Cocaine Addiction
QUESTION
Read the case report, Cocaine Addiction, on page 113 of your text. The end of the case report notes that the client “expressed great surprise at the toxic effects of cocaine, but was also quite ambivalent about whether he would completely discontinue cocaine.” How do you explain the continued use of psychostimulants (in this case, cocaine) despite severe negative consequences for continued use? As a healthcare professional, how would you respond to this client?
Cocaine Addiction
ANSWER
Cocaine
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Code and Name
Professor’s Name
Date
Cocaine
Drugs and alcohol addiction refers to the disorder of compulsive drug-seeking behavior despite evident knowledge of their effects on the body. The drugs hijack the functional changes in the brain circuits that relay reward or alarm signals and self-control. If an individual fails to take any medications, the brain communicates anxiety, stress and alarm, and other pleasurable activities cease to elicit the same pleasure as before (“Drug misuse and addiction,” 2020). An individual then has to take drugs to return to “normal.” The case represents a classic person addicted to cocaine. He has lost self-control over his desire to stop taking cocaine because it took control of the brain and made it so that he could not live without it. When taking a drug, individuals perceive what could be beneficial effects, and they believe they could control their intake. In the long run, they lose control over the need to take drugs despite the problems it causes to those around them, as with the case.
A healthcare professional should offer treatment for any mental conditions that might occur in addition to the addiction. One should also provide counseling services that might be the root cause for using the drugs to cope (Englander et al., 2020). It could be individual, group or family therapy sessions that strive to find solutions to the problems in a calm and ambient environment. Additionally, the healthcare provider should prescribe medication for treating withdrawal symptoms and the addiction itself. The healthcare professional should hold the patient accountable by laying the expectations and offering the treatment he needs.
References
Drug misuse and addiction. (2020, July 13). National Institute on Drug Abuse. https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/drug-misuse-addiction/
Englander, H., Priest, K. C., Snyder, H., Martin, M., Calcaterra, S., & Gregg, J. (2020). A call to action: Hospitalists’ role in addressing substance use disorder. Journal of Hospital Medicine, 15(03), 184-187. https://doi.org/10.12788/jhm.3311/