My Father's Addiction

When I learnt that I was going to be shadowing at a clinic for service users with drug and alcohol problems I was quite worried and intrigued as to what would take place. Then I realised I had to be holistic and also realistic, and although I am not close to anyone that has a heroin, crack cocaine or even an alcohol addiction I have been surrounded by people that have used certain drugs such as cannabis or cocaine. I also feel that I will not always know that this is the case as not everyone demonstrates through their behaviour that this is an issue for them, also some individuals feel ashamed as drug and alcohol use is frowned upon and individuals will deny using drugs. Some individuals explain that they use drugs as a way of numbing their problems or to gain confidence and self esteem. Beliefs about oneself and about the role of drugs or alcohol in one's life are sometimes called existential models (Greaves, 1980). Khantzian (1985) has proposed that addicts use drugs to offset

All around the world anyone can find people that are addicted to some form of drug. Drug addiction is a huge issue that has been occurring for about thirty years now and is occurring to this day for many reasons. Some of those reasons may be that something is going on back home and they have had enough, or because of stress, peer pressure, biological reasons and the list goes on. However, there has been law enforcement due to drugs since the mid 1980’s. People have many viewpoints to when it comes to drug use and addiction. There are three perspectives people have that view the use of drugs and drug addiction which are structural functionalism, conflict, and symbolic interactionist.

Addiction is a disease that I will battle for the rest of my life. After being sexually assaulted at the age of twelve, I started to self-destruct. Lack of parental support, less than pristine living conditions, and an addictive personality paved an expressway to a life of addiction. I chose to hang with undesirable people, and was introduced to Marijuana, LSD, Ecstasy, PCP, Cocaine, Heroin and eventually what became the love of my life, the prescription painkiller Morphine. Never did I think that trying pot would have a domino effect. It led me to try harder and more addictive substances ultimately turning my life upside down. Often publicly

Working in the addiction field, I get to see foremost how addiction affects people. Watching these men and women come into treatment broken, damaged, and scared, it is difficult to see. When I look at these women who come into the program where I work, I see a piece of me in them all. I too have been where they are at. A majority of patients that come into these programs are seeking help from opiate addiction. Over the past few years, treatment centers have expanded due to the demand to help opiate abusers. It has definitely become an epidemic over the years, but why? Research shows that when doctors started to overly prescribe narcotic pain medication, the rate for heroin users rose over the years. Prescription drugs play a major role

I believe in non - addiction. Many deaths, many bad diseases, and mental disorders happen from addiction. We should stop and end this. Build a border between us and addictions. And let's show that we are better and smarter than those addictions. Addictions have many consequences. You can get many diseases and mental disorders. A quote from the article called “Addiction” says,” Abstinence from the addiction may cause unpleasant or even life‐threatening withdrawal symptoms." Also, much money gets spent on saving these people's lives. $484 dollars is spent on health care for the injuries that have happened by drugs. Once, when I was 7, my dad's friend was doing drugs. And he almost died doing those drugs. That shocked me because I never thought

To begin with, my friend son is has a substance abuse issue. To clarify, he drinks alcohol on a regular basics and takes pills with the alcohol for a higher effect. Also, marijuana intake is a part of his lifestyle, which each substance he indulges in is a reward and punishment.

As an addictions counselor and a person with family members addicted to heroin I have mixed feelings with my thoughts on Drug and Alcohol addiction. To being with the counselor in me knows that addiction is a disease of the mind and that it causes individuals to suffer uncontrollable urges. Urges that cause people to do things that they would not normally do if they did not suffer the addiction. Additionally, some substances not only cause urges but physical dependency as well. This physical dependency could potentially kill the individual depending on the substance they are addicted too and may require medical attention to withdrawal. In other instances, the withdrawal may feel as if they are dying, therefore, making the addict fearful

If I hadn't grown up with the sting of my daddy's alcoholism, I'm not sure I would be able to empathize with the alcoholics plight. Something's in life requires you to have experienced the situation to be able to fully understand the struggle within the scenario. What I know for sure is that unconditional LOVE motivates people to change. Isolation, judgement, condescending looks and condemnation rarely provide the motivation for long lasting change. Having experienced the frustration that came with my daddy not changing his ways on my timetable, it has helped me to realize that it was my job to love my dad and Gods job to change him. I encourage you, seek out opportunities within the church in regards to how God can use you. Leave the judgement

