Cha. 1: Why Worry About Substance Abuse? & Cha. 2: The Nature of the Beast Flashcards
Why are we concerned with chemical use?
- Medical professions, compassionate professions
* Cost to government billions of dollars: rehab facilities, hospitals, jails
Who are the best trained people to work in substance abuse?
People who have gone through substance abuse treatment certification
- There’s a lot of misinformation and myth about abuse and treatment; most doctors/nurses don’t go through these courses
- No real definition of alcoholism
Treatment places that are run through insurance will only treat until _____.
Insurance runs out
What has to happen prior to testing a person addicted to substances for mental disorders?
They have to be off the substance for months
Name the stages of the Continuum of Chemical Use.
Level 0: Total abstinence
Level 1: Rare to social use
Level 2: Heavy social use/early problem use
Level 3: Late problem use/early addiction
Level 4: Middle to Late-Stage addiction
Describe Level 0 of the Continuum of Chemical Use.
Total abstinence from all recreational chemicals
Describe Level 1 of the Continuum of Chemical Use.
Rare to social use of recreational chemicals:
* Might include the limited experimental use of a drug that is, technically, illegal
Describe Level 2 of the Continuum of Chemical Use.
Heavy social use/early problem use:
- Use is clearly above the norm for that society
- Might experience some legal, social, vocational, or medical consequences
Describe Level 3 of the Continuum of Chemical Use.
Late problem use/early addiction:
- Physically dependent
- Will experience withdrawal symptoms
Describe Level 4 of the Continuum of Chemical Use.
Middle to Late-Stage addiction:
- Physical, legal, medical, occupational, and/or personal problems
- Physical dependency to substance
- Withdrawal symptoms
What is the success rate for treatment?
40-50%
* If a person comes in on their own, treatment can work, but there is a lot that goes into it
Why do people use chemicals?
- Temporary pleasurable feelings
- Social rewards (do not underestimate the effects of peer-group association and rewards)
- Escape (self-treating)
- Individual Expectations (based on myth and misinformation)
- Individual life goals
Many people have to be _____ before they can have pleasurable effects.
Taught how to use the substance
Define contingency management.
Reducing the exposure of places and people that encourage the patient’s chemical use to reduce the likelihood of falling off the wagon
One of the first things you have to break through in these patients is _____.
Denial.
* You can’t make people come in for treatment (technically you can if your state has commitment laws) or make them want to change
