Rat Park Essay

Addiction. Addiction to alcohol and drugs is on the rise with a shocking number of 23.8 million of Americans. That is roughly about every ten Americans over the age of twelve who participate in activities involving alcohol and drugs. And only eleven percent receive treatment according to sources such as drugfree.org. Many alcoholics /drug users struggle to realize that doing alcohol and drugs has its toll, it is considered a disease. Yet, what is even worse is after treatment forty to sixty percent experience relapse. To avoid experiencing relapse it is suggested to patients to go outside to relieve stress and to resist that urge by doing activities such as hiking, swimming, and walking which has been proven effective. After treatment, the success rate is thirty percent if patients are willing to stay in the program. Which is not that high considering the other statistical numbers. This journey of addiction is a journey of denial, relapse, and recovery, however, not all recover. The fact that certain individuals learn to accept the truth of the consequences of such actions and that others do not should not be surprising. Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” presented back in B.C. times represent the modern-day issue of addiction.

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.

Many people believe the misconception that an addiction is a moral problem and not a disease. To better understand the reasons why an additicition is in fact a disease; I will identify several types of addictions, and the problems associated with them. I will examine reasons why certain people are more susceptible for developing an addiction. Also, I will determine why many addicts deny their problems and many recovery methods addicts use to fight their illness. Researching these issues, will help aid my claim that addiction is a disease.

Addictions are a diverse set of common and complex diseases that are to some extent tied together by shared genetic and environmental factors. Addiction includes alcohol use disorders, cannabis and cocaine use disorders, nicotine dependence, as well as non-substance–related behaviors. Both genetic and environmental variables contribute to the use and abuse of addictive substances, which may eventually lead to addiction.

Addicts use drugs to overcome their feelings. If an addict is feeling sad, happy, or angry, they use. This leads to their addictions. After a while, the addict can’t hold a steady job,

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the three main learning objectives in chapters 5-10, brought out by David Sheff author of “Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America’s Greatest Tragedy”. The objectives are: (1) Discuss use becomes abuse and abuse becomes addiction, (2) Discuss the disease of addiction and, (3) Discuss Detoxification It is not unique when a person attends a party and gets introduced to a drug, they may try it for many reasons, relaxation, to fit in, or just to be sociable. Some who try a drug as the author states, will use once, some moderately and then occasionally. However, others will begin to increase use not realizing what is happening to their minds, bodies or lives. This is called recreational drug use, which

Addiction is a condition people try keeping to himself or herself until the damage is done. Having an understanding of the reasons for addicts can help community members or neighbors help addicts. One major reason for addictive behavior is not having someone to connect with and share feeling in the early stages of life. In the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts and in Tattoos on the heart, the major cause of addiction is because a person is isolated and alienated from society. Alienation and isolation affects three groups of people: people that do not know someone close but want to and people that do not have anyone close and do not care to.

Alexander believed that there is nothing addictive about drugs and the even constant exposure to addictive drugs does not lead to problems. In experiments on rats, narcotics were proven to be addictive since rats would suffer pain just so they can fulfill their need for drugs. However, Alexander disagreed that the rodents became addicted because of the environment they were kept in. He believed that if the rodents were kept in an environment that was comfortable and happy, the rats would not care for the drugs. So he created a “happy” environment calling it “Rat Park”, a park for rats with enough space and clean water, so he can conduct perform a narcotics experiment.

Addiction is like most major diseases. Consider heart disease, the leading cause of death in the developed world. It's partly due to genes and partly due to poor life style choices such as bad diet, lack of exercise, and smoking. The same is true for other common diseases like adult-onset diabetes. Many forms of cancers are due to a combination of genes and life style. But if your doctor said that you had diabetes or heart disease, you wouldn't think you were bad person. You would think, "What can I do to overcome this disease?" That is how you should approach addiction.

It has become common wisdom to dismiss the Bruce Alexander work. However, Lauren Slater at the chapter Rat Park gives a quit unique and unexpected thought towards drug addicts. My whole life I heard it said that when more individuals get exposed to a drug the more addictive they become. (Slater) A few of physiologist have disclaimed and ignore Bruce Alexander’s experiment regarding drug addiction. The experiment was conducted with Mice, they were put first in a dirty and nasty cage, it turns out that the Mice on the dirty cage became extremely addicted. The Mice on another cage had a spectacular environment and the Mice refused to take the drugs. The concluded that marbles environments did not cause addiction instead it did

The rats were consider addicts but when once were put in Rat Park the rats had a better life that they didn’t feel the need to get high. This shows that when we live in a horrible or not livable environment we will choose to try to forget about it or take something such as drugs to distract us from what’s reality. It’s not easy to identify ones specific environment factor that causes them to be addicted to drugs but people might develop addictions through what or who can influence them. This study was an important part of realizing how our environment around us can affect people with drug addictions.

This chapter focuses on addiction through the use of rats. During the 1960’s and 1970’s scientists were attempting to understand how animals found some drugs to be “irresistible” ultimately to the point of addiction. It is believed that the brain produces its own natural opiates. When a person takes another form of these addictive substances, the brain stops producing its own supply of natural opiates. Thus, when drug users stop taking a certain drug, they experience withdrawal symptoms and the need to take the drug. The main scientist that is focused on in this chapter is Bruce Alexander. Alexander initially worked under Harry Harlow and his experiments. Alexander then moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada during the time of the Vietnam

Rats are various medium sized rodents. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, R. norvegicus. Many members of other rodent genera and families are also called rats and share many characteristics with true rats. A rat has an average life span of 2-3 years[1].

They assume addicts lack moral principles or self-discipline and that they can quit by simply deciding to. The reality is, people who have struggled with substance abuse have often found it extremely difficult to quit due to the physical and/or mental addiction. Drug have the ability to change the brain patterns and cause health complications, making things harder in the long-term and may determine life or death. Fortunately, because of more research, there are more ways to back out of an addiction and seek help through an enduring and extensive treatment. Factors that affect the likelihood and speed of developing an addiction are environmental and individual factors, including genetics and

Like most Americans, I expect to find in every city, every town, even in every village in the country, an outdoor recreation area or what is usually called a park; and I am seldom disappointed. No matter how new and unfinished a town may be, or however old and poor, I know that it will contain, wedged in among the crowded blocks of buildings, a rectangular space with grass and trees and meandering paths and perhaps a bandstand or a flagpole.