Question

Using a biopsychosocial approach, explain why some individuals abuse drugs

Answer 1

• The Biopsychosocial model recognizes that there are multiple pathways to addiction and that the significance of these individual pathways depends on the individual. Furthermore, the Biopsychosocial model was one of the first models to recognize the importance of treating the whole person, not just the addiction.
• Someone with a genetic predisposition to addiction, in an environment where substance use is available, surrounded by people who use, neglect or abuse and whose core beliefs (thoughts about self) are flawed and negative, are perfect candidates for addiction.
• There is also evidence to support that the disease of addiction can be inherited, or that some individuals may be more predisposed to developing an addiction than others. Support for this belief comes from twin studies.
• In these studies, identical twins that were separated at birth (i.e., raised in completely different environments) were found to have similar levels of alcohol exposure at different points in their lives. Even though both siblings may have been raised in different alcohol-free homes, they were just as likely to develop alcoholism.
• The application of this evidence suggests that those of us with alcoholism (or addiction) in our family history (parents, uncles, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.) are also at-risk for developing addiction at some point in our lives. The caveat to the biological theory of addiction, however, is that while one may have a genetic predisposition to developing addiction, there must be an interaction with the environment in order for the addiction to fully manifest itself.
• In other words, even though we may have a family history of addiction, this genetic predisposition must regularly interact with the environment in order for us to meet the criteria of “addiction” or substance dependence.
• According to psychodynamic and object-relations theories, people tend to use alcohol and drugs as a way of coping with traumatic experiences or negative relationships, many of which originated in childhood and adolescence.
• Some people cannot connect the feelings that they are experiencing with the traumatic stories behind them. Therefore, they turn to alcohol and drugs in order to block the need to express their emotions.
• Many individuals have low self-worth and low self-esteem. Alcohol and drug use hides this reality from the user.
• Many users have difficulty forming healthy relationships. This theory says that if someone is dependent on a drug, they are re-creating the dependency relationship between the primary caregiver and child. It suggests that the drug (or behaviour) the person is addicted to comes to represent a relationship that the individual is trying to heal from, resolve, or replicate.
• For learning theorists (often called behaviourists), it is the cultural and social environments which dictate “why, when, where, and how” we use alcohol and drugs.
• Watching and observing how others use alcohol and drugs influences our decisions to use. For example, if you notice attractive people drinking or smoking at a bar, and you watch them being rewarded for this behaviour (e.g., they attract positive attention), then there’s a strong chance that you’ll also choose to drink the next time you are in a similar environment.
• The positive and negative reinforcements we have with alcohol and drugs. For example, if I feel stress and notice that alcohol helps to alleviate my stress, then the next time I experience stress, I will drink alcohol to help me cope.
• You learn that when “X” exists, then “Y” immediately follows. For example, if you always consume alcohol whenever you attend a party, then you make the association that alcohol must be consumed at every party you attend. This principle is often used to explain cravings and urges: You experience a physiological response (sweating, anxiety, rapid breathing, etc.) to the absence of something in the environment (alcohol). In other words, when the association between “X” and “Y” is interrupted, we begin to experience withdrawal symptoms.