The book Memoirs of an Addicted Brain follows Marc Lewis and his adventures in doing different types of drugs. Marc goes to boarding school in Boston, Tabor, where he was homesick and being bullied by the other children. Marc starts doing drugs to fit in. He started using legal drugs like cough medicine and alcohol but progressed to doing more illegal drugs like marijuana, heroin, methamphetamine, and LSD. The more illegal drugs were accessible at the Berkeley university since there was a large hippie movement.
The book starts of as another day for Mattie Cook. Mattie, her mother, a free worker, and another girl named Poly. One day, Poly was not at work even when the store closed for the day. Mattie was most curious and want to Polys house. Her husband had told her that she died due to a fever.
Growing up, kids are taught to dream to be whatever they want. They are taught to reach for the stars and let nothing get in their way of their dream. But what many people want isn’t always what they need. In the short story, “Paul’s Case” written by Willa Cather, this theme is displayed in Paul’s dreams of riches that aren’t exactly what he needs in life. Through quotes and symbols, Cather gives an insight into Paul’s world and how he dreams of the artwork in Carnegie Hall, the houses on Cordelia Street, and the lavish lifestyle of New York City.
Courtney Grove Addictions/Assessments/Interventions Spring 2017 All of the personal stories in this book are an attempt to help individuals identify with the authors. Hopefully, after reading each story we, and alcoholics alike may say to themselves "I'm very much like _____. My alcohol use has followed a similar pattern and I have also tried different ways to control my drinking with similar, pained results. Perhaps the steps that _______ followed will work for me also.” This keeps the sneaky pull of alcohol at the forefront of their minds, learning from the experiences of others and remembering their own experiences from the reality standpoint rather than with fond remembrance.
The holistic approach recognizes that addiction is a complex issue that can stem from various factors, such as genetic predisposition, trauma, and social influences. Therefore, a comprehensive approach that Proposal Argument:
An article by Knepper (2013) mentioned that the presence of addiction interaction disorder in a person may promote his or her severity in the addiction cycle. Addiction interaction disorder was introduced by Carnes (2011) which means a person may have multiple addictions at the same time and these addictions combine to interact, reinforce and become part of one another. Looking at individuals who struggle with primary addiction: sexual and secondary addiction: alcohol, the secondary addiction may ritualize the primary addiction which makes a person alternate between the addiction cycles and relapse deeper to their addictive behavior (Carnes, 2011). Four Stages of Addiction According to Butler (2009), below are the four stages of addiction that a person goes through from the first trial of the addictive behavior.
“A team of researchers scanned the brains of London taxi drivers and compared their brains to non-taxi drivers. There was a very noticeable difference, not only between the drivers and non-drivers, but also between the more experienced and less experienced drivers.” So, the more a taxi driver got to know the environment the more changes his brain made to remember all the information it was receiving. This shows that anything can cause changes in neurological brain patterns, and they are not necessarily bad things. The longer that someone abuses drugs or other substances the more their brain is going to change, and that is natural.
The use of drugs leads to an unpropitious way of life which provokes bad decision making,
Addiction is a large problem in today’s world much like it is in Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World. Though both societies have addiction in them, it is encouraged and accepted in the novel whereas in today’s world it is strongly discouraged and not accepted. Soma, the narcotic in Brave New World, is consumed by all characters when times in their lives get tough. Soma is also a death conditioning device, provided by the leaders of the “utopian” town, the drug causes everyone to die before they become old.
It is very difficult to explain that drug addiction is a disease rather than a choice. Understanding drug addiction and why it happens will break the stigma of addiction. Society has associated the use of marijuana with drug addiction and with that it brings to mind negative things. Drugs users should be treated, not belittled for their use of drugs or having a drug addiction. Addiction is defined as a condition in which a person engages in use of a substance or in a behavior for which the rewarding effects provide a compelling incentive to repeatedly pursue the behavior despite detrimental consequences.
Imagine developing a disease that could easily hijack the brain from voluntary behavior of using drugs (including alcohol); an addiction that initially could be preventable. The song lyrics from “The River”, sang by the Tea Party, define an addict who is in trouble for her life because of the use of drugs and/or alcohol. The title of the song, “The River” is referred to as the addict’s bloodstream tainted from her addiction. She struggles to survive, but the more she uses, the more drugs are desired, causing her addiction. One might take drugs for the following reasons: to feel good, to mask pain/problems, to do better, from peer pressure, or to feel better.
Looking into addiction I will be focusing on addiction in adolescence. As professionals working to solve the addiction problem, we need to see what the causes are and if we are keeping up with the problem. Also, we need to look at how the addiction is affecting the family. Choate, P. (2015). Adolescent Alcoholism and Drug Addiction: The Experience of Parents.
Most addicts lack willpower if they are addicted to the drug. Even when they see the harm to their bodies and minds, they will continue to use the drugs because they become addicted to the way it makes them feel. It can make them feel good or bad. The user knows that the drugs are bad and sometimes they do not want to be addicted, but the addiction can be taken by the inability of sleep. When you have a disease caused by addiction, there is not a way that is quick to fix the
Even though the title of the article seems like its biased, the articles presents all sides of the argument really well and goes into depth. The second source I will be using is “Drug addiction: the neurobiology of disrupted self-control. This particular journal article have a lot information regarding this particular topic. The article explains how an exposure to drugs might be prerequisite for a drug addiction. I feel like these is so true, people don’t realize that drug addiction can happen so fast and they can lose so much.
All these characteristics led to the conclusion that drug addiction is a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use. It is considered as a brain disease because drugs change the structure of the brain, and how it works. Every drug affects different systems of the brain. For example, in the case of cocaine, as the brain is adapted in the presence of the specific drug, brain regions responsible for judgment, decision-making, learning, and memory begin to physically change, making certain behaviors “hard-wired.” In some brain regions, connections between neurons are pruned back.
