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Brief Discussion 1

One thing that stood out to me when Dori was telling her story is that she did not know

what to do when her oldest son was admitted to the hospital because of a drug overdose. Part of

the problem was that we were never taught what to do when someone has a drug overdose. I see

this problem as talking about sex. We are ignoring the fact that this could happen and pretend

that this problem does not exist and it will not affect our children. As mentioned in the article,

Culture, and Substance Abuse: Impact of Culture Affects Approach to Treatment, that culture

plays a big role in substance use especially when there is a rapid social change (Abbott, 2008).

This could be anything from moving the school to parent divorces. The possibility would go

higher when we are teenagers and curious about things. I think what we can do is to learn about

it beforehand and understand what drugs are and how they would affect the body.

When David was talking about the first time he tried alcohol at a very young age and got

into something else really quickly after that, it reminded me of when we are learning about the

‘gateway drug.’ It started from one drug and curiosity. In the article, Drug, Brain, and Behavior:

The Science of Addiction, drugs are mimicking the natural neurotransmitters, however, it does

not send that the message that they send to the body is abnormal (NIDA, 2020). The more a

person takes drugs, the more the body relies on them since the body learns that it does not have

to create the neurotransmitters anymore since one will intake them for one’s body to use.

Therefore, at one point, not only one mind is craving for drugs’ actions, but also the body is

relying on it as well. This is when one’s body is taking over the thought of giving up drug use

since it is no longer applicable for the body to do so.

 David also told us about how his recovery went. It was not easy and it took a long time

for him to get back to where he was before the drug use. He mentioned that the only reason he

was willing to give it up was when he wanted to give it up and ‘ready to.’ He mentioned how

much different his experience was during his rehab and when he came outside. It took a lot of

mentalities to be ready to give it up knowing that even though he did well during rehab, it does

not mean that he would get the same treatment outside the facility. This reflection made me

realize that people who came out from rehab need more than just get sober. They needed a

community that supported them as well. As the community that David lives in did not give him

enough support as he needed, he had a group of people who had gone through the same situation

to support him from far away. He mentioned how his friend from the AA meeting helped him a

lot during those tough times. Therefore, what we could do for David and many people that went

through the same situation is being supportive and ‘be kind’, like Dori mentioned. It would not

take a lot from us to be understandable and support drug abusers who are recovering. I wanted to

remind myself and everyone that they are trying and no one wanted to be in that position where

they could not control themselves.

Reference:

NIDA. 2020, July 10. Drugs and the Brain. Retrieved from

https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/drugs-b

rain on 2021, March 17

Abbott, P. (2008). Culture and substance abuse: Impact of culture affects approach to treatment.

Retrieved March 17, 2021, from

https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/culture-and-substance-abuse-impact-culture-affe

cts-approach-treatment