Factors relating to Substance Abuse and Addicitve Behviours

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Explain factors related to the development of substance abuse or addictive behaviour & examine prevention strategies and treatments for substance abuse and addictive behaviour (22 marks)

        A substance is anything that people can ingest to alter mood, cognition or behaviour: specifically to induce feelings of self-confidence, fun or relaxation. However, there is an issue with ‘substances’, in that they can often cause a dependence or addiction. An addiction can be described as the behavioural and other responses that include compulsion to certain substances continuously, in  order to avoid psychological and physiological deficits in the absence of the substance: namely discomfort, anxiety etc. An addiction may relate to anything in one’s life which may cause the process of uncontrollable usage. This essay shall seek to outline the key reasons for development of a substance abuse, whilst assessing the prevention strategies and treatment for the subsequent substance abuses and addictive behaviours - with key reference to smoking and addiction to nicotine.

        

        From a biological perspective, there are a number of factors which relate to the causation of substance abuse and addictive behaviours. Drugs often stimulate the release of hormones which are conducive with positive feelings. In the case of smoking, the drug is nicotine and hormone released is adrenaline. This increases the heart rate of the individual, which leads to the release of dopamine, associated with pleasure. Acetylcholine receptors in the brain adapt to what they regard as normal levels of the hormones released, making smoking a necessity to maintain the new ‘normal’ level of pleasure. This is why smoking becomes a ‘necessary’ habit to maintain, as stopping can cause withdrawal symptoms such as irritable behaviour, sadness, anger, stress, fidgeting and depression. Smoking is considered as ‘addictive’ as cocaine and heroin. This is why more than 70% of smokers want to quit, but find it extremely difficult to do so and therefore remain addicted, abusing the cigarettes for the sense of pleasure the individual gains.

        In order to effectively evaluate addictive behaviours, it is necessary to also look at substance abuse from more than one perspective. From socio-cultural and cognitive perspectives, Charlton (1984) found that younger smokers associated smoking with fun and pleasure. Younger people are more susceptible to manipulation of their cognition, as their self-image and the beliefs of others is important to them. The Social Desirability Effect therefore comes into play, in that in order to make themselves more appealing to others, they take actions which they believe would make them more acceptable in certain social situations. If their friends smoke, or there is a certain pressure to smoke by peers, then this will almost definitely have a large role in the commencing of smoking (an addictive behaviour). Unger et al (2001) conducted a study in a college with mixed ethic minorities and origins. They found that European American Students who had close friends, were much more likely to smoke than other students. It was concluded that this was most notably because of their individualistic cultures against the collectivist cultures displayed by other students in the college. Individualistic cultures tend to create their own youth culture, characterised by rebellion, etc in order to set themselves apart from their parents. This is contradictory to collectivist cultures however, which show the bond between the two generations as extremely important. The above is supported to the Social Learning Theory presented by Bandura (1990). This shows that behaviour is mainly learnt by others in our social groups or by those in positions of authority. 80% of a sample of adolescents whose parents did not smoke, have never tried smoking, nor intended to themselves. 50% of those who had someone close to them who smoked, displayed the addictive behaviour themselves. Murray et al. (1984) found that children with parents who were strongly against the action of smoking, were up to seven times less likely to smoke than others. Therefore, one can clearly view that social factors have an effect upon whether an individual displays an addictive behaviour or substance abuses.

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        Clearly, as seen above, substance abuse and addictive behaviour are negative issues which are caused by a wide range of factors. However, there are prevention strategies, which can be put in place, in order to prevent an addiction in the first place, or alleviate the symptoms of the addiction or abuse of substances, leading to a cure. There are three main types of prevention models: primary prevention (which aims to stop the addiction from occurring in the first place), secondary prevention (which treats people at risk of the addiction, but who haven’t yet displayed the development of addictive behaviour) ...

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