Relationship between Violent Behavior and Substance Abuse - Essay Example

?Running Head: literature review paper Literature Review Paper Teacher’s ID Literature Review 1 Introduction Substance abuse is considered as one of the leading causes of death in United States. It mainly constitutes use of medicines or illicit substances that have been declared harmful for human health by drug monitoring authorities and reputable organizations like American Medical Association and American Psychological Association. It is important to note that overuse of substances like over-the-counter medicines are also considered as substance abuse. Some of the common substances abused by addicts include alcohol, drugs (OTC medicines, heroine, marijuana, methamphetamine etc) and tobacco (Galea, Nandi & Vlahov, 2004). Substance abuse is expected to cause impairment of physical and mental health of its user leading to faulty cognitive processes and unhealthy changes in general behavior affecting user’s quality of life. Where substance abuse is hazardous of user’s health and results in impairment of physical control and judgment, its cessation and withdrawal also have negative impacts of health of its users. Hallucinations, anxiety, body aches, seizures, even deaths are some of the possible outcomes for those who are habitual of consuming large quantity. These conditions along with external socio-economic, cultural factors and personally history make users relapse several times even after attempting to cease substance abuse. The purpose of this research is to examine if there is a relationship between violent behavior and substance abuse. 1.2 Cognitive Problems & Brain Impairment The relationship between substance abuse and behavioral changes can be explained with the help of research conducted by Sequeglia, Jacobus and Tapert (2009). According to their research, substance abuse leads to abnormalities in the brain functioning and development of its users especially in adolescence. Such physiological changes affect user’s memory, attention span, spatial skills and verbal encoding. In extension to this reasoning, the findings of study conducted by Hoaken and Stewart (2003) state that drugs like alcohol, amphetamine and cocaine are like to have rewarding impacts on users’ psychomotor system resulting in excitement and pleasure. Such active psychomotor system leads to increased heart rate with increment in sensation taking and impulsivity. This phenomenon increases likelihood of aggression along with developing confrontation and provocative behaviors. 1.3 Previous History of Violence & Substance Abuse Where many drugs like alcohol and heroin are likely to instigate aggression and violence due to physiological changes in brain, their withdrawal also alleviates chances of violence. Cannabis is example of such drugs that are expected to have relatively lower tendency of developing violent behavior after dosage (Hoaken & Stewart, 2003). Since it has been supported by many individual studies that violence and aggression are possible outcomes of substance abuse, the probabilities of developing such behavior increase if the user already has a history of mental illness or socially disturbed behavior. These risks further increase within specific populations segregated on the basis of gender, age, socioeconomic status and ethnicity. According to Swartz et al. (1998), patients having mental illness showing resistance to treatment and medication are likely to develop aggressive behavior under the influence of substance abuse. Hence, there is always an inherent risk of development of substance abuse in patients with mental illness. Such violent behavior in patients having aggressive psychopathology and comorbid substance abuse require a holistic treatment addressing management of violence risk (Volavka & Swanson, 2010; Swanson et al., 2002). Where Volavka and Swanson (2010) and Swartz et al. (2003) have considered substance abuse as a cormorbid condition or possible outcome of mental illness, Stuart (2003) has attributed mental illness an outcome of substance abuse and have put more emphasis on socioeconomic conditions leading to substance abuse and alcoholism. The research further asserts that demographic conditions and socio-economic factors are likely to enhance risks of violent behavior under the influence of substance abuse as all the mental illnesses are unlikely to demonstrate violent behavior. Therefore, there are identified segments of population that are at risk of developing violent behavior under the influence of substance abuse. 1.4 Influence of Age & Community Presence of such bidirectional relationship between violence and alcohol indicates that individuals with previous history of mental disturbance or violence are likely to opt for substance abuse and vice versa. However, it is important to identify when the risks of this association are higher in order to design appropriate interventions. The notion discussed earlier about impairment of brain’s physiology Sequeglia, Jacobus and Tapert (2009) is also supported by behavioral study conducted by Xue, Zimmerman and Cunnigham (2009). This research indicates that the bidirectional relationship between substance abuse and violence is more visible during adolescence and early adulthood. And, over the period of time, this correlation weakens however individuals with previous history of substance abuse or violence are likely to develop other in later part of life. Since in many regions and various states of U.S., use of alcohol is illegal during adolescence; therefore its use can be declared as deviance from socially accepted behavior