Physiology and Psychological Distress of family and friends of an Addict.

Vonsha Marshall

COM/156

July 7, 2013

University of Phoenix

Ms. Roberts

Introduction Even though you may not be the person using alcohol or drugs, or violating the law, you can Certainly be a victim of an alcohol or drug-related crime. In fact, millions of people each year are victims of alcohol or drug related crime, including millions of young people. (NCADD, 2013). Generation after generation have suffer from some form of psychological and physical distress dealing with a love one are a close friend whom may have had an alcohol or drug addiction. Ranging from lied to for no reason, stole from or spending our money to bail them out of jail as well as providing transportation to and from different places. Everyone seem to overlook the matter of the physiology and psychology distress that an addict my cause to different individuals as well as family members.

People who use drugs and alcohol are often times attempting to numb disturbing emotional and psychological pain that they don't want to feel (Dayton, 2010). Over the years I have witness several friends allow some type of addiction to take over their daily routine. Fighting a battle within a battle, numbing the pain only to be faced with pain again. Living with addiction often results in cumulative trauma that deeply affects family members. When addicts are using they are, for all intents and purposes, out of their minds. Their behavior mimics that of a variety of psychiatric disorders ranging from manic depression, to full blown psychosis in which the addict is totally out of touch with reality. To see the father you love turn into a raging, abusive monster, the mother who cooked you your favorite dinner become a raving lunatic, or simply disappear behind a closed door by 9:00 pm or the child you have raised and adored turn into someone you cannot recognize, is nothing short of terrifying. They look at you as if they never loved you, never knew you...as if you are simply in the way of what is really important to them, namely their drug of choice. The out of control and unpredictable nature of these behaviors can make family members feel helpless, enraged, and as if their sense of reality is being turned inside out and upside down. In short, it's traumatizing (Dayton, 2010) Alcohol is such a big part of American life today that we rarely stop to consider our pattern of drinking. We drink wine with dinner, or have a few drinks after work, or even a few beers while watching a ball game, but when a pattern of drinking begins to emerge, it can become a problem. Drug use in America is also more commonplace than it once was. In today's teenage population over 90 percent have used alcohol. Over 50 percent have used marijuana, 17 percent admit to trying cocaine and 12.5 percent have used some form of hallucinogen (FIT, 2013). Most people tend to experiment with drugs at around age 13, and alcohol at an even younger age. Living with the kind of unpredictable and damaging behaviors that surround addiction, often challenges our sense of a normal and predictable world. It undermines our trust and faith in relationships and their ability to nurture and sustain us. In interferes with our ability to communicate our needs and have them heard or to listen to another person communicate theirs. It is, in other words, traumatizing. Over time this "cumulative" trauma can engender trauma related symptoms such as depression, anxiety, hyper vigilance, low self-worth and somatic disturbances (head and body aches, chronic tension and so forth). These symptoms, if they go untreated in family members, can become full blown PTSD. They can lead to all sorts of life, learning, health, psychological and relationship complications and yes, you guessed it, a desire to self-medicate. This is how the insidious baton of addiction gets handed down through the generations. Addiction engenders trauma symptoms and trauma symptoms engender addiction. Even if family members do not become alcoholics or drug addicts themselves, they are at increased risk for other forms of self-medicating (food, sex or money, or hybrid combinations of two or three). They are also at increased risk for other types of trauma related symptoms. We need to locate an "alcoholic gene". Understanding the trauma set up makes intergenerational dysfunction or "passing down the pain" clear enough as to make a gene only proof of what we already know. (Dayton, 2013) Breaking that cycle could be one of the hardest thing you may have to do in life, considering you feel it is the only way to cope with the pain by numbing the pain, and before you know you are in the same predicament depending on some form of substance to get you through the pain or a stressful situation. However long terms physical effect on the family or even the addict could possible ultimately lead to death.

