Description
Native Americans Substance Abuse – Literature Review
There is a general consensus on the definition of substance abuse and substance abuse treatment. Although authors present different definitions, all the definitions have common operational terms. The operational terms in substance abuse include physical or psychological dependence, abuse of, and withdrawal from a substance.
On the other hand, the definition of substance abuse treatment includes operational terms like stopping compulsive drug seeking and use, relapse prevention, recovery and others. From these operational terms substance abuse can therefore be considered as a practice in which a person develops dependence on drug or alcohol while substance abuse treatment is the process of helping the person overcome this this dependence. There is no conflict on the definition of these terms. Native America Substance Abuse.
However, there are differences in explain the reasons for substance abuse and the treatment approaches that should be used. There are different theories of addiction, which explains addiction from different causative factors which falls broadly into biological and environment factors. According to biological theories, brain studies shows that addiction has substantial heritability and it persist through generations (Henden, Melberg & Rogenber, 2013; Klingemann et al., 2010). This view supports the medical treatment approach to addiction because it posits addition as a chronic relapsing brain disease that should be treated medically (Ouzir & Errami). Native America Substance Abuse
However, this is opposed by some studies which show that addiction records the highest remission rate among psychiatric disorders, some people quite addition even without any professional help, and that quitting substance abuse is sometimes related to financial and family concerns (Klingemann et al., 2010). This incongruity with reality brings to fore the choice theory of addition, which posits that addition is a rational choice (Heyman, 2013; Henden et al., 2013). This theory posits that addition is a voluntary behavior rather than a compulsive drug use because drugs or any other addicts hijacks the brain’s reward circuit and modify behavior just like the normal behavior learning process (MacNicol, 2017). Native America Substance Abuse
However, increased research in etiological theories of addiction have also given rise to the hybrid theory which posits that both biological and environmental factors contribute to addition (Ouzir & Errami, 2016; Henden et al., 2013) The two theoretical perspectives determine the choice of treatment method. While biological perspective calls for medical treatment, the choice theory calls for behavioral modification through techniques like cognitive behavior theory. Research evidence shows that a combination of the two approaches produces maximum benefits to the addicts, which means the common therapeutic practice is to use both medical and behavioral approaches (Ouzir & Errami, 2016; Henden et al., 2013). Native America Substance Abuse
Considering that the current evidence does not prove with certainty the contribution of biological and environmental factors in the etiology of addiction, further research in biological and psychological sciences is required to address the etiology well and perhaps formulate a lasting treatment approach to addiction. Native America Substance Abuse