Treatments for Drug Abuse

How could we cure people who suffer from drug abuse, also known as Substance use Disorder
(SUD)? Drug Abuse is a serious issue that affects 25% (twenty-five percent) of drug abusers
(drug users who have a drug addiction). There are many ways to treat those who abuse drugs and
help rehabilitate them. These methods do not work as well for every individual and depends on
the person, but most methods at least help to alleviate the patient’s symptoms. There are three
main type of treatments of drug abuse, which are therapy, medication and rehabilitation
programs (services).

Therapy is one of the many ways to treat drug addictions also known as SUD (Substance Use
Disorder). Addiction therapy is a group of evidence based therapeutic tools that is mainly
focused on aiding people with addictions. It is aimed at significantly reducing or stopping
substance abuse, achieve long term abstinence, identifying triggers, coping methods and help
them to integrate back into society. The different types of therapies are Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy (CBT), including Rational-Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT), Dialectical Behavior
Therapy, Motivational Interviewing and Contingency Management (CM). Addictions therapy
treatments is different depending on your needs, circumstances and your treatment center.

Medication is another of the many ways to treat addiction to illicit substances. Medications are
really helpful against treating withdrawal symptoms that come from substance abuse abstinence.
Medications used to treat opioid abuse are methadone, buprenorphine, extended release
naltrexone and lofexidine. Medications to cure nicotine addictions are bupropion, varenicline and
nicotine replacement therapies in the form of gum, inhalers or patches. Medications used to help
alleviate alcohol overuse are naltrexone, disulfiram and acamprosate. Different types of
medications may be useful at different stages of treatment to help a patient stop overusing illicit
substances, stay in treatment and avoid relapse.

Rehabilitation programs or facilities are other ways to help treat addictions and substance abuse.
Detoxification rehabilitation facilities is one of the most often used interventions in the recovery
process. Three essential parts of every rehabilitation programs include initial evaluation, medical
and psychosocial stabilization and fostering patient readiness for addiction treatment. In the
evaluation stage they assess the patient’s mental and physical health, to provide a basis for the
patient’s treatment plan. During the stabilization stage they assist the patient through intoxication
and withdrawal to achieve a drug free and medically stable state. These programs help in every
form of recovery for drug abuse patients.
To sum up everything that was previously said there are three main types of SUD (Substance
Use Disorder) treatment which are therapy, medication and rehabilitation programs (services).
Therapy helps to reduce or stop the addiction such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT),
including Rational-Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT), etc. Medication alleviates withdrawal
symptoms such as methadone for opioids, bupropion for nicotine, naltrexone for alcohol, etc.
Rehabilitation programs are useful for individually customized interventions. These different
types of treatments for SUD (Substance Use Disorder) are not perfect and are continuously being
improved upon, they are still worth it taking.

Supporting Artifacts

Three pieces of data (artifacts) that help to support and further explain the theme:
Cleveland Clinic, 2022 October 20, Substance Use Disorder (SUD), My Cleveland Clinic,
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16652-drug-addiction-substance-use-disorder-sud
Medical Centric, 2019 April 30, Drug Abuse, Causes, Signs and Symptoms, Diagnosis and
Treatment, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6Dte96WdqM
National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2020 July 10, The Science of Addiction Treatment and
Recovery, Drugs, Brains, and Behavior, https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-
science-addiction/treatment-recovery

Plan of Investigation

The topic that this SBA portfolio will be collecting research information on is Drug Abuse also
known as Substance Use Disorder (SUD), more specifically the treatments for Drug Abuse.

a) Why did you choose this topic/theme/issue/event?

The reason to which I have chosen this topic is for the purpose of acquiring more
knowledge on the serious issue of drug abuse and mainly for the reason of learning more
about how to adequately treat those who suffer from drug abuse.

b) Conducting this kind of research will aid me to express myself well as a English Student.
It will allow me to become better acquainted with the issues associated with this topic
which will allow me to share my knowledge and help spread awareness on this particular
social issue. My conducting such research as an English Student I am able to develop
close reading and writing skills and strategies. One skill in particular is my ability to
 critically think about what I am reading and writing as I seek to broaden my knowledge
on this controversial topic. I am also required to make an oral presentation before an
audience of my peers and English mentor.

c) I plan to collect information by reading articles and watching videos on the internet that
is relevant to the chosen topic. I intend to use the acquired information to help me write
and script my presentation.

d) I will utilize this information to create my presentation that will be used to help bring
more light to my selected topic and offer reliable information on my topic.

Reflections

The first artifact is an article, after reading it, it made feel more empathy towards people who
suffer from drug abuse. Thus making me realize that it is hard for drug abusers to quit abusing
substances. This is because the drug releases dopamine in the brain which is responsible for
pleasure or happiness and when they stop using the drugs they get severe withdrawal symptoms.
The second artifact is a video, when I finished watching the video, I noticed that the term drug
abuse is often correlated with drugs that are often shown in a negative light such a cocaine,
cannabis, etc. The correlation makes people fail to recognize that most over the counter or
prescription drugs can also lead to drug addictions. This makes it much harder for people to
notice that their family members, friends or even they themselves are addicted to drugs or illicit
substances. The third artifact is another article, reading this article showed me that some people
might have a genetic predisposition to drug addictions making it much harder for the normal
person to quit. It also shows that there are different levels of SUD (Substance Use Disorder). All
in all these artifact has made me grateful to know that I do not know anyone with SUD
(Substance Use Disorder).

In all of the artifacts there was not a lot of technical jargon or slang that would impede one’s
understanding of these pieces of data. All of the information was presented in a formal tone that
made it easily digestible for someone who would be reading or watching these artifacts. The use
of language in these pieces of data left little to the imagination with brief but precise descriptions
and no noticeable mistakes or issues.

The theme has helped me have more sympathy and empathy about people who are in
controllable situations such as those who have substance addictions. It made me want to bring
more attention to the people who suffer from drug addictions and made me thankful for the fact
that I do not have anyone who suffers from illicit substance abuse.
 Oral Presentation

 It will be a poem.
 That will be themed around the sea.
 It will have a rhyming scheme that ends with the sound “ite” or “ight”.