How to deal with the problem of using legal and illicit drugs Because of the vast literature on drug effects and the problem of drug abuse, this section could only provide a brief overview of the many drugs other than alcohol that are abused in many contemporary societies. With all of the drugs discussed, the physiological, psychological, and social consequences
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HOW TO TREATMENT OF DRUG USE DISORDERS The general outcome of treating drug abusers and addicts has not been extremely encouraging in the past. Most of the early programs were oriented toward heroin addicts. Numerous programs were developed including the establishment of two federal hospitals devoted to drug treatment in Lexington, Kentucky, and Fort Worth, Texas, that did not produce
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WHAT YOU DRINK, HOW YOU DRINK, AND HOW MUCH YOU DRINK It has often been recognized that alcoholics seem to drink differently from nonalcoholic. Sobell, Schaefer, and Mills actually examined this by comparing 23 social drinkers and 26 alcoholics in an experimental bar setting where subjects could consume up to 16 ounces of alcohol. None of the alcoholics had consumed
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CAUSES OF ALCOHOLISM 
sychological Factors It has already been noted that certain sociocultural factors such as ethnic origins or living in urban as opposed to rural areas, are related to the incidence of alcoholism. However, much of the search for the causes of alcoholism has centered on finding psychological factors related to alcoholism. Early psychodynamic views theorized that the alcoholic
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The facts about the incidence and effects of alcoholism Basic Statistics: Overall prevalence in the United States is about 9-10 million Ratio of male to female alcoholics is about 4 to 1 Percentage of problem drinkers in adolescents could be as high as 20 percent Some moderate to severe alcohol-related problems found in 43 percent of adult males and 21
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INCIDENCE OF DRUG ABUSE AND DRUG DEPENDENCE As many as 25 million people in the United States abuse some type of drug other than alcohol. A number of factors are related to the use of various types of drugs in our culture. The use of narcotics such as heroin is strongly linked to being a member of an ethnic minority,
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Major Dimensions of Maladaptive Behavior in Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Dependence Affective ————————————————————————————————————- Depression; tension/anxiety; guilt feelings; anger. Motivational ————————————————————————————————– Alcohol becomes most powerful reinforcer; other interests and activities diminish; use of alcohol to avoid discomfort—tension, boredom, depression—dominant pattern. Cognitive ————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Negative self-evaluation; blackouts—time periods for which there is no memory of what has happened; hallucinations with severe intoxication or
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Controlled Drinking Programs : TREATMENT OF ALCOHOLISM Sobell&Sobell (1978) emphasized that no single procedure is likely to be successful for all alcoholics. Instead it appears that the most fruitful approach would be to individualize the treatment program for each person. Further, they argue that controlled drinking might be an appropriate goal for some, but not all alcoholics. For some time
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Traditionally alcoholism has been viewed as a problem that could not be treated successfully. Since estimates have indicated that less than 10-15 percent of alcoholics will become abstinent on their own without any type of treatment intervention, the outlook for the alcoholic was rather pessimistic. In a review of almost 400 studies on psychological treatment techniques for alcoholism, Emrick reported
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INCIDENCE OF ALCOHOLISM As mentioned earlier, there are about 9-10 million alcoholics in the United States. Although the incidence of alcoholism is thought to be increasing in women, estimates still indicate that there are about four times as many male as female alcoholics. In recent years there has been an increased recognition of the problem of alcoholism for women and
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