Richard By Jefferson Singer Analysis

n the essay “Embraced by the needle” by Gabor Mate, he highlights how an individualès childhood experiences would make them more susceptible to addiction in their future. He highlights if an individual experienced a traumatic, neglectful, or stressful environment in their childhood they are more vulnerable to addiction as adults. If children grew up in relatively stable and loving homes, but still grow up to become addicts, then there are other underlying factors, like stressed parents, that cause them to turn to vices like drugs or alcohol that lead them to addiction. Maté focuses on events that happened in an individual’s childhood and how they developed from it, and discusses the biology of addiction and how without some key experiences in an individual’s childhood it will lead to addiction because “the fewer endorphin exchanging experiences in infancy and early childhood, the greater the need for external sources” (289). Drugs like cocaine or benzodiazepine imitate or inhibit the reabsorption of endorphins, reaffirming that in Maté’s perspective addictions are caused by pain and unhappiness. Bruce K Alexander’s perspective on addiction and drug abuse in Reframing Canada’s “Drug Problem” is that of dislocation. He describes dislocation as being “the absence of that essential integration and identification with family, community, society and spiritual values that makes a “straight” life bearable most of them time and joyful at its peaks.” (226). When individuals are

Parents who use drugs or alcohol are likely to overlook their children leaving them to their own diplomacy. Since such parents are often lost in their addictions, they are unable to provide the proper leadership that children need particularly throughout their growing days (Sindelar & Fiellin 2001). Teenagers bred in homes where a dear blood relation uses alcohol or drugs, have a superior propensity for developing the dependence afterward, generally because the family is more relaxed in terms of drugs use. The result of alcohol or drug abuse on relations involved and results may differ between families based on a numerous factors. Families affected by substance abuse have one thing in comparison; they reside in homes where traits

Growing up in the household under substances influence can cause severe damage to the child. Parental substance abuse has a significant impact on family function, and it may also contribute to child maltreatment. It heightens the risks to both of the physical and emotional safety of the children, and it generates children’s problematic outcomes. Children who grow up in such families may also experience mental health issues, social isolation, financial difficulties, and exposure to stressful life events and so on.

Not only can children be put in drug use situations but so can parents. When parents struggle to maintain a stable household or income and employment it may expand stress on the family and its powerlessness, pushing negligible people to discover answers or comfort in illegal drugs. In general, addiction and use of

Although all sorts of families can be devastated by addiction, but single parent units (the most common lower class structure) are the most obscured. Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches supports, “In every family unit, each person plays a role (or multiple roles) to help the family function better and to maintain a level of homeostasis, stability and balance. When substance abuse is added to this dynamic, the family roles naturally shift to adjust to the new behaviors associated with drug or alcohol use, and to continue maintaining order and balance.”4 In single parent units there is an inability of a second parent to fill the void role of the addicted parent. The National Center for Biotechnology Information states, “Frequently, children may act as surrogate spouses for the parent who abuses substances. For example, [young] children may develop elaborate systems of denial to protect themselves against that reality of the parent’s addiction. Because that option does not exist in a single‐parent household with a parent who abuses substances, children are likely to behave in a manner that is not age‐appropriate to compensate for the parental deficiency.”2 So a child growing up in a compromised family unit where addiction is present may develop altered norms and mature into an addict themselves.4

I certainly don’t believe that to be the case. I believe that there are people who face sexual abuse and beating that turn to sports to get their frustration out on or music to sooth their soul. I wouldn’t classify everyone that endures these awful conditions to revert to drugs as their only means of escaping. I don’t believe they all become criminals but of their environment. Their have been plenty of good people that I have met who have been the product of parents who did drugs and were drunks that made it just fine. They went off to college and found that they wanted a better life then what they experienced with their parents. I think that the most influential factor is the person he or she looks up to. They need a older mentor to look up to and teach them the right way. They need someone to invest in them so they know that someone cares about how they are doing in life. They need to have someone to fall back on who will pick them up on their feet and tell them its okay to fall as long as you get back up. A strong bond with someone to me is such an important factor in how someone turns out. You have to think that while yes they may have horrible parents they may some day be parents and have no idea what to do. They never had a person in their life acting as a parent and therefore, they don’t know how they should in that role. They are at a disadvantage when it comes to parental roles if they didn’t

Nothing makes a child grow up faster than having a parent who is addicted to drugs. A child of an addicted parent has no choice but to act as an adult. These children are often left alone and when they aren’t alone, their addicted parent is usually passed out in a drug induced stupor; leaving the child to fend for themselves and/or their siblings. Does having a drug addicted parent have an effect on a child’s emotional development? If so, does this form of abuse that is recognized in the category of neglect have a long lasting effect on the child into adulthood?