Drugs, and Alcohol has many different major effect on the body of an addict. An estimated 18 million adults in the United States have significant alcohol-related problems. Ten percent of adults, twenty percent of men and ten percent of women, can be classified as heavy drinkers. That is, they consume an average of two or more drinks per day. Combined with the more moderate drinking of another 60 percent of the population, the consumption of alcohol in this country contributes to some astounding statistics: The U.S. Surgeon General estimates that alcohol is involved in 200,000 deaths in this country per year, ten percent of the U.S. annual mortality. The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that 100,000 deaths per year can be attributed directly to alcohol. There are more than one million annual alcohol-related hospital discharges in this country. Half of all traffic crash deaths are alcohol related. Adults, of course, are not the only ones who suffer from the effects of alcohol consumption. Driving under the influence is the number one killer of American teenagers. Maternal consumption results in a variety of alcohol-related birth defects in 4,000 California newborns each year, in 36,000 children nationwide. Virtually all body systems are affected by the long-term abuse of alcohol. Such consumption results in ulcer disease, gastritis, pancreatitis, fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, chronic active hepatitis, and cirrhosis. Cancers of the digestive tract (particularly the esophagus and stomach), head, neck, and lungs are common in heavy users. However, intake of as little as one or two drinks per day has been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. Chronic heavy consumption can lead to organic brain syndrome and permanent incoordination as well as elevated risk for hemorrhagic stroke. (Chico, 2012) Physical effects of drug addiction vary by drug but are typically seen in all systems of the body. Some of the primary physical effects of drug addiction take place in the brain. Drug addiction changes the way the brain functions and impacts how the body perceives pleasure. These effects of drug addiction are because the drug repeatedly floods the brain with the chemicals dopamine and serotonin during drug use. The brain adapts and comes to expect, and depend on, these drug-induces highs. Regarding mortality, one-in-four deaths are due to the effects of drug addiction. other physical effects of drug addiction include: Contraction of HIV, hepatitis and other illnesses, Heart rate irregularities, heart attack, Respiratory problems such as lung cancer, emphysema and breathing problems, Abdominal pain, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, Kidney and liver damage, seizures, stroke, brain damage as well as changes in appetite, body temperature and sleeping patterns.(Tracy, 2012) In 2010, there were 80,000 drug overdose deaths in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's wonder database.(Peek, 2013) In fact leaving the love ones left to take care of any type of financial obligation.

When measuring the cost of alcohol abuse in the U.S., we have to consider such things as health services and medical expenses, premature death, loss of productivity, and alcohol related crimes. In total, the U.S. economy loses an estimated $185 billion each year to alcohol-related problems, according to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Drunk driving is a sensitive subject to many people because so many lives have been affected by this crime. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes kill someone every 31 minutes and nonfatally injure someone every two minutes. During 2005, 16,885 people in the U.S. died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, comprising 39% of all traffic-related deaths. Another large portion of the cost to the economy is the impact on employers by their alcohol-abusing employees. Health care costs have already skyrocketed, and because of the increased risk of medical problems with alcoholics, these individuals will incur higher health care costs. A smaller portion of the cost on the economy is the money that is spent on the treatment and prevention of alcoholism. Estimates indicate that corporations spend less than 0.1 percent of their total healthcare bill on treatment, but businesses end up paying much more for the consequences of untreated alcohol abuse. New approaches need to be made in order to successfully admit into treatment those affected by alcoholism. We need to keep in mind that alcohol abuse hurts not only the individual or the family, but businesses and society as well.(More, 2008) In 2007, the cost of illicit drug use totaled more than $193 billion. Direct and indirect costs attributable to illicit drug use are estimated in three principal areas: crime, health, and productivity. “Crime includes three components: criminal justice system costs ($56,373,254,000), crime victim costs ($1,455,555,000), and other crime costs ($3,547,885,000). These subtotal $61,376,694,000. "Health includes five components: specialty treatment costs ($3,723,338,000), hospital and emergency department costs for nonhomicide cases ($5,684,248,000), hospital and emergency department costs for homicide cases ($12,938,000), insurance administration costs ($544,000), and other health costs ($1,995,164,000). These subtotal $11,416,232,000. "Productivity includes seven components: labor participation costs ($49,237,777,000), specialty treatment costs for services provided at the state level ($2,828,207,000), specialty treatment costs for services provided at the federal level ($44,830,000), hospitalization costs ($287,260,000), incarceration costs ($48,121,949,000), premature mortality costs (nonhomicide: $16,005,008,000), and premature mortality costs (homicide: $3,778,973,000). These subtotal $120,304,004. "Taken together, these costs total $193,096,930,000, with the majority share attributable to lost productivity."(NDIC, 2011) When the addict has a family, the cost of the addiction can wreck the home and have long-lasting effects on every person he or she touches.(Bosari, 2012) Therefore I feel more help should be focus on the individual and family member that the addict may have effected as well as the addict themselves.

In conclusion, everyone seem to overlook the matter of the physiology and psychology distress that an addict my cause to different individuals as well as family members. more focus shall be implemented toward the people that are effect by the addicts, considering they’ve become a selfish and self-center individual. If we continue to overlook these problems we can aspect more addict to be form, causing a cycle to be repeat as well as passed on from generation to generation.

Reference

http://www.fit.edu/caps/articles/facts.php

http://www.treatmentsolutions.com/alcohol-abuse-and-its-effects-on-the-economy/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneywisewomen/2012/06/19/the-cost-of-addiction-on-families/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-tian-dayton/the-hidden-pain-of-the-ad_b_732753.html

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/which-drugs-actually-kill-americans

http://www.healthyplace.com/addictions/drug-addiction/effects-of-drug-addiction-physical-and-psychological/

http://www.simeoneassociates.com/assets/pdfs/SAI_Assessment1.pdf

http://ncadd.org/index.php/for-youth/drugs-and-crime/230-alcohol-drugs-and-crime

http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/Causes_of_Death#sthash.BRWdoCri.L51i3lrq.dpbs