When you hear the word addict, you mind might correlate that word with a family member, a liar, a “junkie”, a criminal, a misunderstood person, a victim. Here is the tricky part, none of those are right nor wrong, anyone can be an addict, there is no certain type of person to be an addict, although there are clear effects of being or associating with an addict. Being a person who lives in a house with two addicts, at one point there was three, the way pamphlets, movies, and anti-drug organizations depict the life of an addict is nothing compared to how it actually is. There is no way to describe the struggle and the pain of addiction, as I write this I feel as though I am picking at an open wound. People think such a wide variety of things

Heroin addiction is not a new problem. Heroin is an opiate and opiates have been around since as early as 3400 B.C., when poppies were cultivated in lower Mesopotamia for the euphoric effects they provided. In 1803 opium was turned into morphine and by 1874 was synthesized into heroin. In 1895 production of heroin began, and because heroin addiction became such a large-scale problem in the United States by 1903, opium was banned in 1905. In 1952 there were 200,000 addicts and by 1965-1970 the number had grown to roughly 750,000 (Frontline | PBS, 1998).

I astonished that I had received the answers that I had been looking for as I processed my that “your father is an addict”. I can vividly remember my mom and step dad telling me, the reason that I was taken away from him was because he was a drug addict. At first I was taken aback and didn’t know how to respond. I could feel the the tears in my eyes coming out like floodgates, and my stomach was in my throat. The concoction of emotions was so overwhelming I didn't know how to feel. In that concoction I felt angry, confused, abandoned, but most of all relieved.

Regrettably a vast number of individuals struggle with addiction. These individuals attempt to achieve an altered state of consciousness facilitated by both legal and illegal substances. The neurotransmitter system in the human body interacts with said drugs which act as agonist or antagonist and either facilitate or impede neurotransmitter activity. Modern medicine refers to patients treated with opioids (legal drugs) as opioid dependent and to people addicted to psychoactive illegal drugs as addicts. No matter which qualification is applied, in both instances of addiction or dependence the body gets accustomed to the drug and when discontinued the body experiences a number of negative and painful effects. Also, while talking about dependence

The family, particularly the caregivers/parents, is undoubtedly one of the most substantial influences in an individual’s life. Being both a source of support and control, parents socialize children. Unsurprisingly, in Evaluating Parent Effects on Child Development, Alison Clarke-Stewart and Nancy Apfel
(1978) reveal that the National Society for the Study of Education discovered that “[p]arents are the most important influence on children's development, and the early years are the most important period” (p.48). On that account, when a parent develops an addiction it alters her ability to preform the required parental tasks.

Lastly, there is a solution to addiction that others do not see. Simply put it, that solution is finding other hobbies. Frequently, drugs are used as a means to pass time, but if you don’t have any time to pass, then you can’t do the drugs. Filling time slots can also be a source of finding new friends with similar interests that can progress someone forward in whatever it is their interested in. Finding new friends, and filling up time with an activity someone enjoys is the first, and only step in preventing

Whenever someone thinks of what an addict should be, many different images come to mind. It could be the homeless man on the street, the raging adolescent who is struggling, the majority of the prison population. My grandfather himself dealt with his own addiction. He struggled for many years with alcoholism as well as an opiate addiction. Many of my family members cast him out and told him that if he really wanted to stop he would. His addiction went on for years before he was admitted to rehab and even after years of sobriety, he still thinks it was his fault for getting involved in drugs in the first place. It seems as though this is a common theme, in which people believe the addict is the one to blame and they just lack the willpower to stop. However, this is not the case. Continual drug use has the power to drastically affect the addict’s mind and only make it harder to stop substance abuse. Most addicts don’t even know this and soon believe that this is their fault when it’s not. In other words, it’s necessary to deem addiction as a chronic, relapsing disorder that affects the brain and its cognitive processes as this definition can lead many addicts to recovery and a shame free life.