Shaping sheet for addiction Mrs. Lester and Ms. Hamilton

1. Jordan Grandt and Cristina Gonzalez
Honors 10th World Literature and Composition
Mrs. Lester and Ms. Hamilton
16 April 2012
Shaping Sheet
Intro
[slide] addiction in veterans.
[slide] Thesis: How can addiction be proven as a legitimate disease? Addiction in veterans should be
considered a mental illness by the military. Ways to prove addiction as a disease are how they connect
to other mental illnesses, as well as how they affect the brain.
Body Paragraph 1
[slide]Topic Sentence: How can addiction be proven as a disease to the military?
1.*slide+Concrete Detail: The “Disease Model” is used to prove and understand whether or not
something is considered a legitimate disease. This is used by doctors and scientists all over the world to
determine the view of a situation. (McCauley)
Commentary: This model says that as long as you have an organ that gets a physical, cellular defect, and
as a result, you see symptoms, it is called a disease. (McCauley)
[slide] Commentary: These symptoms differ only by severity or stage of illness.
Commentary: The disease model “strips away the nonsense about personality and social environment.”
Commentary: With addiction, you see all of these, with brain cells and symptoms. (McCauley)
[slide] Commentary:These symptoms are prevalent in veterans addicted to substances.
2. [slide]Concrete Detail: The behaviors and relapses are considered common for a chronic disease.
(Neergaard)
Commentary: Frustrating relapses are known for being related to chronic diseases. (Neergaard)

2. [slide]Commentary: Also, most drug related prison sentences end in relapses, so many punishments do
not help in the long run.
Commentary: Since relapses are so common in addiction, along with other chronic diseases, we believe
that there should be treatment for these individuals instead of just punishment. (Brooks)
[slide]Commentary: People with mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, are pardoned from
punishments such as jail and are sent to mental treatment.
Commentary: Why should one disease get treatment, but not addiction?
3. [slide]Concrete Detail: Like many other diseases, addiction has no cure, but has many triggers.
(Brooks)
Commentary: Stress plays a huge part in addiction, just like many other diseases. (McCauley)
Commentary: Veterans have a huge chance for triggers, such as stress in daily life, as well as other
known triggers.
*slide+Commentary: A “cure” for addiction is not available; however the disease can be managed with
coping skills. (Brooks)
Commentary: Many diseases do not have cures, like addiction. The military should provide more
successful treatment options for addiction.
Body Paragraph 2
[slide] Topic Sentence: How do mental illnesses in veterans connect to addiction?
1. [slide]Concrete Detail: Doctors have recently been prescribing addicting pharmaceuticals to veterans
with PTSD and other mental illnesses. (Brooks)
Commentary: Veterans are being prescribed more and more opioids, such as OxyContin, Percocet and
Vicodin (Brooks).
Commentary: “...healing from the traumas of war is a process that continues over years of work and
needs more than a Band Aid.” (Stovroff)

3. [slide] Commentary: These drugs do not treat the root of the problem of psychological issues, but often
lead to addiction. (Brooks)
Commentary: If these addictive pills were controlled more instead of being prescribed all of the time,
addiction in veterans would be less of an issue.
2. [slide]Concrete Detail: 140,000 veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan were diagnosed
with some sort of pain. (Kounang)
Commentary: The severity of these veterans experience during war time plays a major role in this
statistical evidence.
[slide]Commentary: Mental disorders, such as depression or drug and alcohol abuse, were very common
among these veterans. (Kounang)
Commentary: These veterans were 2.4 more times likely to be prescribed opioid painkillers than
veterans without any mental health diagnosis. (Kounang)
3. [slide]Concrete Detail: Nick, an Army infantryman, was suffering from depression and other mental
illnesses when he tried to kill himself with heroin (Hahn).
Commentary: After many tragic things in his life, brought about by life and the military, Nick became
addicted to heroin, a deadly drug.
[slide] Commentary: The military did nothing to prevent this from happening, despite it being common
throughout all branches of the military.
Commentary: He only tried heroin as a way to end the mental illnesses and pain brought about by his
experiences in joining the military during wartime.
Body Paragraph 3
[slide]Topic Sentence: How does addiction in veterans affect the brain?
1. [slide]Concrete Detail: The brain's reward system as dopamine is released when one is addicted to
something and uses it regularly. (Neergaard)

4. Commentary: Eventually, the brain’s dopamine levels get so used to this addiction that it is no longer
pleasurable, even though the person is still addicted.
Commentary: This happens to people who are addicted to very long, until there is never enough of the
substance to get the same feeling as it once did.
[slide]Commentary: These levels become routine and ritual among the brain.
Commentary: This leads to more severe cases of addiction in both veterans and civilians.
2. [slide]Concrete Detail: Persistent stress releases hormones such as CRF.
[slide]Commentary: CRF acts on genes for dopamine neurotransmission.
Commentary: People under this severe stress increase their risk-taking behavior in the search of relief.
Commentary: This can be in addition to dangerous substances such as drugs and alcohol.
[slide]Commentary: Veterans are under obvious, severe stress from their surroundings and civilian life.
3. [slide]Concrete Detail: Dopamine is released in the midbrain whenever substances are used.
Commentary: Once the substance is used, and dopamine levels are high, the brain tags this item as a
survival mechanism.
Commentary: After this, the user is unable to derive normal pleasure like they were before.
[slide] Commentary: The person's life becomes solely devoted to this “survival mechanism.”
Conclusion: [slide] Addiction should be considered a disease by the military due to the many facts that
include it as a legitimate disease.