Spirituality and Substance Abuse
It used to be that drug addicts were considered the lower class of society. When one tried to imagine the life of a drug addict, one conjured up a mental image of skinny, homeless people who had rotted teeth and no ambition in life. Today, however, society has become aware that the issue of substance abuse knows no boundaries. It cuts across all socioeconomic barriers, and pays little attention to religious preference, race or ethnic background. Substance abusers only have one thing in common, and it is their addiction(Matthews, 2000). While this has proved to be enlightening in so far as it has removed some of the stigma surrounding substance abuse it has also illuminated the vast differences in lifestyles and financial abilities of those who are affected. This new knowledge provides an understanding of the difficulty in designing and providing substance abuse treatment that can be widely recognized among the many substance abuse populations. If one person in a group is wealthy and can afford an array of top notch detox medications, but another person in the group is poor and cannot afford to pay rent, it become difficult to implement a program that each of them can relate to, study, and use in their quest to re
In the course of my professional work as a social worker I will need to open my mind to the idea that higher powers other than the Christian belief can have as much of an impact on the recovery of a substance abuser that mine can have. In addition I have come to realize the importance of spiritual belief in treatment, yet, am at times unsure of how to treat a client who has no spiritual foundation but is determined to stop abusing drugs or alcohol. Increased rates of violence experienced at the hands of family members, suicides, and substance abuse overdoses are taking the lives of hundreds of America's youth on a daily basis (Borowsky, Resnick, Ireland, Blum, 1999; Cameron, 1999) (Cameron, 1999). I have always believed in the Christian faith and as such have believed that I have come to understand what is meant by the importance of a higher power in the fight against substance abuse. It seems that we are asking them to become addicted to that philosophy instead of the previously abused substance. In the study it was determined that the five major components of life satisfaction, emotional, social, physical, intellectual and occupational could not be complete without a spiritual component attached to them. "The results indicated that spirituality when allowed to come from the background or choosing of the participant plays a key role in the success of substance abuse treatment. One of the most compelling studies in recent history regarding the impact of spirituality on substance abuse treatment was completed in 1998. For those who come for treatment already strong in their spiritual convictions I don't see an issue with using a spirituality element in that treatment. "further research indicates that those who are referred to and follow an basic 12-step program founded in spirituality of some type, fare more favorably when it comes to continued abstinence than those who are only treated with cognitive therapy(Matthews, 2000). At the time the study was released the research stated: "Spiritual health should be considered as a component present, along with a personal component, within each of the interrelated and interactive dimensions of wellness. Spiritual concepts, ideas, and relationships are integral to all levels of care, to a certain degree even transcend each level of care, and are difficult to define acceptably in objective, behavioral and measurable terms. It is not up to me to decide what is right or wrong in their quest for spiritual growth. The research concluded that addiction counselors who have a spiritual faith in their belief system are more effective in the support they provide to the addicts that they treat(Matthews, 2000).
Common topics in this essay:
Weighing Issues,
Native American,
Counseling Development,
,
Jesus Gods,
Literature Review,
Addiction Medicine's,
Anonymous AA-oriented,
Perkins Giese,
substance abuse,
God Goddesses,
substance abuse treatment,
abuse treatment,
treatment substance,
treatment substance abuse,
cameron 1999,
native american,
spirituality element,
12 step,
spiritual foundation,
substance abusers,
social worker,
client spiritual foundation,
1999 beauvais 1996,
substance abusematthews 2000,
|
Acceptance Essays
