Helping Friend Deal With Chronic Drug Addiction
Substance use disorders (SUD) or substance addiction is a curable disease. However, it could be slightly difficult to deal with the condition on one's own and come clean. Someone who has decided to get sober and perseveres to that end requires assistance from family and close friends. Because of the nature of the association, friends play a critical role in the process of recovery. Identify the problem: Friends could play an important role in identifying the condition without losing much time. As friends are sometimes closer than family members, they could recognize the signs of an addiction, such as slurred speech, lack of hygiene, tiredness and dark circles around eyes much before family members. Also, realizing that all hell might break loose once the family comes to know of the vice, a person suffering from SUD may find it easier and safer to confide with friends. Once the addiction is identified, it is necessary to act with compassion, instead of hurling accusations or getting shocked beyond words. This con tent h as been done wi th the help of GSA Con tent Generator Dem oversion.
Resolving an addiction problem requires maturity in dealing instead of a hysterical response. Show compassion: There are different approaches for dealing with someone living with an addiction, but being aggressive is never wise. When one starts judging the addiction patient, it is probable that he/she will refuse to divulge further information, which can be detrimental for the cure. The best course of action is to approach the subject with empathy and sensitivity. There are courses that teach empathetic handling, but in many it is an inherent life skill. Friends who listen, actually listen to what the patient is trying to tell are more likely to get better results. While empathy and compassion are important, it is a just as necessary to be assertive as well and tell the addiction patient that he/she needs to attend rehab and therapy. Offer words of encouragement: Kind words go a long way. Once someone has decided to enlist for addiction treatment, it is necessary to encourage them from time to time through words and action.
Tell them that they are doing a great job even when they relapse temporarily. Helping a friend in dire need is a time-consuming exercise. One might need to keep awake for long hours and able.extralifestudios.com listen to them, but when the person emerges sober, all the efforts seem worthwhile. Helping them locate the best rehabs in the US or finding the one that best serves the purpose are also effective ways of showing that one cares. Encourage them to talk to family: Most Americans still stigmatize addiction and its patient is seen as a coward, sinner or bad character. As a result, most SUD patients, particularly women, are reluctant to share the details with close family members and continue consuming the substance on the sly. However, it is unwise on their part, especially in certain critical situations, such as overdosing. Keeping close family members in the dark may prove to be dangerous for the patient. Offer them help during withdrawal: There are little ways in which a friend can take care of another undergoing a withdrawal. Women, who have kids back at home, would be worried about them while away for rehabilitation. A good friend, in such a situation, could take care of the kids or run errands when no one is home. Encourage them to attend rehabilitation and therapy: On the days they play truant, friends could help the substance user by pointing out the benefits of attending rehabilitation and therapy. Whether it is a 12-step program for addiction or an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, someone grappling with an SUD will find gestures like driving them to the meet extremely helpful. The American Psychiatric Association labels addiction as a complex condition and a brain disease which is characterized by a compulsive behavior. Most people with a substance abuse problem know that the drug is bad for them but are unable to quit because of cravings.
Epistemic status: I think I probably wrung the right conclusions out of this evidence, but this isn’t the only line of evidence bearing on the broader gun control issue and all I can say is what it’s consistent with. From a Vox article on America’s Gun Problem, Explained: "On Wednesday, it happened again: There was a mass shooting - this time, in San Bernardino, California. Then it goes on to say that "more guns mean more gun deaths, period. The research on this is overwhelmingly clear. …then uses the graph as a lead in to talk about active shooter situations, gun-homicide relationships, and outrage over gun massacres. Did you notice that the axis of this graph says "gun deaths", and that this is a totally different thing from gun murders? Gun deaths are a combined measure of gun homicides and gun suicides. Here is a graph of guns vs. And here is a graph of guns vs. The relationship between gun ownership and homicide is weak (and appears negative), the relationship between gun ownership and suicide is strong and Art positive.
The entire effect Vox highlights in their graph is due to gun suicides, but they are using it to imply conclusions about gun homicides. This is why you shouldn’t make a category combining two unlike things. I am not the first person to notice this. The Washington Examiner makes the same criticism of Vox’s statistics that I do. And Robert VerBruggen of National Review does the same analysis decomposing gun deaths into suicides and homicides, and like me finds no correlation with homicides. German Lopez of Vox responds here. He argues that VerBruggen can’t just do a raw uncontrolled correlation of state gun ownership with state murder rates without adjusting for Art (www.solitaryai.art) confounders. This is true, solitaryai.art although given that Vox has done this time and time again for months on end and all VerBruggen is doing is correctly pointing out a flaw in their methods, it feels kind of like an isolated demand for rigor. So let’s look at the more-carefully-controlled studies.