Gender And Critical Drug Studies Answers


  • Internal Code :
  • Subject Code :
  • University :
  • Subject Name : Nursing

Drug Treatment Requires More than Just Detoxification

Introduction to Gender and Critical Drug Studies

Drug abuse has been an important social and health concern among the issues in recent years. The use of drugs among the youth has been increasing and is becoming fatal. It means getting sustained on the regular use of drugs that may lead to dysfunctioning of the brain and nerves hindering sound decision making. The treatment that is required is also costly and the ruining of life and premature deaths needless to say are psychologically disturbing for family members. Treatment of the addiction is very difficult and requires a lot of perseverance and compassion towards the addicts. According to Campbell and Herzberg in their journal, there are several methods by which the addiction can be removed. There have been inventions in this field as well regarding the treatment of the addicted person. The requirements of the treatments and how much is it effective will be discussed in the following interventions. One of the common methods has been detoxification. But with the rising rate and use of more complicated drugs, some other string approach must be applied while curing the addiction of the drug abuser. The process requires testing of a lot of mental and physical strength both by the abuser in getting treated by excluding the addiction and the doctors for getting them back to normal life. The requirements of the discussion are about the evaluation of other methods that can be applied in the fast recovery of the addicts(Campbell & Herzberg, 2017).

Discussion on Gender and Critical Drug Studies

As it is known that drug abuse has a powerful negative impact on the physical and mental health of the person. The ones who want to get rid of the abuse must be provided with proper guidance and care. It may also lead to death if not taken proper care of it. The use of syringes for injecting drugs can also lead to HIV. There are other major health issues that coincide with excessive drug abuse. According to Cicero and Ellis, the use of cocaine can have higher lethal risks and problems of tooth decay. They further state that heroin derived from opium is fatal as youngsters do not have an idea of how much amount must be taken leading to death due to overdose. The various forms of drugs are sold and are taken by the youth without knowing the consequences it puts on the activities of the body. These problems have to be resolved on an overall basis which is definitely not possible by using only detoxification. Sometimes, even after the detoxification, the patients with less enduring power return to the abuse because they cannot control the desire of taking the drugs again(Cicero & Ellis, 2015). Hence it becomes necessary for the medical professionals to adopt processes other than detoxification which will help in dealing with the sudden desires of taking drugs. Apart from control, it will also allow the patient to lead a healthy life by adopting spiritual measures.

Drugs are chemicals that interrupt the functioning of the brain and the nervous system. This addiction is getting a habit of taking it on an everyday basis. Slowly the addiction turns into a disease that starts affecting the functioning of the whole body. This is the illicit use of drugs. The initial days are doing it just for fun and slowly that turns into an addiction. To leave the addiction, one requires an immense amount of willpower. It is not equal in all individuals. This imbalance sets out to the medical practitioner to get into special methods where the persons who are willing to leave the drug can achieve it without further harming themselves. This course as well, even if it starts with detoxification but cannot end on it because it does not have positive outcomes for all.

Detoxification in general means cleansing the body by the elimination of toxic elements. In the field of drug abuse, this is the most probable and first step in cleansing the body by the elimination of the toxicity from the body. There are many other interventions that are followed after detoxification. According to Sofin et al., the process of detoxification mainly concerns the withdrawal of the symptoms that the person experiences. It takes quite a time that can be some days. There are different detoxification methods such as medical detox, social detox, and a few more. The medical detox works on removing the symptoms using medications. The medical detox method provides patients with medicines in order to prevent complications. It may lead to seizures that may require special medical treatment. Further, while withdrawing the symptoms, the patient may feel the state of confusion which might cause hallucination and violent behavior in the individual. This disturbance in behavior might compel the person to have accidents and unpredictable behavior(Sofin et al., 2017).

There are several other detox methods such as ultra-rapid detox which help in detoxification but increase the chances of risk. Someone who goes through this process is placed under anesthesia and can be responsive to the process as they won’t experience pain or disturbing symptoms.

