Discuss the Addiction Theories, Trends and Patterns in Context of Gender (Essay Sample)

Addiction Theories, Trends and Patterns in Context of Gender
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Abstract
This position paper provides an analysis of three topics about addiction; the major psychological theories and principles of substance abuse, historical link to issues and trends of drug addiction, and the differences that exist in the patterns of additions in the context of gender. The paper also includes a literature review on these topics. The study analyzes some of the theories put across to explain the occurrence of and formation of addictions, compares the past and current issues concerning additions and the different methods used to handle dependencies in those two periods and the link between them. The literature review also includes an analysis of the difference that exists between men and women in the use of substance abuse and addictions. Other parts of the paper include the introduction, discussion, and conclusion.
Introduction
Addiction refers to the syndrome at the center of which a victim is unable to control the ingestion of a particular substance or engage in an activity which in several cases interferes with the normal function of the body or tasks. In most instances, the addicted individual has an apparent desire to stop engaging in the ingestion of the substance or stop engaging in an activity but fails to sustain the abstinence (Brown & West, 2013). This position paper aims to achieve three purposes; identifying the major psychological theories and principles in use in the field of addictions, identify a link between the historical and modern issues and trends in the area of obsessions, and evaluate the differences in patterns of addiction regarding gender and developmental issues.
Several years ago, drug and substance abuse was said to be the only source of addiction. However, in the current world, several sources of addiction ranges from substances to activities. Therefore, the addiction may be substance dependence and behavioral addiction. Substances which cause addiction include tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and other hard and narcotic drugs. Activities that lead to addiction include sex, work, gambling, use of the internet, exercise, watching the television among others. These activities were currently listed in the list of addictions because they cause feeling of shame, anxiety, humiliation, failure, despair and hopelessness.
In the study of addictions, the question of who is susceptible to addiction is paramount. An individual is susceptible to being addicted to a particular substance or activity when they become unbalanced and undergo transformation into an unstable state by the substance or activity (West, 2013).The susceptibility increases when the individuals have a feeling that the substance or activity can be continually rewarding.
The development and maintenance of addictive behaviors arise due to different environmental conditions. The variables that encourage or discourage a person in engaging in a certain activity include the cost of the action, expected rewards from participating in the activity, and the possibility of achieving personal goals. When an individual reaches the point of addiction, these variables become a stumbling block in the individual’s attempts to abstain from the activities. A person may also fail to refrain from a substance or activity if the individual lives in a community which identifies the action as normal.
Addiction involves learning responses to a substance or activity and to the environments in which the ingestion or carrying out of the activity takes place. The brain encodes these learning and makes several adaptations in the body in a way that the body requires the substance for proper functioning. To understand the psychology addiction, scientists have used the learning principles in animal models to help assist the neurobiology of dependency (Gifford & Humphreys, 2006). Psychology theories tend to prove that addictions are learned behaviors that can undergo modification or be unlearned. The principles are also essential to make psychological interventions which have turned out to be useful in reducing the addiction and maintain abstinence from the substance the victim abuses. This paper will evaluate the various psychological theories and principles of drug addiction.
In the past, people addicted to certain drugs were to the society considered immoral and that they were in those conditions because of their personal choices. There was also a view that people who suffered from addiction had mental problems which led to several addicted people taken to mental health institutions. Such people were also treated by their communities as criminal since addiction was a criminal offense. However, in the modern world, such the views have changed, with there being a clearer difference between the addiction and mental health. Addiction is also now considered as a disease that can manageable and treatable. This current view has led to the creation of rehabilitation centers which use different approaches to help the addicts to overcome their attachment to drugs.
Contemporary inquiries have proved that there is a decrease in the difference in drinking and alcohol-related problems between the two genders. The numbers of women who now take alcohol or other drugs have recently increased. Despite the difference in the gender gap in drugs use decreasing, women still consume fewer drugs and are less likely to manifest drug-related problems than men (Miller, 2013). It is the purpose of this paper to discuss the existing differences in the patterns of addiction its influences on men and women.
Literature review
Psychological theories and principles in the field of addictions
Addiction to drugs and substances has the characteristics of having a high desire to ingest or consume the drugs whereby the drug user is unable to control and suppress that desire. This desire becomes too powerful to an extent that it forces the user to take the drug at the expense of any other activity, and this persists despite the environment one is. For example, a person addicted to smoking will go to any extent including breaking the law just to smoke when the desire to smoke arises.
The problems that arise from the use of substances have led to researcher coming together and combine significant amounts of efforts and resources to undertake studies on the causes and consequences of drug addiction and identify the methods to cure the addictions.
According to (Koob & Volkow, 2010), research has shown that being dependent on drugs is not a necessity nor should not lead to addiction. Being that it is not a necessity, it, therefore, means that the dependence on drugs is not the motivation to seek and use drugs. The various dependence models could not find a relationship between relapses and withdrawals symptoms even when the addicts have been drug-free for a long time.
Since the dependence models could not entirely give satisfactory answers to addiction, researchers turned to seeking the answers by use of principles of psychology to understand addictive behavior. These principles established that individuals learn and associate drugs with satisfaction as the desirable end product. This association of narcotics with satisfaction grows with time and leads to the person to seeking the use of drugs. This same connection explains the initial use and seeking of pills and the reinstatement to the use of drugs for an individual who had abstained from drugs for a long time (Kopetz, Lejuez, Wiers, & Kruglanski, 2013).
Another model explains that every motivated behavior is learned. When this learned behavior occurs severally, it forms a habit which may later lead to addiction. For instance, a person who does not take alcohol learns how to drink alcohol and after learning continues to take the alcohol. Continuous taking leads to an individual reaching a point that they cannot do without alcohol. This state is the point at which the person enters addiction. This model says that animals and human beings, directly and indirectly, learn certain actions that they consider being rewarding or the actions they associate with positive consequences.
When such actions satisfy the expected need, the brain records the experience and the results which increase the chances of the person performing the activity again. When a person tries out a drug with an expectation of having a certain feeling after using the drug, there are two possible outcomes; that the individual will have the expected impression or have a different one. When a different feeling occurs, the person is unlikely to try out the drug again. However, according to this model, if the expected sense occurs, the person is likely to undertake a similar action to get the same feeling.
The psychological models and principles also explain how the social context of a person serves as a risk or a protective factor towards addiction. The social context influences initiation and escalation of the use of drugs, maintenance of drug abstinence, and relapse after abstinence (Gifford & Humphreys, 2006). The social factors include neighborhoods and cultural groups, family, relationship with care providers, religious and spiritual communities one belongs to treatment environment, peer groups, work settings, and friends. For instance, a person who has peers who engage in drug abuse is more likely to engage in taking drugs than a person whose peers do not use. Also, an individual who receives who receives proper care during abstinence is more likely not to have relapses than a person without good care.
Historical link to recent issues and trends in the field of addictions
Historically, addiction was an individual problem, but several changes have led the world to view addiction as a societal problem (Alexander, 2008). In the previous time, an addicted person...