Adolescence and early Adulthood - Case Study Example

? Adolescence and Early Adulthood of Adolescents and Early Adulthood ProblemsIntroduction Drug addiction is a problem that is on the rise among different age groups in the world today although studies have proved that the adolescents are more vulnerable to addiction more than any other age group. Michelle is an individual who is addicted to drugs like marijuana and heroin. In relation to Michelle’s condition the main problem in her case is the addiction to the drugs and her inability to seek treatment for her addiction. The research questions that are going to be dealt with in this case focus on the developmental issues that are contributing to Michelle’s addiction, to determine the implications of Michelle’s addiction to herself and her family as well as assessing how the cognitive , social, biological, and psychosocial development of Michelle contribute to her addiction problem (Brown 2003). Background Michelle is a lady in her early adulthood, who is battling with the problem of addiction to Marijuana and heroin. Precisely, Michelle is a twenty two year old college student whose hopes for a better future seem entangled in her drug addiction problem. The problem of drug addiction started when she was in the adolescent stage. This problem was mainly influenced by her adolescent peers who were very much afflicted to drugs. For Michelle to feel assimilated amongst her peers, she started trying out on drugs in small doses, a habit that developed gradually to result in a state of complete dependency. During the tender years, Michelle’s parents tried to intervene about the change in Michelle’s behavior but due to her rebellious nature, common in adolescents the parents were not persistent enough to help Mitchell overcome the pressure from her peers (Ghodse, 2011). Michelle’s Current State In this case study we are going to examine Michelle’s developmental challenges during adolescence (13-19 years) through to her the early adulthood years (20-40 years). During adolescence, Michelle was in a stage of self exploration, a stage characterized by a higher need to associate with other people of the society and to belong to a given clique in the society, mostly peers. During this period, Michelle experienced drastic changes in various developmental stages. In cognitive development, Michelle was in an operation stage as explained by Piaget in his theory. In this stage, Michelle was able to develop new mechanisms for interpreting information as she was in a position to explain her possibilities in the future. Michelle started using drugs in her teen years as a result of her association with a group of teens already hooked to drug use. Due to her association with these teens who were addicted to drugs, Michelle was able to assimilate this behavior and eventually became addicted to the same drugs. Michelle’s parents were not able to guide her on the right behavior to adopt and even when they realized that their daughter was taking drugs they were not in a position to discipline her. The facet of cognitive development known as the moral development and judgment explains Michelle’s behavior in a stage known as the preconvention behavior, which entails reasoning and the fear of punishment (Van & Davis, 2013). The psychosocial development of Michelle during adolescence involved rebelling against her parents and being reluctant to listen to their advice concerning proper norms or behavior patterns to adopt. She was intensively involved with her peers who in return exerted more pressure on her to adopt their drug driven lifestyles. Gradually, Michelle developed a strong addiction to heroin and marijuana. In her early adulthood stages, Michelle was able to make what she considered her own informed decisions, such as approving of her addiction to drugs and she did not see the need to seek treatment for her condition despite the fact that she was aware of the damaging effects of such drugs to her health and wellbeing (Leshner 1999).The biological development of an individual has significant influences on the behavior since the changes in the hormones influences changes in arousal as well as the salience of social and emotional stimuli. In the adolescence stage, Michelle was able to adopt various behaviors like being rebellious towards her parents, and indulgence in risky taking behaviors like abuse of drugs. Suggested Interventions There are a number of interventions that will help Michelle to overcome her problem of addiction. These include the application of various therapies which involve Michele in finding solutions to her own problems. These therapies will help Michelle to come up with viable solutions that will not only be applicable to her situation but also easy to manage. Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) This type of therapy is important in helping Michelle to overcome her problem of addiction through abstinence from drugs, which is achieved through various learning processes. This type of therapy explains that various feelings and behavior is often resulting from the way in which a person thinks and perceives the environment around her. In the case of Michelle this type of therapy will help her to identify the circumstances that make her use drugs, avoid these circumstances as well as coping to other situations that might make her to abuse these drugs. The therapist and Michelle will be able to explore and solve this problem in two main stages which include the functional analysis stage which involve working together to identify various thoughts, conditions and feelings of Michelle. This stage will give Michelle an insight on why she is using drugs as well as identifying areas where she is likely to face some coping difficulties. The second stage is the skill training stage where the therapist will try to understand Michelle’s background and the various problems that she is facing. In such a case, it might be a possibility that Michelle is using drugs as a coping strategy. The therapist will be in a position to help Michelle to unlearn some of her old habits and be able to integrate the new habits that can help her do away with the drugs by using different coping strategies (Van & Davis, 2013). Motivational Enhancement Therapy This type of therapy is a patient centered type of counseling that is used to initiate a change in behavior by helping the patient to determine ambivalence of engaging in treatment as well as ending the use of drugs. This type of therapy is effective in developing internal change through self motivation rather than the process of guiding an individual through a step wise process of self recovery. The therapists will help Michelle to reveal her motivational principles which will help in reinforcing motivation and initiating change in the life of Michelle. Coping strategies are formulated and the therapist will subsequently follow up on Michelle in order to assess the ability of Michelle to adapt to the change as well as continuing to encourage her in abstinence from the drugs (Leshner 1999). Another therapy that will help Michelle to enter in to a treatment therapy is the contingency management therapy where an incentive is given to an individual for any positive behavior that she adopts. This type of therapy will encourage Michelle to accommodate positive behavior in her life in order to receive a reward. Michelle can be encouraged to abstain from drugs and provide drug free urine which will clearly indicate that Michelle has really stopped using drugs (Silverman & Higgins 2008). Developmental Issues That Might Inhibit the Treatment Process Michelle is now in her early adulthood stage and at this stage she is able to make her own decisions on how to live her life. the attitudes that Michelle posses might hinder the treatment of her addictions because she might be believing that the use of drugs is very cool for her lifestyle and even if she is aware of the effects of treatment she might not be willing to seek treatment due to her negative attitude. In her case the court ordered her to seek treatment but she has a rebellious behavior. Her corporation to enroll in a counseling session with a therapist in order to help seek solutions to her problems might be futile. Seeking treatment in her adolescent stage might have proved even more difficult because at this stage, Michelle was in a stage of self exploration and the fact of drug effects in her life did not count. Her peers were also using drugs and for her to be assimilated in the group, she had to adapt to what her peers were doing. In this case Michelle did not want to feel left out among her peers hence the need to use such drugs. Conclusion Drug addiction is a major problem in different people especially the adolescents who have the tendency of using drugs due the mounting pressure from other peers who are already addicted to drugs. Parents should play a role of molding their children in better beings who are able to make good moral judgments. The therapies that are effective in treating drug addiction is the cognitive behavior theory as well as the motivational enhancement therapy which will help the patient to be involved in making adjustments in her life as well as coming up with the solutions that will help her to solve her problems. Through these types of therapies, the patient is likely to adhere to the solutions because the patient will be more comfortable to adapt to these changes. References Brown, G. (2003). Drug abuse and addiction. Minority Nurse Newsletter, 10(3), 4-4. Viewed on 21 May 2012 from http://search.proquest.com/docview/219540956?accountid=45049 Ghodse, H. (2011). Substance abuse disorders: Evidence and experience. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Leshner, A. I. (1999). We can conquer drug addiction. The Futurist, 33(9), 22-25. Viewed on 21 May 2012 from http://search.proquest.com/docview/218569005?accountid=45049 Silverman, K., Roll, J. M., & Higgins, S. (2008). Introduction to the special issue on the behavior analysis and treatment of drug addiction. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 41(4), 471-80. Viewed on 21 May 2012 from http://search.proquest.com/docview/225031101?accountid=45049 Van, W. K. S., & Davis, D. R. (2013). Addiction treatment: A strengths perspective. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning. Read More