Substance Abuse and Substance-Related Disorders - Essay Example

Table 1: DSMIV-TR Criteria for Substance Abuse for Dependency

Criteria for Substance Abuse

A pattern of the substance causing significant impairment/distress manifested by 1 or more of the below during the past 12-months:

Failure to complete significant obligations at school, work, home-like repeated absences; substance-related absences, poor work performance; neglect of children or household; suspensions/expulsions from school.

1. Often use of substances physically hazardous situations such as when driving or operating a machine.
2. Frequent legal problems such as. Arrests and disorderly conduct due to substance abuse
3. Continued use regardless of having persistent social or interpersonal challenges such as arguments with wife about repercussions of intoxication and physical fights)

Criteria for Substance Dependence

Dependence or distress, or significant impairment manifested by three or more of the below during period 12-months:

1. Tolerance or remarkable increase in substance amounts to achieve the desired effect, or intoxication or markedly low impact with continued utilization of equal amount of substances
2. Withdrawal signs or use of particular substances to evade withdrawal symptoms
3. Utilization of substances in larger quantities or over a long time than was intended
4. Unsuccessful efforts to reduce or control the use of the substance
5. Indulgent in chronic behavior to get the substance, utilization of the substance, or recovery from its impacts
6. Reduction/abandonment of social, recreational, or occupational activities due to substance use
7. Use of substance, although there are persistent/recurrent psychological/physical problems likely to have resulted from exacerbated substance use

Sourced from (“Table 1: DSMIV-TR”, 2015)

Causes and incidences of substance abuse

Substance abuse results from a range of factors from environmental, individual, and genetic factors (“Drug & Alcohol”, 2014). Environmental factors comprise peer pressure, drug availability, poverty, societal changes, and cultural attitudes. Individual factors consist of personality disorders, poor performance in school, depression, and being a victim of past abuse. Students whether in high school or college are more likely to succumb to drug abuse due to a myriad of substance abuse stimulators such as peer influence, poor grades, family problems, and biological mental stress (“Drug & Alcohol”, 2014). Incidences of substance abuse are very common in the United States with more than 500000 deaths related to drugs occurring every year (“Incidence and Prevalence”, 2015).  Alcohol is the most commonly used substance with 28% that use it being persons aged between 12 and 20, and 55% being persons aged 21 (“Incidence and Prevalence”, 2015).

Treatment
Substance-induced disorders are treatable, even though, they are complex. The ultimate goal usually is to ensure an individual abstains fully and does not relapse. Research has provided a number of principles when undertaking treatment. According to the principles, there is no single treatment that can be used on every individual. Treatment should also be readily available and must not be voluntary. Counseling and monitoring should also be done throughout the treatment period. Effective treatment should also serve the patient’s multiple needs and not only drug addiction. Behavioral therapies used in treatment include cognitive-behavioral therapy, which treats abuse related to alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and nicotine, contingency management interventions which treat addictions of drugs like alcohol, stimulants, opioids, marijuana, and nicotine, community reinforcement approach plus vouchers, which treats abuse of alcohol, cocaine, and opioids, and motivational enhancement therapy which treats addictions of alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine. Other treatment therapies include the matrix model, 12-step facilitation therapy, and family behavior therapy (Gordon, 2013).