Saturday, April 7, 2012
Alcohol abuse and addiction - interesting article from newrelevent.com Cheers, mack
The risk of abusing drugs is greater – even for adopted children – if the familyenvironment in which they are raised is dysfunctional, according to a new study conducted by a collaborative team from Virginia Commonwealth University and Lund University in Sweden.
The Impact Of Genetics And Environment On Drug Abuse Risk
Posted on Apr 5, 2012 in Addiction
The risk of abusing drugs is greater – even for adopted children – if the familyenvironment in which they are raised is dysfunctional, according to a new study conducted by a collaborative team from Virginia Commonwealth University and Lund University in Sweden.
Previous research suggests that drug abuse is strongly influenced by a mix of genetic factors and the environment, including influences of family and peers. That research is primarily based on twin studies and typically involves families that are intact. Relatives that share genes and environment make it difficult to determine if the family dysfunction is linked to the drug abuse or if it is genetics at play. There have been no large-scale adoption studies performed to verify the findings, until now.
In the study, published online in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry, researchers examined how genetic and environmental factors contribute to the risk for drug abuse in adoptees. Using a large and representative adoption sample from Sweden, they demonstrate that genetic factors played a moderate role in the liability to drug abuse.
“For an adoptee, having a biological parent with drug abuse who did not raise you doubles your risk for drug abuse,” said first author Kenneth Kendler, M.D., director of the VCU Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics.
“But we also found an important role for environmental factors. If you have an adoptive sibling – with whom you have no genetic relationship – develop drug abuse, that also doubles your risk for drug abuse,”
More importantly, according to Kendler, the team showed that the impact of your genes on risk for drug abuse is much stronger if you are raised in a high-risk rather than a low-risk environment.
“A bad environment can augment the effect of genetic risk on drug abuse,” he said.
Kendler, professor of psychiatry, and human and molecular genetics in the VCU School of Medicine, and a team of researchers from Lund University led by Jan Sundquist, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Center for Primary Health Care Research, and Kristina Sundquist, M.D., Ph.D., professor of family medicine at the Center for Primary Health Care Research, analyzed nine public registry data sets compiled between 1961 and 2009 of adoptees and their biological and adoptive relatives from Sweden.
The study population included more than 18,100 adoptees born between 1950 and 1993; 78,079 biological parents and siblings and more than 51,200 adoptive parents and siblings.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Remember Northern Beaches has the old Phoenix Unit at Manly Hospital re-opened through Kedesh. Referral phone number is 4222 18000 or call us on 9944 0364 for assistance with other detox or rehab options or support.
www.northernbeachescounsellingsupport.com.au
Family Drug Support (FDS) website is full of great information for families struggling with drug and alcohol issues. 24 hour phone support line is also available for families.
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| 1st & 3rd Monday of month - 2 & 16 April, 7 & 21 May, 4 & 18 June (7 - 9pm) | NSW - Coffs Harbour Venue: The Mudhut, Duke Street, Coffs Harbour Enquiries: Theo 0402 604 354 |
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Monday every fortnight – 23 April, 7 & 21 May, 18 June
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Enquires: Pam 0438 994 269 (9th April & 11th June are public holidays.)
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| 1st & 3rd Monday of the month - 2 & 16 April, 7 & 21 May, 4 & 18 June (7-9pm) | NSW – Kincumber Venue: Arafmi Cottage, Unit 6, 20 Kincumber St, Kincumber Enquires: Marion 0439 435 382 |
All things drug and alcohol: MDECC Resource
All things drug and alcohol: MDECC Resource: Check out reset.org.au
Monday, April 2, 2012
Current treatments for substance abuse and addiction.
Addiction treatments have come a long way in the past few years. It is not so long ago that we were electrocuting our clients to cure them from their disease! More recently our attempts to “break through their resistance” included confrontational and directive approaches which, in hindsight, can only be seen as directly oppositional to the techniques we now utilise. The breakthroughs in science with tools such as fMRI which image the living brain have supported the disease model of addiction in which 12 step facilitation is based and further research has informed techniques such as motivational therapy and interviewing and cognitive behavioural therapy. These three models of treatment are in the forefront of most current treatment services along with humanistic-existential therapies such as person centred and gestalt modalities.
In this article we will briefly look at each of these treatment options with a view of understanding and educating rather than prescribing specific treatment plans. It cannot be stressed enough that each individual treatment plan must take into consideration the client, their environment and the addiction of choice.
