The Effects Of Substance Abuse On An Extended Family

Substance abuse is a tragedy that touches many lives. Abuse begins with a single use event that, with continued use and overindulgence, transforms into a battle. The abuser most always loses that battle. Personal relationships, social ties, and employment suffers. Irresponsible and erratic behavior becomes the norm, and though the abuser is aware on some level of the reckless and thoughtless acts that they commit, they continue to use and abuse their drug of choice. What starts as experimentation often ends in addiction. The best hope for a person in the grips of substance abuse is immediate,

It should be noticed that in the recent few decades, the science developed at an astonishing pace, and the problem of substance abuse cause a huge public concern. Currently, substance abuse has already become a pandemic around the world. It costs individuals substantially, and it of their family as a whole. It is essential for the society to help those people who struggle with drug addiction to get rid of their pain and get back their health and balance life. Therefore, I understand the substance abuse is a tough area, and people who are struggling with addiction really need help. During the course of the interview, I

In reading chapters four and five of the textbook “Substance Abuse and the Family” I found a couple of things that caught my interest. In chapter four, the middle phrase of an alcoholic family is discussed on page 58, regulatory behaviors of the family enabling whatever use of alcohol is occurring hiding and maintaining for others not to see the alcoholism. The children are usually pressured not to talk about the situation at school, work, etc. I have seen parents threaten their children if they were to tell, saying things like “ if you tell they will take us away from you forever and it will be your fault” or “ if you tell punishment will be sure to follow”. Therefore, the family must endure the negative impacts of an alcoholic parent falling

One issue that has made me passionate about social work is substance abuse, an issue that has made a deep impact for communities everywhere. Not only does it affect the mental and physical health of the individual, but it also burdens the friends, family, and community as a whole. This concern is a personal interest because of my mother and grandfather’s past struggle with alcoholism, as well as because of a childhood friend who was killed by a drunk underage driver on her second offense. While my mother won her fight against her addiction during the time that she was in therapy for depression, I know the tragic effects of addiction firsthand from my grandfather’s death from the consequences of alcoholism and my friend’s death at the wheels of a drunk driver. I wish to address and understand this social issue in detail during and after graduate school.

In reading chapter one of the textbook “Substance Abuse and Family” I found a couple things that caught my attention and felt were important to know. The first being the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) I first heard about this manual in my Anthropology class two days ago when examining attributes that can lead to disorders such as non-attachments, interpersonal disorganization and mother and child strain. The textbook describes DSM as providing criteria for varies types of substance (mental health) issues, they are clustered by different symptoms that impact individual functioning. Another interesting piece of the chapter was the four species of alcoholism found in the disease model being one of the three primary models of addiction.

During our class of addiction we talk about the role that each person play in the family in regards to addiction. According to the chemically dependent family model we have C.P. person, Hero, Mascot, Enabler, Scape Goat and Lost Child Passive adult each of them has issues that they are struggling within themselves. When doing family therapy for family with alcohol addiction you will see and understand this model.

It was a calamitous knock, a knock that brought with it the worst of news that commenced a series of devastating events to follow for years to come. This knock arrived at our door at 5:00 a.m. one morning and it was my brother, Andrew. He refused to reveal the contents of his night, but in his insensible stupor he incessantly demanded for our help in finding his lost car, keys, phone, and wallet. After hours of much endeavor from each family member, Andrew’s car was discovered in a ditch with a blown out tire, his keys in another city miles away from the crash scene, and his wallet and phone were never recovered. My brother’s desperate knock and our cautious opening of the door revealed that Andrew’s misfortunes of that night had derived from the abuse of methamphetamine. This event remains in my mind as the initial incident that began our continuous familial struggle over the past five years.

Great job on the paper! The first connection I made between my population (the mentally disabled) and substance abusers is the role that family can potentially have. In some of the worst cases, a mentally disabled person or a person with a substance disorder may have no one to turn to but family. Both may rely on their family to provide for them as they struggle with their disability or addiction. Furthermore, both those with substance disorders and mental disabilities may have different social patterns than those who have neither. Just like y'all mentioned, a substance abuser may become withdrawn or only be able to hang out with other substance abusers and perhaps a few other close family members and friends,

Addiction is a condition that can affect many people other than just the user. Families, friends, and relationships can be lost because of addiction taking control of a victim’s life. Family is one of the most impacted by addiction. They will blame themselves and start to believe they are why the addict is using drugs. Many families isolate themselves to stop the fear of embarrassment of the rumors circulating about them, they might stop going to social gatherings or doing things they used to love. They will stop their lives in order to take care of the addict and fear that everyday might be the victims last. If an addict constantly lies to their family, they will lose trust over time and attempt to see lies in every situation and expect the

Addiction is not an individual problem but something that affects the whole family. Stevens and Smith (2013) state that families will “readjust to redistributing responsibilities to accommodate the user” (pp. 247-248). Children learn to adapt to their dysfunctional family, including taking more responsibilities on when their parent cannot because of their addiction. Families need to be included in treatment so that they can learn positive ways to help their family member without enabling them. The Bible states in Ecclesiastes 4:9 “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed” (New Living Translation). God designed humans to need each other that is why he created Eve as Adam’s helpmate. Having a support system

Around the world there are numerous types of addictions that every type of person suffers from, but there is only one type of addiction that I am interested in discussing today, alcoholism. I am sure that even if your life is not directly affected by the disease, you are at least a little familiar with the basics. In this paper I plan to give you a brief understanding of the three basic issues you should be informed upon so you can make better decisions involving alcohol in the future. First, I will discuss who is at the most risk of falling victim to alcoholism, second, I will discuss the symptoms of alcoholism, and finally I will discuss the impact alcoholism has on family, children, and the individuals suffering from alcoholism.

It was never my intention to work with addicted clients, but nearly every family therapy course I have taken has, either overtly or covertly, stressed the need to understand addictions. While I understand the concept on a cognitive level, I had judgements about the type of people that become addicted and did not feel compelled to work with them, until my niece died. Her drug addiction deeply affected all members of her immediate family. Her parents and her step-dad, my brother, each reacted to my niece’s addiction in different ways but none were successful and the family began to fail under the stress.

The main goal of substance abuse therapy is to center the therapy on the client’s specific needs to ensure that they stop abusing dangerous and harmful substances. Because this is the main goal, substance abuse therapy takes the perspective that any individual is capable of getting better. It also takes the stance that the individual needs to take steps on their own to make themselves better. The client has to want to get better before the therapy can actually start to work (Koehn & Cutcliffe, 2012).

I am Mrs. Sherri Colvin Edwards I have been in the field of Substance Abuse for more than 22 years. I am License Chemical Dependence Counselor (LCDC). I have a Bachelor of Sciences in Human Services that I receive in 2014 from Springfield College. I am currently working on my Master of Sciences schedule to be completed in August 2016 from Springfield College my concentration is Mental Health Counseling. My passion has always been working with adolescents and their family and the community at large. Substance abuse effects the entire family and can cause on the family to have broken relationships.

Visible symptoms of borderline sociopath include; physical aggression, the inability to sustain relationships and shows a lack of regret in his or her actions. Sometimes I truly hate myself for what I have done to my children and family and it is a constant struggle to stay focused on my recovery.