Drug abuse hurts the people who take drugs AND the people around them, including families, kids, and babies who aren't yet born. Drug abuse hurts the body and the brain, sometimes forever.
2. INTRODUCTION
Drug abuse hurts the people who take drugs
AND the people around them, including
families, kids, and babies who aren't yet born.
Drug abuse hurts the body and the brain,
sometimes forever.
3. CUES TO DRUG ABUSE
• The person appears to be intoxicated, but the smell of
alcohol is absent.
• The person is in a state of relentless, drowsiness, or
exultation
• The pupils of the person’s eyes are dilated or are not
affected by changes in lighting.
• The person walks rapidly
4. CUES TO DRUG ABUSE
Heroin
• Action- Sedative,
euphoriant, analgesic
• Characteristics of
intoxication- Drowsiness,
“nodding,” euphoria (happy
giddiness)
Cocaine
• Action- Stimulant
• Characteristics of
intoxication- ↑BP, ↑HR,
↑temp,↑energy,↑paranoia,↓f
atigue, ↓appetite, move
bowels/urinate
5. INJURIES
• Weaken the immune system, increasing susceptibility to
infections.
• Cause cardiovascular conditions ranging from abnormal
heart rate to heart attacks. Injected drugs can also lead to
collapsed veins and infections of the blood vessels and
heart valves.
• Cause seizures, stroke and widespread brain damage that
can impact all aspects of daily life by causing problems
with memory, attention and decision-making, including
sustained mental confusion and permanent brain
damage.
6. Effects On The Brain
• All drugs of abuse - nicotine, cocaine,
marijuana, and others - effect the brain's
"reward" circuit, which is part of the limbic
system.
• Drugs hijack this "reward" system, causing
unusually large amounts of dopamine to flood
the system.
• This flood of dopamine is what causes the
"high" or euphoria associated with drug abuse.
7. DRUGS AND THE WORKPLACE
Job Performance
• Inconsistent work quality
• Poor concentration and lack of
focus
• Lowered productivity or erratic
work patterns
• Increased absenteeism or on
the job “presenteeism”
• Unexplained disappearances
from the jobsite
• Carelessness, mistakes or
errors in judgment
Workplace Behavior
• Frequent financial problems
• Avoidance of friends and
colleagues
• Blaming others for own
problems and shortcomings
• Complaints about problems at
home
• Deterioration in personal
appearance or personal
hygiene
• Complaints, excuses and time
off for vaguely defined illnesses
or family problems
8. DRUGS AND THE WORKPLACE
• after-effects of substance use (hangover,
withdrawal) affecting job performance
• absenteeism, illness, and/or reduced productivity
• preoccupation with obtaining and using substances
while at work, interfering with attention and
concentration
• illegal activities at work including selling illicit drugs
to other employees,
• psychological or stress-related effects due to
substance abuse by a family member, friend or co-
worker that affects another person's job
performance.
9. Effects of Substance Abuse on Families
• Drug and alcohol abuse not only affects you, but also
your family. Addictions often create interpersonal
problems for all family members.
1. Jealousy: You can grow jealous of your friends, your
partner, other family members and other people in your
life. Your partner may also be jealous and resentful of
you.
2. Conflict with Partner: You may have arguments,
get/give the "silent treatment" or grow apart by putting
your addiction first.
3. Conflict with Children: You may argue with your
children and they may disregard your authority or be
afraid of you.
10. FAMILY STRUCTURES
• He/she live alone or with a partner: Both of you need help. If
one of you has an addiction and the other doesn't, you'll suffer
from issues of co-dependence.
• He/she live with a spouse or partner and young children:
Parents' problems effect children. Often, one parent has an
addiction and the other protects the children or assumes more
parental responsibilities. If both parents have addictions, the
effect on children is worse. Your addiction is likely to pass down
to your children.
• The abuser has a step-family: Substance abuse impedes your
step-family's integration and stability.
• Abuser is older and have grown children: Family resources are
needed to treat an older adult's substance abuse. Elder
maltreatment may become an issue.
11. CONCLUSION
1. Learned Helplessness: A person loses the feeling that they can
affect or change what’s happening to them. They give up and
become “helpless” which can also affect other areas of life.
2. Depression: Unexpressed and unfelt emotion can lead to flat
internal world – or an agitated/anxious defense against feeling
internal pain. Or anger, rage and sadness that remain unfelt or
unexpected in a way that leads to no resolution and becomes
turned inward within the self
3. Anxiety: Free floating anxiety, worries and anxieties that have
no where particular to pin themselves and may look for a place
to project themselves or phobias, sleep disturbances, hyper-
vigilance etc.
4. Emotional Constriction: Numbness and shutdown as a
defense against overwhelming pain; restricted range of affect or
lack of authentic expression of emotion.
As a person under the influence of drugs exhibits definite clues. Because some drugs act as stimulants and others as depressants, not all of the following clues will be present in each case and, in many cases, a person may be under the influence of a drug without exhibiting any of the clues. The following performance and behavior problems, however, are common to many employed individuals who abuse alcohol and/or other drugs.
More deaths, illnesses and disabilities stem from substance abuse than from any other preventable health condition. Today, one in four deaths is attributable to illicit drug use. People who live with substance dependence have a higher risk of all bad outcomes including unintentional injuries, accidents, risk of domestic violence, medical problems, and death.
Although initial drug use may be voluntary, drugs have been shown to alter brain chemistry, which interferes with an individual's ability to make decisions and can lead to compulsive craving, seeking and use. This then becomes a substance dependency
Drug use, abuse, or addiction among employees and their family members can cause expensive problems for business and industry, ranging from lost productivity, absenteeism, injuries, fatalities, theft and low employee morale, to an increase in health care, legal liabilities and workers' compensation costs.
The fact that some people use substances such as alcohol or illicit drugs, or that some people misuse prescription drugs is not new. The awareness that the abuse of substances may affect the workplace just as the workplace may affect substance abuse is, however, increasing in acceptance. Many aspects of the workplace today require alertness, and accurate and quick reflexes. An impairment to these qualities can cause serious accidents, and interfere with the accuracy and efficiency of work. Other ways that substance abuse can cause problems at work include:
after-effects of substance use (hangover, withdrawal) affecting job performance
Drug and alcohol abuse not only affects the abuser and his/her life, but also the lives of family members. When recovery begins, your whole family should be involved when possible. Family therapy is a good option for recovery with substance abuse.
Drug and alcohol abuse affects different family structures in different ways. These family structures are adapted from The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services "Substance Abuse Treatment and Family Therapy" guide:
Families where addiction is present are oftentimes painful to live in, which is why those who live with addiction may become traumatized to varying degrees by the experience. Broad swings, from one end of the emotional, psychological and behavioral spectrum to the other, all too often characterize the addicted family system. Living with addiction can put family members under unusual stress. Normal routines are constantly being interrupted by unexpected or even frightening kinds of experiences that are part of living with drug use. What is being said often doesn’t match up with what family members sense, feel beneath the surface or see right in front of their eyes. The drug user as well as family members may bend, manipulate and deny reality in their attempt to maintain a family order that they experience as gradually slipping away. The entire system becomes absorbed by a problem that is slowly spinning out of control. Little things become big and big things get minimized as pain is denied and slips out sideways.