Motivational therapy is an appropriate start as when a client initially makes contact, they may be in various stages of change. These stages are known as
Contemplation – Acknowledgement of a problem but ambivalent to change)
Preparation - (preparing for change)
Action - (Changing behaviour)
Maintenance (Maintaining the desired behaviour change)
Relapse (Return to unwanted behaviours)
The idea behind motivational interviewing or therapy is to work with the particular stage in which your client is presenting. For example, if your client has been coerced by their family to seek help but is apparently a “happy user” it would be counterproductive to pursue a commitment to abstinence. This pre-contemplation stage is a point whereby a therapist would work to move their client from content with their current use to a point of acknowledgement that they may desire a change thus moving from one stage to the next and rather than breaking through resistance we work with the resistance.
CBT is an important tool for an individual who has progressed to an active desire to stay clean or possibly maintain moderation management. This modality works on the connections between feelings, thoughts and actions and teaches the client how to observe their own (and others) processes which lead to discomfort and the urged to use. This is known as the ABC – activating event, belief and consequence. A powerful tool for those struggling with an addiction that is extremely vulnerable to feelings of resentment, shame and isolation. CBT also teaches the skills of observing our negative self-talk (automatic negative thoughts) which may swing a successful recovery into crisis when not recongised.
Our final tool in this article is twelve step facilitation (NA, AA) – a much maligned recovery support in some quarters yet the principles of 12 step programs are now supported by both science and most rehab facilities. The aspect of a higher power is not one of religion but individual spirituality (the human spirit) and this higher power may be god, an addict’s family, their connection to nature or simply the power of the group in a meeting. This is a powerful tool and not one to be dismissed due to its origins. The sense of acceptance, belonging and support, particularly for those in early recovery is therapeutic in its own right and working the steps is not dissimilar to the process utilised in many counselling and rehab settings. Recovery can be a very lonely and frightening experience and even the most socially isolated and damaged in the recovery community heal within this environment of unconditional positive regard.
The humanistic existential and family inclusive approaches to recovery are appropriate modalities to utilise when working with this client base and will be discussed independently of this article due to the large body of information to be addressed.
Myths of Addiction
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It is not uncommon to read the testimonials of those who suffered many years of addiction and claim they found recovery without narcotics anonymous, therapy or any of the usual methods. In fact they claim the seven stints in rehab, years of attendance in AA or NA and CBT therapy were all unsuccessful. Generally these folk are selling something. The fact is recovery from addiction is often a long journey where many tools are gathered along the way and these tools are an essential part of recovery from addiction. Ultimately, these tools and experiences are the cumulative gifts that enable long-term recovery. Each relapse is different and you take what you have learnt while you were clean “this time”.
There is no one size fits all treatment any more than there is an addictive personality. Will power alone is very unlikely to get you clean long term and yes sometimes a family system does, in fact, play a sizable role in enabling an individual’s addiction. The most important things to remember are that people don’t generally stay clean the first time and when they do get time up they need those closest to them to get help and support for themselves. Many times individuals come home after rehab to a family that is still functioning in an unhealthy state and end up relapsing. Addiction both affects and infects the whole family system.
There is no one profile of who will experience problems with substance abuse or addiction of any kind yet many treatments attempt to put forward one guaranteed method to cure addiction. This is simply not possible. There is a combination of factors involved with each and every individual who develops problematic addictions or dependencies and this combination will influence the efficacy of treatment. These are known as the bio, psycho, social factors. Personality type, family history – both genetic and family environment, social environment such as friends or community and levels of psychological functioning particularly in areas of depression and anxiety. For example a person with high sensitivity and introversion, family history of compulsive or addictive issues (siblings, parents, grandparents), community with high acceptance of substance abuse and high unemployment and adolescent depression is at high risk. We at Northern Beaches Counselling Support have named this as the perfect storm. Each factor needs to be addressed with a client in an assessment in order for a treatment plan to be formed that will create maximum opportunities for change. There is no point in utilising AA as a part of a treatment plan for someone with social anxiety or arranging for a four week detox and rehab for a client who has been coerced by their parents to speak to you and has expressed no concerns in regards to their drug or alcohol use. Motivational Therapy would be a more productive choice for their initial treatment which would then lead to a more formal treatment plan.
Using only one treatment modality will loose many opportunities to assist clients at potentially high cost to both them and their families and is a dangerous and often ego- driven practice.
Aly Birmingham
Geats BA Psych, Cert AOD (Dist).
www.drugandalcoholinfo.com
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