Substance Abuse Issues - Case Study Example

Substance Abuse: A Study Using the Movie 28 Days Substance abuse is a term which refers to that of the overindulgence in and dependence on apsychoactive, leading to certain effects that are truly and absolutely detrimental to an individuals’ health or well being. As well, in order to be even more specific, “This disorder is characterized by a pattern of continued pathological use of a medication, non-medically indicated drug or toxin, that results in repeated adverse social consequences related to drug use, such as failure to meet work, family, or social obligations, interpersonal conflicts, or legal problems.” (Wikipedia, 2006). There are many ongoing debates in regards to this issue, and this is especially so in particular regards to that of the exact distinction between substance abuse and substance dependence; these are two totally separate issues however they are often confused or considered wrongly as being the same thing. In regards to be able to show a proper example of substance abuse, we will be discussing one movie in particular, 28 days. By thoroughly examining this movie and understanding about the environment, the characters, the situations take place, and all of the related issues in this regards we will be able to come to a much more critical and knowledgeable viewpoint in regards to what substance abuse actually is and what can be done about it. There are many critical issues that will be discussed using this film, and this is what will be dissertated in the following. Substance Abuse: A Study Using the Movie 28 Days 28 Days is a movie in which basically what happens is a big-city newspaper columnist is forced to enter a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center after stealing a limousine and crashing it into a house; the main character is Gwen Cummings who is played by Sandra Bullock, who is a Caucasian woman that ends up getting into a car crash on the day of her sister’s wedding, and she is then given a choice between either going to prison or going to a rehab center, and so she ends up choosing the rehab center. However, she is not exactly willing to admit that she has a problem with alcohol, and so at the beginning of the rehab center program she is quite negative and is extremely resistant in regards to taking part in any of the treatment programs that they have to offer. However, after a certain point she starts to realize that she does in fact have a problem, and that rather than simply using alcohol she does in fact have an addiction, and she then gradually begins to re-examine her life and she becomes willing to at least give it a try and get herself help and get better. There are several other major characters in this movie, of which will not be as thoroughly discussed and examined as the character of Gwen Cummings, however they do play a most necessary part in the movie and their actions and their presence truly plays a role on Gwen and on the movie itself as a whole. Some of the other characters that must be taken into consideration are: Eddie Boone, played by Viggo Mortensen; Jasper, played by Dominic West; Lily Cummings, played by Elizabeth Perkins; Andrea, played by Azura Skye; Cornell Shaw, played by Steve Buscemi; and Gerhardt, played by Alan Tudyk. In regards to how much of a substance abuse problem Gwen has in the beginning, it is truly quite progressed, however the problem is that she has not in fact realized that she has a problem, and so although she seems to seriously think that she is fine and that her life is great overall, in reality she has a serious alcohol problem and it needs to be dealt with. Throughout the movie this particular situation changes; at first she is reluctant to go through and get help, but when she has to choose between jail time and a rehabilitation center, she intelligently goes with the latter, however even when she gets there she is persistent in regards to not being able to admit that she has a problem, although we do feel for her because you do not necessarily see yourself as others do, and so she most likely earnestly did not realize that she even had a problem until she actually began to let in and allow herself to look at herself and her life critically, sort of from a third eye point of view. Early on we can predict that she is going to get help and that she will in fact end up with a full recovery, and as we see in the end of the movie, this is so. There are many different issues that are related to the different stages of recovery during the movie; as she begins her recovery she is getting better and everything seems to be going positive, and then something drastic happens and we resume back to a negative sort of feeling. After this however things begin to get cheerful again, and she resumes her recovery process and it concludes with her being fully recovered and happy and enjoying her life, realizing monumentally that she never really had a life to begin with, and the joys that come from being sober. In regards to the environment that Gwen is in, she is a big-city newspaper columnist; she has a great job, lots of friends, and she seems happy but in reality, and we see as the movie progresses, none of this is actually as true as came off in the beginning. Speaking of the individual development that Gwen goes through; basically, she is an incredibly easygoing and intelligent person, however she is incredibly reluctant to even admit that she has a problem, and so her personal and individual development is really not that great, however as a character she truly evolves into a totally different person by the end of the movie, and the positive results that show from her going through the recovery process are easy to see and truly are what brings the storyline together overall. Her family plays a crucial role in this film, as would a family in real life in regards to a person who has a substance abuse problem, and the fact that her family in the beginning is actually quite negative on her shows just how much family can influence the way that you feel and the resistance that you would put forward in regards to recovery; in regards to not only Gwen but other characters in the film, throughout the entire thing we see a lot of dependence and insecurity, as well on the other hand we see a lot of endurance, compassion, and kindness. With her sister especially, we can see that there is a lot of tension between Gwen and her family, after all she went out and got drunk the night before her sister’s wedding, and then she ends up waking up late the next morning and drinking a beer before hailing a taxi to get to the wedding, and then she