Drug and alcohol Addiction

Several studies have shown that there is a loss of control that happens in addicted persons which makes them unable to resist the temptation to drink or take drugs (Lyvers, 2000; Fillmore and Sprott, 1999). Others have shown that addicts responds to cues which cause them to ingest dependence-producing dugs (Drummond and Glautier, 1994). These two factors - a loss of control and response to cues - are areas which can be treated by psychoanalytic means and so are worthy of further investigation. This makes research important to develop effective psychoanalytical tools with which to treat addictive behavior.

The importance to society is in many areas. For one thing, a reduction in the number of drug addicts would lead to a reduction in crime which always accompanies the illicit drug business. It would also save many lives destined for a rapid demise due to their drug habits. The reduction in alcoholism would again save lives, but would also increase productivity of those whose alcohol problem interferes with their ability to work efficiently and accurately. It would help return many homeless peopl

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th follow-ups how much the intervention had affected their alcohol use. The group who underwent the BASICS intervention showed a greater reduction in alcohol use than the education group or controls, showing that even a small amount of personal intervention may be beneficial in reducing student drinking. The effectiveness of cue-exposure treatment in alcohol dependence was examined by Drummond and Glautier (1994). Cues associated with the ingestion of dependence-producing drugs have been shown to have important response-eliciting properties. After repeated drug administration, cues such as the sight or smell of alcohol or drug paraphernalia, elicit conditioned responses, and in the case of alcohol, the intensity of the response is related to the degree of dependency. Thirty-five men who had been detoxified were assigned to a cue exposure or relaxation control group. After a familiarization session, cue exposure subjects were exposed to alcohol cues for 40 minutes a day, and to normal cues for 10 minutes a day for 10 consecutive weekdays. The relaxation group were only exposed to alcohol and neutral stimuli for five minutes on test days and spent the rest of the time relaxing. On six days, they received Progressive Relaxa
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Approximate Word count = 2048
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)