Addictions Learned Behavior

Addictions: Sharing Genetics and Learned Behavior

Timothy C. Townley
Heald College

Abstract The awareness of addictions is growing at an alarming rate in the United States. Many health care professionals are working overtime in treating people with disabling addictions. But within the mental health care profession, many are divided as to the arising issue and cause of addiction. My goal in writing this paper is to research addictions and their causes: are addictions genetic? Are addictions a learned behavior? What environmental influences make people susceptible to addictions? What causes someone to develop an addictive personality?

Introduction
Since 1980, deaths caused by drug overdoses have risen over 540 percent (Drug…show more content…
Included in these steps are counseling, therapy, and self-help groups.
Withdrawal therapy or detoxification is designed to help the addict stop the use of drugs as safely and quickly as possible. This may include either substituting an illicit drug with other drugs (such as methadone), or cut out the illicit drug use all together depending on the severity of the addiction and usage. This often requires inpatient treatment status [ (Drug Addiction, 2007) ]. After detoxification it is imperative that the addict continues treatment, which may include counseling, self-help groups or a combination of the two.
Counseling is typically executed with a psychologist or psychiatrist. This is the point when the addict may undergo behavior therapies. These therapies can teach the addict ways and methods to cope with the addiction and its symptoms; for example, cravings, temptation to relapse, and what to do if the addict does relapse. The counseling will be more successful if it involves the addict’s friends and family as well [ (Drug Addiction, 2007)…show more content…
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