Journal Article Response: Family Risks and Resiliencies

 Article Summary:

            Addictions are a societal problem that is a growing concern and responsible for destroying families and communities. Research has shown that there is a strong correlation between disrupted family relationships and alcohol and drug addiction. This article includes interviews that were taken with 12 individuals who live and lived in the Higher Ground Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Trust. Results showed that the majority of the participants had experienced painful and traumatic childhoods in their families, which contributed to their addiction behavior and felt affected their current families. All participants and their families had suffered from different forms of family disruption such as loss of custody, marital breakdown, abuse, depression, and loss of employment. Other participants who were addicted and committed drug-related crimes experienced issues that also affected their relationships with their families (Schäfer, 2011).

            Four main themes were created after the interviews; however the most salient finding was that all participants felt they had not been able to develop functional relationships with their family. Substance use and dysfunctional family relationships yielded a strong connected according to the data. Overall, this demonstrates how addictions affect not only the individual but also the entire family (Schäfer, 2011).

Thoughts and Connections:

            According to our textbook, addiction often is an illness that affects the entire family, not just the individual. This is not hard to believe considering most people in the family care about one another. Frequently the upset is so intense that the family can barely function at all, and children growing up in these families cannot receive proper nurturing and care that they need. Due to these needs not being met, this addiction process commonly spreads through generations. This connects with the article I read because an issue they spoke about was not being able to develop functional relationships with their family (as a child) in the past and now they cannot form those relationships as an older person with their own family (as a parent) (Schäfer, 2011).

            When addiction is involved, the focus tends to lie on just that and not on the things and people who matter most. Not only does the person with the addiction have pain and complications, but also so does the rest of the family. Their problems revolve around how to deal with this person and their own strong feelings of upset. Addictions are also a source of major stress (emotional or financial) that spreads across and within the family system and affects the family dynamic and interactions with other systems in the community.

Article Reference:

Schäfer, G. (2011). Family functioning in families with alcohol and other drug addiction. Social Policy Journal Of New Zealand, (37), 135-151.     

In the Movies

Thirteen

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia
/en/d/dd/Thirteen2003Poster.jpg

Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke

Why I chose the movie:

            The movie I chose to watch for this assignment is Thirteen. I saw it once when I was younger and remembered many different addictions involved, and I thought I would look at it through a different lens after taking this class. The movie involves drug addiction (inhalants and cocaine), alcohol addiction, and anorexia.

General Overview:

            The general overview of the movie includes an adolescent girl, Tracy, who wants desperately to fit in with the popular crowd. She lives with her mother, brother, and little sister. Her parents are divorced and she very rarely sees her father. Her mother is a recovering alcoholic, and her mother’s boyfriend is a recovering cocaine addict. Tracy then meets a girl at school named Evie who is a bad influence on this honor roll student and encourages her to steal, do drugs, drink alcohol, have sexual encounters, and fight. This movie deals with Tracy’s battle with peer-pressure, drugs, alcohol, and self harm.

Below is a short video clip that summarizes the movie and allows clips of Tracy's addictions to be seen (Inhalants, marijuana, and alcohol). Toward the end of the clip you can see her behavioral addiction to cutting herself as well.

How did the movie’s portrayal of addiction make you feel?

            The movie’s portrayal of addiction made me feel uncomfortable. It was shown in a very personal way and the emotions and feelings felt so real. After studying the side effects in class, this movie allowed the viewers to get a good look at how it affects not only the abuser, but also the entire family. After Tracy’s downward slope in life, grades, and attitude, the entire household was turned upside-down. These were obvious signs that she had an addiction because her life was changing around her actions and took over her leisure time along with her work, school, and family time.

Where you empathetic toward the person with the addiction, or were you angry?

            I felt angry towards Tracy, not empathetic. I should have felt bad for her, because of the situation, but she brought it upon her self very clearly at first. All she wanted to do was fit in with the popular crowd, and she did so by starting to smoke, drink, and steal. This then lead to her cutting herself, which is another behavioral addiction that she could not stop.

How did the characters in the movie react to the person(s) with an addiction?

            The characters in the movie reacted in ways that were detrimental to Tracy. Her original friends, who were hard workers and good students, did not do anything; they just let her go. In fact, outside of the first 15 minutes of the movie they were nowhere to be seen. As for her mother, she is pretty clueless and is constantly busy with her job, boyfriend, and other two children. Her mother does see that something is going on; however it is more serious than she thought, or so she said at the end of the movie when an adult brought all the facts to her attention. Tracy’s mother should have been paying closer attention to her daughter’s life and she would have seen the signals of her additions and been able to help her before it got as far as it did. As for Tracy’s brother, he is distracted by her friend who he thinks is attractive at first, but then notices her constantly getting drunk and high and does not tell anyone because he is getting stoned with his friends every day. Her sister is too young to notice and act upon Tracy’s behavior. Evie, the popular girl who influenced Tracy’s bad behaviors, supports her behavior obviously since she has the same addictions.

