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The Effect Of Addiction Paper

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  • Pages: 5
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  • Category: Addiction

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The effect of addiction have consumed billions of individuals all over the world, not only consume but also killed. Individuals have relied on drugs to fill the void in their life that is missing. The addict is not only hurting themselves from the drug use but their families, friends, and their community. In this paper, it will give a description of a 21-year-old male named Anthony. Anthony started using marijuana at the age of 20, trying to hide the pain from the death of his sister. Eventually, marijuana was not enough to get Anthony the extra high he wanted which Anthony made the choice to try another drug and eventually it became the love of his life. Anthony’s Family Background

Anthony grew up on the Jersey Shore, with both parents in the home Anthony live a normal child life. Anthony mom had other children from a previous marriage, and two of her daughters also was using heroin. As a child, Anthony mother tried to do everything possible to help Anthony grow up and do something productive in his life instead of using drugs. Anthony mother shield and catered to Anthony’s needs while his father was distance by having three different children with three separate women’s, and was addicted to gambling. As a teenager Anthony started to feel the effects of his father not around and at the age of 14 Anthony’s sister died from a drug overdose, and his parents divorced. The pain Anthony mother was feeling from the death of her daughter changed her completely, and now Anthony’s neglect from his father is now happening from his mother as well.

According to the article “Addiction” by (Van Niekerk JP 2011) “Substance abuse can be classified in terms of its potential harms. Nutt and colleagues3 ranked drugs on the basis of their potential for physical harm, dependence (addiction), and effects on families, communities and society, thereby offering a rational solution to a previously arbitrary classification”. Anthony fits this profile 100%; Anthony dependence relies on his family to cater to him, shelter him, balance his money and think for him. No, matter what Anthony’s family does as long as they shelter him from the truth they will continue to be Anthony’s enabler. Because Anthony father was not there for him emotionally, and it affected Anthony mentally. Anthony stated “In a certain sense, I do like how concerned my father is about me. My father never paid attention to me before the drugs”. This situation have become dangerous for Anthony because he has fallen in love with a drug because of all the attention he is now getting.

Anthony father have become his part time accountant he takes cares of his; bills, gas, pay his tickets, give the mother money for Anthony and make sure Anthony only spend 40 dollars a day for the drugs. While the father is doing this, Anthony grandma and mother shelter him at home. This have created Anthony to feel comfortable and happy to be on drugs. Anthony cannot see the wrong and the dangerous outcome because his family hands everything to him. Anthony brothers always makes sure he has a job to come to, even if Anthony have robbed them in the past. “Katy Mennell describes the dramatic effects that addiction can have on families and ‘concerned others,’ interspersed with personal tales of those who had such tough experiences. Family members may be helpful in the process of treatment, but may also be unwitting enablers of continuing the addiction” ((Van Niekerk JP 2011).

With the family condoning Anthony’s drug addiction, is the very thing that is hurting him. The condoning also hurts Anthony’s community because when the time comes for Anthony family to give Anthony tough love it will hurt the community. Anthony is comfortable with his family catering to him, and when they stop Anthony will begin to steal and rob from his community. When an individual becomes an addicted to drugs, they will do whatever it takes to receive the high.

The family will have to receive the help they need in order to help Anthony with his. Anthony family have to understand and have knowledge about addict which eventually it will help them deal their past issues. “The family has a pattern, a rhythm that is more than the sum of its parts. Any change in the behavior of one of its members affects not only each of the others but the system as a whole. Addiction, accordingly, is often defined as an illness not just of the individual but of the whole family. Sometimes the misery is so intense that the system barely functions” (Van Wormer, K. 2008). Personal Thoughts on Anthony

When it concerns Anthony’s recovery, I believe his family would need to step all the way back. The process will help Anthony’s recovery to go a little smoother without the help of his family member distracting him. Anthony mother lives in guilt, she believes it is her fault for having two other children who are addicts. One of her daughters have already died from the drug overdose; this has caused Anthony mother to shield him so much that hurts him mentally and physically. Anthony father is living in guilt for not showing Anthony love and attention when Anthony was a child.

This hurt Anthony to the core was he feels he gains his father’s attention from the drug use. Anthony brothers hurt him by giving him a job and the job pays for the drugs. No, matter how they believe it helps Anthony it only hurts him and makes him become disable to the world. When Anthony becomes clean, it will be hard for him to function because his family did everything for him. Anthony will have to learn independence again and learn how to function in society without his families help. The love Anthony family have for him will eventually be the love that kills him, if they do not release him and allow him to fall on his own. Conclusion

Addiction is a terrible and hard issues to deal with; it consumes an individual’s thoughts, physical appearance, health, and their decision-making. Billions of individuals all of the world are slaves to addiction, and billions of them become free as well. Having the right resource and family support to be there for them can help the process go as plan and not continue to go backward from enablers or family members who are dealing with their issues. Family members will have to come together, and get the help that is in need in order to recover from all the hurt and pain from the addiction. “The growth process for the family often requires a period of chaos that precedes the old state’s breaking down before the formation of a new state can occur. Even if the treatment agency lacks a full-fledged family program, individual counselors can usually invite clients to bring their significant others with them to sessions” (Van Wormer, K. 2008).

Reference

Van Niekerk, JP 2011, ‘Addiction’, South African Medical Journal = Suid-Afrikaanse Tydskrif Vir Geneeskunde, 101, 10, p. 673, MEDLINE Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 13 May 2015. Van Wormer, K. Counseling Family Members of Addicts/Alcoholics: The stages of change Model. Journal of Family Social Work. 11, 2, 2020221, July 2008. ISSN: 10522158

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