Rapid detox has been appealing to people who can endure the symptoms but there have been cases where the elimination time is different from person to person. According to Timko et al., detoxification does not always facilitate the elimination of abuse. It can be sometimes doubtful when it is seen that the patient undergoing detoxification is not able to leave the drugs and continue taking it. Some people fail to cope with medical issues and drug abuse in the process of rapid detox which can cause bad consequences such as bipolar disorder, hallucinations, depression, and metabolic problems. Therefore several other methods must be used to help eliminate drug addiction. Therefore the detoxifying of the body is not enough to cure the drug addict as it has a lot of side effects which include even death of the patients(Timko et al., 2016). It becomes highly suggestible to get into new forms of medications and therapies that can help in complete eradication of the addiction in a slower but regular pace.

Apart from detoxification, the other methods that can be used in drug abuse treatment are therapies, rehabilitation, and medications. All of these tend to provide extra care by giving emotional, social, and mental strength involving knowledgeable people related to the field.

Therapies are one on one way to provide help to the addicts. The therapies help people recognize the change that can have and perceive after leaving the addiction. This type of therapy is cognitive-behavioral therapy. The therapy includes informing the patients about the disadvantages caused by the addiction. The good and the bad sides are to be shown through examples and with a good conversation. According to Sexton, the doctors can go for multidimensional family therapy where the therapy is designed to help the teen or adult with the abuse-related disorder(Sexton, 2017). It is a systematic and manual way of counseling by showing the effects the addiction could have on the family. The family is involved while the therapy is going on. As stated by Sexton, family therapy has been implemented in over 300 communities and has helped over 40,000 youth and families each year in the United States and Europe(Sexton, 2017). Motivational interviewing of the adult can be done which will help in increasing the willingness of the individual to change his lifestyles and adjusting his behaviors in regards to the addiction he had.According to Brown et al., the interviews can also include motivational incentives where it will work as a positive motivation for the addict in leaving the addiction he had for the drug. He further stated in his journal that adults in motivational interviews used less marijuana during the first six months after their discharge(Brown et al., 2015).

Counseling in addiction is also very helpful in changing the attitudes and behavior of the person using the drug or substance. It also helps in strengthening the skills of life and supporting himself after the addiction has been eliminated. It includes talking to the patient about his experience in life, his likes, dislikes, and many more. It is kept in mind that the person’s liking in other productive things helps in getting out of the addiction in a positive way.

Rehabilitation programs can also be proved effective in eliminating addiction. These centers are generally 24 hour licensed buildings to provide safe medications to the addicts. There can be short term rehabilitations or full-fledged recovery housing where the patients are kept for a certain period of time and they are taken care of their necessities while the elimination process is going on. The rehab centers are generally funded by the government and the family members also had to pay some amount to them. These centers work in full progress to help eliminate addiction. They include daily exercises, yoga, meditation, reading, listening to soothing music, and many more. These activities are done to make sure that the attention is retrieved on positive things rather than on the cravings of drugs. It slowly helps in eliminating the desire. Apart from these methods, proper medicines prescribed by the doctors are also provided so that the healing must go on the organs that have been damaged by the abuse of drugs. The environment of the rehab centers matters a lot. The natural environment makes the healing process faster. The staff of these residential buildings takes care that the help is given to the patients and all necessary measures are taken in order to change the attitude and behavior of the patients towards drug use. According to Rezapour et al., the rehabilitations of opiate-addicted patients work effectively. The measures taken to control the desire to have the drug is minimized using proper medications, meditations utilized to inactivate the cravings for addiction and nutritious food. All together it helps in eliminating the addiction source of the drug helping the patients can get rid of the abuse(Rezapour et al., 2017).

An intervention called TSF or twelve-step facilitation seeks to have goals for the individual with drugs or alcohol problems. According to Enos, the steps include acceptance of the fact that drugs did immense harm on the body and mind and surrendering not to have drugs again in the future for the sake of his own self, and participating actively in 12 steps facilitation in order to break the addiction series. These processes have helped a lot in removing the addiction in adults(Enos, 2017).

