Essay Sample on Diverse Population and a Substance

Introduction

Women in society are an endangered group when it comes to drug abuse and substance abuse disorders. Gender appropriate care helps in alleviating birth the short term and long term effects of drug and substance abuse in women. Issues that are unique in healthcare affect women, others affect them disproportionately as compared to men and others have a large impact on women as compared to men. The risks posed by substance abuse and the recovery options also differ by gender, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age and other factors in women compared to men. The risks related to women are best understood when it comes to race, gender, ethnicity, education, sexual orientation, and other factors. Also, understanding groups and the intervention techniques that can be used to deal with this menace is critical in administering treatment to these groups in the population.

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Women affected by this menace consists of the Hispanic population, African Americans the Asian-American society, Native Americans and other groups that are being faced by the menace of substance abuse. The Hispanic women, for instance, are a group of individuals living in the United States with many of them not having an insurance cover, are laddered with poverty, lack health care and are mostly immigrants into the country. The frequency of substance abuse among Hispanic women depends on the country of origin from which they come from. These group usually holds their cultural norms highly and resist societal pressure that comes with a change in environment. However, Mexican American women and women of Puerto Rican descent have a high affinity to alcohol abuse than other Latino groups. These groups also have a higher level of drug abuse like cocaine, marijuana, and methamphetamine (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Substance Abuse Treatment, 2009).

Effective interventions into the use of these substances have been applied with it mostly depending on the family, group and individual status of the women in this group. Family proms have been created to educate women on the importance of abstaining from drug use and substance abuse. It has been effective in ensuring that women who have been affected by this menace feel like they are getting support from their family members in trying to overcome the addiction problem. Families offer great communication within each other which can be nonverbal, emotional or even other subtle means of expressing that makes the intervention to be more successful. The family looks at drug and substance abuse as a menace that affects its whole structure. If an individual is affected in the family's structure then there would either be the use of home therapy or visiting the clinics together as a unit so that the affected individual is attended to and treated efficiently.

The use of the cognitive behavioral therapy technique is also another technique used in family therapy to do away with substance abuse issues. Behaviors are usually incepted through family interaction. Understanding how the family affects a certain individual is fundamental in making them change interactions, communication and the behaviors that contribute to the substance abuse. These interventions help in strengthening problem-solving skills and improve communication within the family consequently fighting off addiction and substance abuse. Also, the idea of a family systems model where family homeostasis is manipulated is an effective measure in doing away with addiction and substance abuse in women. For instance, a woman may be antagonistic or unable to express behavior unless intoxicated. Here, systems would be put in place to ensure that there is a balance stricken that would completely eliminate substance abuse so that a person can be in a position to express their views and behavior (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Substance Abuse Treatment and Family Therapy, 2004).

Also, group therapy is another intervention that has been put in place to enable the groups affected to share with their peers and have a leader controlling the discussions. Here, the affected group meets and shares their experiences concerning substance abuse with each other. Group therapy aims at installing hope back to the people that have been affected by a certain phenomenon and it helps in bringing universality in the groups of people that have shred common life experiences. It then provides support for recovery options that are available and how to take them effectively in a step by step manner that will eliminate the addiction completely (Harper & Cole, 2012).

Group therapy is also important in that it can help its members boost their self-esteem and self-confidence after sharing their information and experiences with the group that they are associated with. It also helps in interpersonal learning and offers a safe haven in allowing people to practice behaviors across a certain group. Group therapy is effective in patients dealing with alcohol abuse and substance abuse by enabling one therapist to reach a larger number of individuals within a shorter period of time. Also, irrational beliefs are eliminated in the process and behaviors are modified leading to effective decision making (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Substance Abuse Treatment: Group Therapy, 2005).

Conclusion

Psychoeducational grouping that involves offering education is important in doing away with the drug abuse menace. Also, cognitive behavioral group therapy is another effective measure that can be used in alleviating substance abuse disorders.

References

Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Substance Abuse Treatment: Group Therapy. Rockville (MD): Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); 2005. (Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 41.) Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64220/

Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Substance Abuse Treatment: Addressing the Specific Needs of Women. Rockville (MD): Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); 2009. (Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 51.) Chapter 6: Substance Abuse Among Specific Population Groups and Settings. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK83240/

Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Substance Abuse Treatment and Family Therapy. Rockville (MD): Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); 2004. (Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 39.) Chapter 1 Substance Abuse Treatment and Family Therapy. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64269/

Harper, M., & Cole, P. (2012). Member checking: can benefits be gained similar to group therapy?. The qualitative report, 17(2), 510-517.