indicating primary existence of behavioral problems. However, use of alcohol is less likely to become a symptom of rejection of social norms in early adulthood. It is important to note that such reciprocation cannot be generalized on other forms of substance abuse and this relationship needs to be explored when it comes to violence in adulthood. Other than previous personal history of violence, violence in inpatient settings and bidirectional relationship of substance abuse, another important theme indicating relationship between these two variables is prevalence of community influence. Cooley-Strickland et al. (2009) assert that youth being exposed to violence in community at early stage of life are likely to develop substance abuse addiction simultaneously to exposure or in later part of life. Risk factors like poverty, overcrowding and violence act as a stressor for such youth and possible maladaptive outcomes may include substance abuse. Children and adolescents being exposed to aggression and violence in their surrounding are likely to develop hypersensitivity to external factors and also a certain degree of hostile behavior. The risk further aggravates under the influence of substance abuse. Furthermore, children and adolescents present in violent settings are more likely to use it as a coping mechanism against external stressors. The similar finding further strengthens argument presented by Xue, Zimmerman and Cunnigham (2009). An interesting finding explaining correlation between these two variables is provided by Boles and Miotto (2003) as they state, “In the case of alcohol, evidence from laboratory and empirical studies support the possibility of a causal role in violent behavior. Similarly, the psychopharmacodynamics of stimulants, such as amphetamines and cocaine, also suggest that these substances could play a contributing role in violent behavior. On the other hand, most real-world studies indicate that this relationship is exceedingly complex and moderated by a host of factors in the individual and the environment. In addition to psychopharmacological effects, substance use may lead to violence through social processes such as drug distribution systems (systemic violence) and violence used to obtain drugs or money for drugs (economic compulsive violence) (p. 155).” From this study, it can be deduced that it is not only the abuse of drugs and alcohol that can result in violence and vice versa but also being part of the settings that deal with manufacturing and supply chain of substance (excluding alcohol as its consumption is legal in many states) also alleviates the risks of violence. 1.5 Conclusion Substance abuse has been declared as one of the leading causes behind cognitive problems and behavioral issues. Although it is difficult to determine causal relationship between violent behavior and substance abuse, there is a definite relationship between these two factors and prevalence of one increases risk of other’s occurrence. Alcohol and illicit drugs increase hypersensitivity and impulsivity of brain that are preambles of violent behavior and expressed aggression. The research findings further indicate that this correlation is more evident in early age and community settings play a major role in increasing probability of early onset of disturbed psychological behavior. This research does not consider factors like gender, socioeconomic status and family background and therefore has a limited applicability on general population. However, there is a room for further research in these areas that would help in understanding how different demographic segments respond to substance abuse and do they all develop violent behavior in response to substance abuse. References Boles, S.M., & Miotto, K. (2003). Substance Abuse and Violence: A Review of the Literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 8(2), pp. 155-174. Cooley-Strickland, M. et al. (2009). Community Violence and Youth: Affect, Behavior, Substance Use, and Academics. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 12(2), pp. 127-156. Galea, S., Nandi, A. & Vlahov, D. (2004). The Social Epidemiology of Substance Abuse. Epidemiological Reviews, 26(1), pp. 35-52. Hoaken, P.N. & Stewart, S.H. (2003). Drugs of abuse and the elicitation of human aggressive behavior. Addictive Behaviors, 28, pp. 1533-1554. Mulvey, E., Odgers, C., Skeem, J., Gardner, W., Schubert, C., & Lidz, C. (2006). Substance use and community violence: A test of the relation at the daily level. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,74, pp. 743–754. Squeglia, L.M., Jacobus, J. & Tapert, S.F. (2009). The Influence of Substance Use on Adolescent Brain Development. Clin EEG Neurosci, 40(1), pp. 31-38. Swartz, M.S. et al. (1998). Violence and Severe Mental Illness: The Effects of substance abuse and nonadherence to medication . American Journal of Psychiatry, 155, pp. 2260231. Stuart, H. (2003). Violence and mental illness: An Overview. World Psychiatry. 2(2), pp. 121-24. Swanson, J.W., et al. (2002). The Socio-Environmental Context of Violent Behavior in Persons Treated for Severe Mental Illness. American Journal of Public Health, 92(9), pp. 1523-31. Volvaka, J. & Swanson, J. (2010). Violent Behavior in Mental Illness: The Role of Substance Abuse. The Journal of American Medical Association, 304(5), pp. 563-564. Xue, Y., Zimmerman, M.A. & Cunnigham, R. (2009). Relationship Between Alcohol Use and Violent Behavior Among Urban African American Youths From Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood: A Longitudinal Study. American Journal of Public Health, 99(11), pp. 2041-2048. Read More