forms of abuse in different ethnic populations. The peculiar characteristics of the ethnic groups come into light. For example, one chapter estimates that the incidence of fetal alcohol syndrome in Native Americans is five or six times that in the general population (p. 285). Another chapter reports on treating opium-smoking problems among the Mien people who have immigrated to Oakland, Calif., from Laos. In their mountainous home in Laos, they cultivated the opium poppy and smoked it at all ages for a variety of symptoms. There was no stigma attached to its use in their homeland (p. 156). There is an interesting chapter titled, "Hispanic Heroin Users: Up Close and Personal" For writing this anthropological field study, the author, an anthropologist, labored amongst the homeless individuals and prostitutes in the city slums to acquire facts about the faces of heroin addiction in those conditions. The biographical information of all the contributors in the book indicates the strength of the contents of the book, because they are a diverse group educationally and geographically. The subject of smoking cessation has been specially treated in two chapters. Every researcher is candid about the limitation of the contents of the article and calls for further research. How does the concepts of this book relate to the experiences of those in crisis in Orange County? The is an in-depth study of the perceived risks and prevalence of various types of addiction like tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use amongst the ethnic groups. The question whether or not there are gender differences in drug use amongst the ethnic groups has been researched and implications of the finding have been analyzed. Only by examining an issue, solutions can be worked out. Towards that end, the contents of the book are useful for the policymakers and solution-finders to the drug addiction issue. Findings indicate that ethnic groups have preferences for particular drugs. Poverty, though an important cause for drug addiction, the affluent society does not lag behind in substance abuse. Poverty and Plenty—both make out strong cases for addiction! In the present study, the authors have found that whites have the highest prevalence of lifetime use with almost all types of drugs, except crack cocaine and heroin. They are least likely to perceive risks for substance abuse as compared to Blacks and Hispanics. In alcohol and smokeless tobacco use, the Whites top again. Hispanics take to heavy alcohol use and are more likely to binge. The preference of the Blacks to use crack and heroin in their lifetime, as compared to Whites and Hispanics is observed. In every ethnic group, the combustible younger generation leads. The vulnerability to succumb to the temptation of the drugs is more in the adolescent years. This is not only amongst the ethnic groups; this is the universal feature of drug addiction. In the present study, the relationship of ethnic identity to drug use has been examined. An important finding is, white adolescents scored lower in ethnic identity as compared to the four ethnic minority groups and also the mixed racial group. High levels of cultural identity are associated with heavy drug use in the ethnic minority sample. How will this book help you in your perspectives of those in crisis and possible work in the field of Human Services? This will serve as a reference book. The details given, to my mind, are authentic and suggestions provided are practice-worthy. Cautions to be exercised in the consumption of food articles are very useful. “For example, alcohol can be injected in a fruit and consumed unnoticed during family meals or in public places.”(p.10) Is this a book that you would recommend to be added to the official bibliography for this class? Why? Thoroughly recommended—this is all I would say about the book. The contents of the book will tell one why! *********** Works Cited: Ma, Grace Xueqin (Editor) Henderson, George(Editor).Ethnicity and Substance Abuse: Prevention and Intervention,Hardcover: 335 pages,Publisher: Charles C Thomas Pub Ltd (August 2002) .ISBN-10: 0398073309 Read More