Drug Addiction

Drug Addiction

Thesis Statement

Is there only a single way to treat drug addiction

Introduction

The history of drug and alcohol abuse in America has undergone many changes over the years, and yet some ideas have recycled in and out of the popular mind and the professional paradigms. Support groups have existed for much of the time, as well as the concept of addiction as a disease. The amount and availability of drugs and alcohol has increased in U.S. society, bringing the development of new, effective treatments (White, 1998). Millions of dollars of government and private funds have gone into the research and treatment of these diseases. There finally seems to be a real attempt at bridging the gap between scientific research and those called to treat drug and alcohol dependency. No one talks of a cure for this disease, but most believe it can be manageable, much like other chronic diseases.

Psychoanalytical Approaches

The psychoanalytic tradition of psychotherapy, as founded by Sigmund Freud and his followers, has been used to treat substance abuse. Substance abuse is seen as a symptom of other unconscious psychological conflicts that are either being coped with or defended against by chemical abuse (Morgan, 2006). For example, the anxiety surrounding a repressed aggressive urge could be defused or denied by escape into a drug or alcoholic high (Kurtz, 2008).

This tradition may also include the idea of "self-medicating" painful feelings. People struggling with deep emotions about abandonment, rejection, or low self-worth may cope with these attacks on the ego by "medicating" the disturbing feelings with a chemical. Individuals coping with the pain of childhood abuse or other trauma also may self-medicate.

Cognitive and Behavioral Approaches

Albert Ellis, a former psychoanalyst, led the treatment of addictions in another direction with the development of Rational Emotive Therapy, later called Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. The theory advances the idea that dysfunctional behaviors, including addictive ones, are caused by irrational or dysfunctional beliefs in the individual. For example, a person may believe "I can't cope without a drink" or "I can't talk to a possible date unless I'm high." These thoughts lead directly to the behavior. Treatment includes the identification and changing of these beliefs (Baum, 2006).

Some of Ellis' followers have been investigating and promoting the idea of natural recovery from addictions. This concept notes that many people recover from addictions on their own. Professionals following this model investigate the qualities or processes that enable a person to do this.

Behavioral treatments were developed during the 1970s and 1980s. Reward systems and token economies were used to help clients change their addictive behaviors. Some interesting experiments with rewards paid subjects not to drink. The more they were paid, the more abstinent they remained. These approaches are often called contingency management, in which the client agrees to a system of rewards and punishments to help shape his or her behavior toward the desired outcome. There were also successful experiments in getting addicts to stop using cocaine by paying them to stay sober (White, ...