Cognitive Ability and Drug Abuse Treatment - Term Paper Example

ADDICTION Summary The major concepts in the Katz article were cognitive ability and successful utilization of addiction treatment options. The variables were the level of engagement in the drug program (dependent) and the level of cognitive functioning (independent). The intervention was a drug treatment program for heroin, cocaine, and poly drug use. The data was collected by testing the respondents’ cognitive ability and then comparing it to their relative levels of engagement in the treatment program. The study found that respondents with higher cognitive scores tended to be more involved in the program (Katz, 2005). They had higher forms of engagement behaviorally as well, when they were more involved. Generally, when one is talking about addiction it refers to a limited set of specifics that define the addiction, but the idea of the addictive personality is to see who may be predisposed to be addicted to various activities. Katz points out how addiction is also increasingly accepted and tolerated in society so that many activities and things which may have not been considered addictive in the past, such as food, exercise, work, and relationships, are now also accepted increasingly as valid addictions. Many experts according to Katz try to narrow down the definition of an addictive personality, therefore, by dividing addictive behavior into five conceptual categories: patterns, habits, compulsions, impulse control disorders, and physical addictions (the person cannot live without it) (2005). Katz’s article provides a general look at addiction, without going too much into specifics. Benshoff’s article deals less generally with the topic of addiction than Katz, and focuses on the population of elderly addicts. The elderly form social bonds that are based on their attachment to society from a psychological perspective as well as a perspective of natural social processes in which becoming alienated from other people and human society is seen to encourage self defeating behavior such as substance abuse. Benshoff shows how these social bonds are formed early in individuals and can be applied to lifespan processes including the elderly who are involved in bonds with society that require various levels, or respective lacks of, attachment to, commitment to, involvement in, and belief in societal codes or normative influences. As the author points out, in the case of the elderly, this direction mainly operates in terms of the present’s balance with the future: deviant behavior such as drug abuse violates the normative social bonds and therefore distances the individual from the society which surrounds them. A common value system is often confronted at the same time it is possibly rejected by elderly substance abusers, for this is also a period of social adjustment and life change in which roles are assayed and established for the elderly individual. “Individuals over the age of 65 make up roughly 12.4% of the total U.S. population (about 35 million people) and they represent the fastest growing age cohort; by 2030 this group will nearly double in size to over 70 million individuals and will represent 20% of the U. S. population” (Benshoff, 2002). Whereas Katz looked at a general cross-section of the populatoin, Benshoff focused on the elderly. Critique Looking at Benshoff’s article, I agree that looking at the elderly means also looking at the problem of financial distress as well as the problem of deprivation from an advocacy perspective. These problems as they exist among the population, generally, can be aligned with the parallel problem of addiction as it affects individuals in society, regardless of their age, gender, ethnic background, etc., which is more of the drift of Katz’s article. Although sometimes the elderly especially if living alone, still tend to be over-represented in terms of poverty conditions, this is a problem that is bigger than simple categorical and demographic divisions, and it is a problem that is basically economic and cyclical in nature which can adversely affect people’s psychology, causing such detrimental effects as substance abuse, depression, anxiety, and antisocial personality disorders. Benshoff did not really explore these variables as much as he could have. Addiction is a problem covered generally by Katz; the problem is then collated with the specific definition of substance abuse in a population of elderly individuals by Benshoff. In either case, drug and alcohol use involves attachment in the individual to the substance that is being abused. From alcohol and cigarettes to illegal drugs, addictive properties differ widely, which, from a psychological perspective, puts more emphasis due to the holistic nature of the definition of addiction on psychological mechanisms. That is, the biorhythmic and other systems, including the respiratory system and the neurological system, can be looked at from the perspective of how abuse affects the addicted person in terms of looking at what makes them crave drugs and engage in the cyclical and often devastating behavior of addiction. Katz hypothesized that this cycle of drug abuse “is the expression of internal operational models of attachment” (2005). This suggests that the control is internal. I would have liked to have seen more about psychological illnesses and addiction in these articles. The feeling of lack of control being attractive to the addict may be a sign of mental illness being associated with substance abuse, such as links between depression and alcohol abuse. More and more in treatment circles, professionals are paying more attention to ways not just to treat the addiction, but also the ways to treat the mental problems that might lie underneath the surface, in the brain. Addicts may be depressed, or they may also have their own internal reasons for resisting treatment if they have an alcohol problem. They may be in denial that they even have a problem in the first place. In terms of how people become addicted to alcohol, there is a process in which the individual starts and becomes acclimated to it, before they feel as if, physically or psychologically, they do more than just crave it; they need it. Some drugs only have a psychological addiction, while others like alcohol have a very real physical addiction. The individual first enjoys the substance, and then begins to feed a physical and psychological craving for it that they are unable to control. In essence, they are out of control at this point. What makes addicted individuals differ is what the argument these articles touch upon is about:  some would say that a person, who wound up addicted, had an addictive personality caused by genetics.  Another person could argue that the person wound up addicted because of the way they were raised, or the problems in their life.  One thing that’s certain is that advances in neuroscience may soon shed light to the answers to this question, because these advances are finding that brain chemistry actually levels out what we perceive to be different types of addiction.  This school of thought states that the whole notion of addiction may need to be reclassified. REFERENCE Benshoff, A (2002). Substance abuse and the elderly. Journal of Rehabilitation http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0825/is_2_69/ai_102024782 Katz, E. (2005). Cognitive ability as a factor in engagement in drug abuse treatment American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. Read More