Do you believe the portrayal of this addiction and/or societal reaction is accurate, given what you know from your own experiences?

            I believe that the portrayal of the addictions and societal reaction is pretty accurate. After having been a teenager, I can understand the peer pressure aspect, but not the desire to do drugs, steal, and cause self-harm. However, because Tracy’s mother is a recovering alcoholic, and her boyfriend is a recovering cocaine addict, they both did not see her behaviors changing and did not act to help Tracy. They should have seen the beginning warning signs and tried to get her help before the situation escalated. That aspect of the movie I feel was a little off, unless they really were too busy to notice or in denial, which is possible. Tracy’s addictions made her moody, angry, change her normal schedule, and an uncontrollable desire to fulfill her different drug and behavioral addictions.

How can you connect what you’ve learned through assigned readings and in-class discussions with what you observed in the movie?

            Through assigned readings and in-class discussions I was able to make many connections through the movie. Tracy uses inhalants to get high with her friend and it distorts her thinking and feelings. She yells, “Hit me! I can’t feel it!” In response her friend, who is also high, hits her. She also said, “ I think my nose is melting off,” and is hearing sounds that are not really there. Tracy and her friend both go to all different extents to get drugs. They are dependent on them. On numerous occasions, Tracy pays for drugs from a “mysterious man” at the park and does not really know what she is getting or taking. She also does sexual things in exchange for drugs frequently. She then starts smoking and drinking on a regular basis. She is very moody and aggressive, starting fights with her mom and brother. In addition to her drinking and drug addictions she is also showing anorexic tendencies. Her mother asks her on 4 separate occasions if she has eaten and she responds with “No, I’m not hungry!” or “I’m on a diet!” She also makes a comment that if you drink 10 glasses of ice water a day, you burn 300 calories. In addition to the drugs, alcohol, and anorexia, she also cuts herself. It is seen 5 different times throughout the movie. She displays similar actions and behaviors to when she does not receive alcohol. She is fidgety, angry, and is anxious until she gets to a place where she can cut her wrist with what ever she can find (scissors, razor).

Journal Article Response: Co-occurring Conditions

Article Summary:

            This article explains the Better Life group program and how it was developed to help individuals with co-occurring disorders reduce their substance misuse. In the past, the article states that Norway did not integrate concurrent treatments of the two disorders and treated one followed by the second. However, through weekly sessions in close-ended groups for four to six months, the program, Better Life, is now helping individuals overcome their addiction. This is through the use of education about co-occurring disorders, motivational enhancement, social skills training, peer support, and establishing healthy friendships and leisure activities. This program is meant for individuals in the preparation or action stages of change (Grawe, Hagen, Espenland, and Mueser, 2007).

            Nine mental health centers or hospitals were used in the study and agreed to complete two Better Life groups each; this included eighty-two patients. As an implementation of the study, the goal was to examine its effects on substance use and mental health outcomes and to explore individual predictors of outcome. In addition, the main skill areas taught in the Better Life program were problem solving, basic communication, assertiveness, refusing offers to use substances, coping with cravings, and prevention relapses, friendship skills, and developing alternative leisure activities. Individuals that completed the treatment showed significant reductions in substance misuse and improvement in global functioning. Overall, this pilot study supports the Better Life program and suggests that it can improve substance misuse and mental health outcomes (Grawe, et. al., 2007).

Thoughts and Connections:

            The Better Life program was created to help the treatment of co-occurring conditions, which was discussed in our book as a problem for not only the individuals but also helping professionals. The article by Grawe et. al., states how the two conditions are either treated one at a time, or one following the other, not together (2007). This study is trying to solve the problem by addressing the actual conditions both at the same time and was proven successful. I think this is a study that can help other professionals see how treating both conditions together can be successful and help motivate more programs to treat both conditions simultaneously.

            This article also relates to our class discussions in that it is very difficult to diagnose one condition over the other as “primary,” therefore, supporting the idea of treating both the addiction and the mental illness at the same time. This would make the process for the patient and the professional more effective and will hopefully lead to a proper, permanent recovery. Ideally, this is what all helping professionals wish for their patients.

Source:

Gråwe, R. W., Hagen, R., Espeland, B., & Mueser, K. T. (2007). The better life program: Effects of 
          group skills training for persons with severe mental illness and substance 
          use disorders. Journal Of Mental Health, 16(5), 625-634.