At times, the community is unsafe and damaging to the child’s development with current research, they are finding that environmental factors with a high crime rate, poverty, acts of violence and high drug distribution are top contributors that can lead to abuse. This can result in depression, substance abuse and social isolation from the parent and are seen more likely to experience abuse or maltreatment. Although abuse in itself is contributing factor, the likely hood increases with age. During the interview Kaleb discussed how substance abuse in itself can be a leading factor on its own. From his statistics, from the Child Welfare League of America about 40 to 80 percent of families affected by substance abuse. Which as a result of issues of substance abuse the child is more at risk of sexual abuse from the caregivers. Substance abuse often creates a domino effect for the child later in life, such as young pregnancy, problems in school, incarcerated in as a juvenile and the inability to cope with the trauma they experienced. He also stated that substance abusers are the most difficult to treat since many adults do not want to seek proper treatment and more likely to have their child permanently removed to long care foster

There were more than 8.3 million children who lived with a parent or parents who actively abused or were dependent on an illegal drug or alcohol in 2008 (SAMSHA, 2009). Over the years comprehensive research has been accomplished and has determined that children raised by substance using parents are at an increased risk for developing substance use disorders (SUDs) in adulthood as a result of familial dissemination of substance abuse through both the environments in which the children are raised and genetic susceptibility (Merikangas et al., 1998; Merikangas & Avenevoli, 2000). However, there is an insignificant amount of literature examining the effects that the combined treatment and recovery of substance abusing parents has

Over the years comprehensive research has been accomplished and has determined that children raised by substance using parents are at an increased risk for developing substance use disorders (SUDs) in adulthood as a result of familial dissemination of substance abuse through both the environments in which the children are raised and genetic susceptibility (Merikangas et al., 1998; Merikangas & Avenevoli, 2000). Unfortunately, there is an insignificant amount of literature examining the effects that the combined treatment and recovery of substance abusing parents has on the affected children.

“This could mean that addiction is rooted in genetics and might be inherited, but it could also mean that drug abuse could be impacted by environmental factors, such as the family background in which the child was raised and influenced” (Drug Use Hurts Kids 2017). Another problem with kids growing up around drugs could be that they’re not being taken care of the right way. As stated by The National Institute of Drug Abuse, “People with drug problems can forget to take care of the kids. There might not be anyone making meals or helping the kids get washed and dressed. There might not be anyone to buy clothes or do the laundry. There might not be anyone to take the kids to the doctor or help with homework.” (National Institute of Drug Abuse 2017). Unfortunately, kids who grow up in underprivileged homes and neighborhoods are more likely to remain ‘in the system’ then children are born. Children who grow up in an environment where abusing drugs is not only tolerated but accepted can develop a sense of dependability to the drugs they’re around. This creates a whole new generation of drug abusers that, later in life, will continue the cycle all over again.

Constant stress in the environment during child hood can contribute to adult substance abuse. A few stressors could be parents fighting, family financial struggles, divorce, death of a family member or constant moving. For some adults, stressors could lead to developed feelings of being unwanted or feeling lonely and could result in the abuse of drugs to cope with the stressors endured during their childhood. When parental figure(s) or guardian(s) is constantly absent or negligent, the child will find new forms of role models, which is often their peers who may come from worse off homes or backgrounds, and influence and aid in developing negative

Drug addiction is a serious issue in not only America today, but globally. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, substance addiction is a “chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite the harmful consequences” (“What is drug addiction?”). Drug abuse affects not only the user, but those around the user as well. The actions of a drug user place a significant amount of worry on the people that are closest to them such as friends and family. Children with parents who are addicted to drugs or alcohol can be severely affected by the actions of their parents which can cause them much harm in terms of biological and

Sometimes that I learned about the article was, that some drug addict can be very harmful to children. Some kids are even scared to be around their own parents because of their drug addiction. It also talks about how kids are even afraid that their own schoolmates find out that their parents are drug addicts. Also, many drug addiction care about their families, but need or have the urge to feed their addiction so it seems that they don’t care but in reality they do. " Substance misuse may be one of a series of inter-related factors within a family, such as poverty or depression, so that disentangling exactly what causes poor outcomes for the child can be difficult,"(Hart 9 ). In other words, children do not really understand why their

When someone says, “You get that laugh or that smile from your father or your mother.” You don’t always believe them, but in some studies today it is said that if your parents or anyone in your family has a history of a drug addiction those traits in their genes have a decent chance of being passed down to the children causing problems for them later in life. According to the Drugs and Addiction article in the 2009 Addiction Journal, “Family, twin and adoption studies suggest that the heritability of substance use disorders is moderate to