ends up dancing with her boyfriend at the reception and accidentally spins off into the wedding cake. She tries to apologize for her actions and ends up taking the limo to go find a bakery so that she can buy her sister a new cake, but she ends up plowing the car into a house by mistake. This is obviously an incredibly major deal, and this is the incident that truly sets the entire film in motion; only after this does Gwen actually come to the realization that she does in fact have a problem, and this is the point where she is basically threatened with jail time and due to these possible circumstances she realizes that she needs to get help – perhaps only because she was basically forced to do so, but she does nonetheless. In regards to the more critical and personal issues that are dealt with in this movie, we will speak especially in regards of the Gwen Cummings character; we do not get to see completely into her life, however we are able to get a decent grasp on the type of person she is and the type of life that she has led, and we do not see issues such as child abuse or domestic violence, however we do see a lot of shame, abandonment, and sexual issues that are taking place in this film; for instance, we see that Gwen is completely drunk even when she is having sex with her boyfriend, and we can clearly see that the emotion is not exactly what you would expect from two people in love. We do see child abuse in a certain respect however, as during the beginning part of the movie we see flashbacks to when Gwen and Lilly were children, and we see how they were negotiating their alcoholic mother’s frightening behaviors and exhortations; for instance at one point their mother got drunk, and then takes them sledding into traffic. Through these horrific and frightening images, we see how the children end up being the way that they are, and more than anything we can see how Gwen has had a lifelong search for “fun”. Codependency is an issue that must be taken incredibly seriously into consideration, especially in regards to a movie such as this, and it is basically a “set of maladaptive, compulsive behaviors learned by family members to survive in an emotionally painful and stressful environment. These behaviors are passed on from generation to generation whether alcoholism is present or not.” (Health, 2006). It is basically a psychological condition in which the person involved exhibits too much, and often inappropriate caring for other people’s struggles. We see a lot of codependency in this movie, especially of course with Gwen’s character, and this is mainly in regards to the fact that she feels and has a lot of abandonment issues in regards to her mother, as she feels that she never really had a great life when she was a child and all she really saw was her mother drunk, and so this affected her in an incredibly seriously damaging way. Although not for a significant part of the movie are we shown it, for the brief time that we are brought back to when Gwen was a child, we can quite clearly see how she feels alone and distraught inside, even though from the outside it appears as though her life is full of “fun” most of the time. We also see a lot of codependency in regards to the character of Roshanda, who has issues with being a neglectful mother and not properly raising or caring about her children; she ends up dealing with her issues as well, and by the end of the movie basically all of the characters are shown as being happy and recovered from their own separate problems. In regards to what should be recommended in terms of intervention and treatment for Gwen and her family, basically the movie portrays the only actual way that she should have gone, and that is to a rehabilitation center. Although there should have been an intervention before, from her family members or friends perhaps, we know that in reality a lot of the time life goes just as it did in this movie, and so it is truly no one else’s responsibility but her own in regards to realizing that there is a problem and then dealing with it. However the fact that she drove a limo into a house is a horrible matter and yet it was fortunate in a big way that it happened, as this is the event that caused her to actually be able to admit that she had a problem and then was able to start on the road of recovery. Bowenian family therapy would have been a good choice to use in this particular situation, and this is because this type of therapy is incredibly complex and would be situated perfectly for an individual such as Gwen. Bowen was the first to actually realize the fact that we are affected by past situations in their role in the creation of the present situation, and as well his theories lie in the balance/imbalance of two forces, togetherness and individuality. Then a fusion results from togetherness being the stronger force and unresolved emotional attachment to one’s family is the issue that actually prevents differentiation. There are actually eight interlocking concepts that Bowen considered as being influential and interrelating, and these are: differentiation of self, triangles, nuclear family emotional processes, family projection process, multigenerational transmission process, sibling position, emotional cutoff, and societal emotional process. Overall it is quite easy to see what an incredible movie this is, as well as how informative and proving it is in regards to the matter of substance abuse; simply by looking at a few select issues in regards to this matter, we are able to see the positive and negative aspects of rehabilitation, and as well we get a sort of firsthand view as to how the recovery process takes place, what occurs during this process, how people respond during this time, and so on. Using a movie such as 28 days in order to be able to examine these certain theories and prejudices was incredibly easy, primarily due to the fact that all of the characters in this movie are so overtly filled with personality, and as well we are not made to have to think about issues but rather they are shown bluntly to us, such as the fact about the girls’ mother and how she was an alcoholic and how that adversely affected both of their lives. There are numerous other movies out there that are based around the matter of substance abuse, however in all regards this one is easily one of the best. References Health. (2006). Codependency. Retrieved December 11, 2006, from http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/dc/caz/suba/alco/glossary.jsp Wikipedia. (2006). Substance Abuse. Retrieved December 11, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substance_abuse Read More