Embraced by the needle- Questions

Comprehension Questions

Q1) The author describes addiction as something people use to numb their pain. He believes that
addiction occurs when someone is trying to find a way
to cope with all their negative emotions. It could either come from not enough love or just stressful
family situations. When we are children our brains
are still developing all our nerves, responses and other important chemicals. So, if they do not get as
many happy experiences as children
d grow up in a negative environment they may go looking for an "escape" to cope with how they are
feeling.

Q2) Dr Mates patients deal with many different types of addictions. The majority of his patients dealt
with addiction to alcohol, cocaine, tranquilizers, or heroin.
Some patients even had a combination of some of these. Some other patients deal with mental illness
while others are HIV positive or have a sexually transmitted disease.

Q5) Some people come from nurturing families and still become drug dependant. Dr Mate explains that
many parents have their own emotional problems,
and therefore, makes it harder to give you child all those positive experiences. If the parents are
stressed or depressed, they may have trouble interacting or getting
involved in activities. There could be problems in the home between the parents or siblings or the
parents could be struggling
with financial issues. All of these things c an directly affect the child’s development if they are constantly
under stress.

Rhetorical appeal responses

purpose- I believe the purpose of this article is to educate people about addiction and early brain
development. Parents who have children or people that plan on having a family in the future.
It shows parents and people how important it is to be there for your child as they get older. Its
important to spend time with your children
and show them that you truly care about them and accept them for who they are. It's urging parents to
recognize if they have issues, they need
to resolve them because if they don't it can directly impact their kids. Its opening up our eyes to how
deep addiction actually can go and how it is actually planted into people brains
as a form of coping with emotions and stress early on in development. He also says in text
, how many addicts don’t connect the childhood trauma and blame themselves. So, in a way this article
could also be speaking out to those who are troubled and urging them
to seek help. Lastly this article is also good for people who are studying psychology or doctors /
therapists who want to help other people with these
issues.

Genre- The genre of this text is mostly informative. The doctor is speaking from his own experience and
telling the readers about the patients he treats
at his facility. The information he provides is all strictly psychological. He speaks to hundreds of patients
everyday dealing
with the same issues and many of them agree that family environment and stress played a huge role in
their addictions. He even brought up many examples in the text such as the rat grooming
theory connecting that to human relationships. He brings up several patient’s stories and tells us how
they explain their addiction. In conclusion the text was mostly informative as he uses real
life experiences people tell him, and information from current brain research and psychology.

Research- The author incorporates research into this article by referring to studies as well as real life
people. He talks about his patients
and tells us how they describe their addiction. He refers to animal studies and connects them to human
development. Most of his research is
based on psychological studies that have been researched for many years and things that many doctors
and therapists have studied and learned about.