Drug Abuse Addiction Prevention & Treatment - Essay Example

? Module 8: Drug Abuse Addiction Prevention & Treatment Hanson, Glen,  Peter J. Venturelli, Annette E. Fleckenstein, Drugs and Society. 10th edition Assignment 8 Discuss which drugs are most likely to be abused by athletes and why. The drugs that are most likely to be abused by athletes are anabolic steroids and hormones. These drugs promote muscle growth, enhancing performance through higher physical performance. The intention of the user in participating in this kind of abuse is to get a step above the competition through physical strength and condition. The ability to perform at a more precise and energized level through higher density and thickness of muscle give the individual an advantage over the competition. In addition, the heightened aggression makes the user feel as if they are more in the game, their desire to engage the opposition at a level that is beyond any trepidation. This aggression is a highly negative aspect of the use of these drugs because the social implications, along with how it affects the physical body, are counterproductive in the long run. The pressure that is placed on athletes primarily from the high school level on up can create an atmosphere in which the short term benefits can seem to outweigh the long term deterrents. Explain two major ways women’s history differs from men’s history with regard to drug abuse. Hanson, Venturelli, and Fleckenstein (2012) state that women abuse alcohol as the most common form of drug abuse, but men are more likely to abuse alcohol on a regular basis. Women are at twice the risk for lung cancer from cigarettes than are men, but tend to be more cautious about the use of any drug and have higher drug awareness than men. In the history of abuse, women have typically turned to the doctor to find ways in which to affect their emotional problems, the abuse of pills being a typical result where men will turn to alcohol and marijuana to solve their social issues. Women are seeking validation and external help where men are seeking to find ways in which they can hide and protect their vulnerabilities. Discuss which types of parents are more likely to raise drug-abusing adolescents. Parents have a difficult balance to create in allowing for individualism while providing for security for their adolescents. Therefore, finding ways to raise children to be productive without relating to the need for drugs can be a difficult challenge. Parents who use substances to alter their mood or to enhance the social coping skills are more likely to raise children who will abuse drugs. Children from abusive homes have a higher incidence of drug abuse than children from homes that do not have abuse. Children who experience dysfunction within their family dynamics are more likely to use drugs, but the problem is that families without some form of dysfunction are very difficult to create. Therefore, in essence, the risk for drug abuse can come from feeling displaced and not served by the parental/child dynamic from which coping skills have experienced gaps that drug use creates the illusion of being filled. List and discuss the major strategies to prevent contracting HIV infection. The major areas of concern where the transmission of the HIV infection come from sharing needles or some form of blood to blood contamination, from unprotected sex, and from mother to child transmission. Clean needle programs are of more importance so that disease does not transfer than denying clean needles to users through making this type of effort illegal. It cannot be emphasized enough that the use of condoms, for both intercourse and all oral activities during sex is crucial in protecting the self from infection. The mother who has HIV must use all precautions available to protect herself from the progression of the virus, as well as to protect the fetus. Doctor relationships are crucial in creating appropriate measures to create the best possible chance of prevention. List and discuss the ten most prominent factors influencing alcohol and other drug use surrounding the individual. 1. How parents manage their own problems in relationship with substance use or abuse is crucial in how children frame their understanding of the use of substances for coping. 2. The peer groups that someone associates with will frame how a perspective of substance abuse develops. 3. Past abuse will affect an individual where the abuse of substances is concerned. 4. Personal brain chemistry will affect how a person is susceptible to addiction 5. How substance use is combined will affect how a person abuses drugs – for an example, alcohol will deepen CNS depressive qualities. 6. The personal problems that an individual is experiencing will affect how they abuse substances in order to cope with those problems 7. Past injuries that required drugs to dull pain can affect future abuse. 8. Regional issues such as poverty, a gang presence, or a high socio-economic level which creates a lack of ambition can affect how a person approaches drug use. 9. Celebrity influences can affect how a person perceives drug use – as an example, the drug exploits of Hunter S. Thompson can be attractive to the right personality type. 10. The availability of illegal drugs or addictive prescriptions can encourage experimentation, leading to abuse. List and discuss the four levels of comprehensive prevention programs for drug use and abuse. The four levels of comprehensive prevention programs are “(a) the harm reduction model, (b) community based prevention, (c) school-based prevention, and (d) family based prevention” (Hason, Ventureli, & Fleckenstein, 2012, p. 560). The harm reduction model is based upon the use of a variety of society based prevention capacities in which to discourage substance abuse. Community based prevention is based upon the idea that a community chooses to actively advocate for the discouragement of drug abuse. The school based prevention system is based upon providing encouragement for students to avoid drug abuse through incentives such as athletic program drug testing and no tolerance policies, which I personally feel are all prejudicial and without a thought towards positive treatment and growth away from abuse. They discount students who are not participating in athletics while creating an aggressive and hostile environment which can prevent healing. Family based prevention includes open communications within the family, active strategies to discuss and address the potential for drug abuse, and an acknowledgement that this is a possibility within the family so that decisions can be made before the family has a problem. Discuss three family factors that can prevent initiation to drugs or extensive drug use. Three family factors that can prevent the initiation of drug abuse are parental examples of how to create coping skills that are not based upon the use of a substance within the body, open communications in which the acknowledgement of the potential for drug abuse is made in order to move past the denial that often creates a veil that is hard to breach when drug abuse situations occur within the family. Children that can openly discuss the pressures that they encounter will have a better chance at avoiding the pitfalls. Families that are not dynamically abuse have a better chance at not having drug abuse within them than families that have abuse occurring. Hanson, G., Venturelli, P. J., & Fleckenstein, A. E. (2012). Drugs and society. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning Read More