Lesher says, “Addiction is a brain disease expressed in the form of compulsive behavior.” As with most chronic diseases, addiction should also be treated with multiple recurring treatments since the brain chemistry of addicts often causes them to relapse into drug use. Lesher makes his case that addiction is a brain disease by stating that addicts cannot quit taking drugs on their own because they require medical treatment like most ill patients. The authors final opinion on addiction is that initial drug use is present due to the voluntary behavior of the addict and while it does not absolve the user of their responsibility as it was their fault, once they have developed an addiction, their brain has chemically changed so much that they can not will themselves to quit and must be treated as though they have a medical disease. NO: Alva Noe states that addiction is not a disease of the brain. First, he points that not all addictions are chemical substances and there are many activities that can be addictive to people.
Empathy and drug addiction Thomas Dawson Interpersonal Communication Empathy is the ability of one person to understand another’s point of view, and is important in some approaches to drug addiction treatment, in which the empathizer understands the addict’s point of view as valid. Empathy is powerful in building trust, and in developing a good relationship with the user, especially if the user’s behavior has lead to judgment and criticism from others in the past. It takes some people a very hard time to have empathy for drug addicts especially if they never had to go through life knowing and loving someone addicted to something as evil as drugs. Then after all the time, sweat and tears of understanding what empathy really means and to finally stop all the negativity and hate towards someone you love and to finally want to help this person you lose them to the power of the addiction. This happens every day to people all over the world, even me, and is a topic that people need to hear and understand.
The article explains how it is possible for such a wide variety of addictive substances, which don’t seem to have any common ingredients, all to create similar production of reward in the brain of an addict. As the article points out the need for new ideas in therapy is abundantly obvious. Although specific genetic origins have yet to be uncovered, the article exposes the idea that treating drug abuse with the use of drugs is only a band aid for a bullet hole. Unless we can specifically target the necessary area in the addicted brain’s reward center, relapse will forever be just a
To advocate messages that teenagers can directly relate to and perceive as a more realistic outcome, the campaign’s focus changed from risks of marijuana abuse to the fact that marijuana usage impacts on achieving aspirations. This message proved to be more successful which shows that the TPB has good ecological validity as it can be applied to real life situations. However campaigns like this view all teenagers as the same so the campaign doesn’t take individual differences into account. Also, factors other than intention can determine behaviour however this model doesn’t take this into account. For example, in real life situations, irrational determinants of human behaviour like strong desires and compelling emotions can lead people to act irrationally and carry out an unintentional behaviour e.g.
Gamblers Go All-in On Ritalin The scientists have recently produced a new kind drug that increases the brains memory capacity. College students occasionally rely on these drugs to cram before examinations. Later, the scientists found out that the drug itself causes some negative consequences similar to cocaine and amphetamines. They increase the risk behaviors of the drug taker. The use of this kind of drug is not restricted to illegal drug us or gambling but it depends on a person’s decision making process whether they consumes it or not.
I believe this ancient remedy holds a lot of value and is not given the attention it deserves just like many other mind manifesting and cosmic substances. Our society needs to reevaluate the way we view our ‘most harmful’ drug class because it is absolutely warped and fallacious.” On a less consequential note, Professor Paul Babbitt believes that, “Unless a student has an illness that can be treated with medical marijuana, the passage of Proposition 5 is unlikely to have any effect on the SAU student body.” With these opinions and facts in mind, it is not necessarily important which way each person votes, but it is, however, ideal that students will be accurately informed before
Debate Paper #4 Safe Injection Facilities Safe Injection Facilities (SIF’s) are legally protected places where drug uses can consume pre-obtained drugs in a non-judgmental environment and receive things like health care, counseling, and referrals to other health and social services including drug treatment. Whether or not these facilities are considered right or wrong, I feel will always remain a complex debate, so coming from a sociologist point of view, it’s only fair to take a look at all the pros and cons of these SIF’s. Safe Injection Facilities definitely have their benefits for drug users and the world around us. One of the main and obvious reasons SIF’s should be considered good is because of why they are even created; to reduce public drug use and reduce the sharing of syringes among local injecting users. The users that start participating in these facilities are now considered “off the street” users or safe users, therefore, reducing public use.
Running Head: cognitive restructuring theory Cognitive Restructuring Theory Lynn Todd CTU Online CJUS343-1201A-04: Criminology Professor Stacey Haug January 22, 2012 Cognitive restructuring is an expression normally used to define approaches that try to change the way criminals’ reason. We use the phrase “cognitive restructuring” because it is inclined to sound highly educated and better reflected rather than saying, “pondering more helpful decisions”. The term cognition is merely an alternative word for thought (Strayhorn, 2003). Although cognitive restructuring has relevance in areas other than the therapy of criminals, its precise objective in a criminal perspective is the deterrence of impending potential criminal behavior. Cognitive restructuring techniques commonly center on producing a confident self-image, encouraging constructive social interactions, and removing thought deformations (mistakes in reasonableness or points of view).
The nonprofit organization (LEAP) understands this concept all too well. Leap or law enforcement against prohibition is made up of current and former members of the law enforcement and criminal justice community. They are speaking out about the failures of our existing drug policies. LEAP believes America’s drug policies have failed, and continue to fail, to effectively address the problems of drug abuse, juvenile drug use, addiction, and crime caused by the existence of a criminal black market in drugs. LEAP envisions a world in which drug policies work for the benefit of society, keeping our communities safer.
Alcohol and Empowerment Reflection I will be talking about how one can use empowerment to help change behaviour towards alcohol. I have learnt that empowerment allows a person to regain confidence within their self, allowing them take in information and make an informed decision. It also allows them to be able to set a goal in which they can aim for, therefore aiming for a positive change outcome. Empowerment can be more successful in changing behaviour when in groups; this may be as a community or maybe a smaller social group. WHO (2010) explains alcohol to be a carcinogenic which means that the substance is harmful to humans (American cancer society, 2013).