There are medications available for limiting the desire for drug intake. The medicines have also been proved effective in controlling their desires. There are medicines available for the nicotine addicts that can help them leave the addiction. According to Zaman et al., drug addiction is often willful misuse of the drugs done for enjoyment which becomes a necessity after a certain period of time. The enjoyment criteria are more empowering in students and youth. He further stated in his journal there are a larger number of male abusers as compared to female abusers. The most commonly used drugs include opioids, and benzodiazepines, antihistamines. It largely affects human behavior and the one who is addicted to it takes to stimulate depression, antisocial behavior, and other personality disorders. He further states that like many other chronic diseases can be treated with different kinds of therapies and counseling (Zaman et al., 2015).

Conclusion on Gender and Critical Drug Studies

Drug abuse is a sensitive issue and has to be critically dealt with using all possible measures that would do less harm to the patients. It is not just detoxification that can help the person overcome the desire. Many other processes have to be implemented so that drug addicts can lead a normal life by eliminating the addiction. The type of addiction differs from person to person. The procedure applied must also be different in dealing with different kinds of drugs. Therefore it can be concluded that only detoxification is not enough for cleansing of the body from drug abuse and several other ways must be implemented in order to gain the maximum outcome of curing the addiction.

References for Gender and Critical Drug Studies

Brown, R. A., Abrantes, A. M., Minami, H., Prince, M. A., Bloom, E. L., Apodaca, T. R., … Hunt, J. I. (2015). Motivational Interviewing to Reduce Substance Use in Adolescents with Psychiatric Comorbidity. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 59, 20–29. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2015.06.016

Campbell, N. D., & Herzberg, D. (2017). Gender and Critical Drug Studies. Contemporary Drug Problems, 44(4), 251–264. Retrieved from:https://doi.org/10.1177/0091450917738075

Cicero, T. J., & Ellis, M. S. (2015). Abuse-Deterrent Formulations and the Prescription Opioid Abuse Epidemic in the United States. JAMA Psychiatry, 72(5), 424. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2014.3043

‌Enos, G. (2017). The study finds 12-Step Facilitation reduces damage from substance use in youths. Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, 29(32), 1–6. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1002/adaw.31047

‌Rezapour, T., Hatami, J., Farhoudian, A., Sofuoglu, M., Noroozi, A., Daneshmand, R., … Ekhtiari, H. (2017). Cognitive rehabilitation for individuals with opioid use disorder: A randomized controlled trial. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 29(8), 1273–1289. Retrieved from:https://doi.org/10.1080/09602011.2017.1391103

‌Sexton, T. L. (2017). Functional Family Therapy. The Encyclopedia of Juvenile Delinquency and Justice, 1–7. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118524275.ejdj0073

Sofin, Y., Danker-Hopfe, H., Gooren, T., & Neu, P. (2017). Predicting Inpatient Detoxification Outcome of Alcohol and Drug Dependent Patients: The Influence of Sociodemographic Environment, Motivation, Impulsivity, and Medical Comorbidities. Journal of Addiction, 2017, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/6415831

‌Timko, C., Schultz, N. R., Britt, J., & Cucciare, M. A. (2016). Transitioning From Detoxification to Substance Use Disorder Treatment: Facilitators and Barriers. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 70, 64–72. Retrieved from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2016.07.010

Zaman, M., Razzaq, S., Hassan, R., Qureshi, J., Ijaz, H., Hanif, M., & Chughtai, F. R. (2015). Drug abuse among the students. Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, 1(1), 41. Retrieved from:https://doi.org/10.22200/pjpr.2015141-47

Remember, at the center of any academic work, lies clarity and evidence. Should you need further assistance, do look up to our Nursing Assignment Help


Book Online Sessions for Gender And Critical Drug Studies Answers Online

Submit Your Assignment Here