Substance abuse refers to the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs. (WHO, 2008) The addiction and dependency to these substances can lead the person to develop mental and physical problems. One characteristic that a person who has substance abuse disorder is, that the more that they depend on the substance, their way of thinking becomes irrational and erratic. The need to fulfill their desire to able to cope with daily stresses in their lives becomes more apparent.
Such irrationality makes the person tend to lean towards their need to fulfill their high rather than go about their daily routine lives. Most of these people who have this disorder are withdrawn from interacting inside their society and even neglect interests and various activities. Even the basic skills that they need to accomplish their daily lives with, is hampered by this disorder. For patients who are drug dependent, certain steps can be made for them to be rehabilitated.
The use of non toxic drugs to flush out substance that have accumulated within the persons’ body can be used as a therapeutic means. This also means that the individual may have an increased tolerance to the substance and symptoms of withdrawal will be observed. Rehabilitation does take time and most of all the cooperation of the individual to be reformed. For some, being admitted to a rehabilitation center would help them take back their lives. This is where occupational therapy comes into play.
This therapy is applicable to modify the behavior of the individual and to help them not be dependent on those illegal substances. Hence enhancing and enriching the way of life of the patient to function normally within the society that they are in. Further steps will be discussed over the following pages of this paper to fully describe how to treat and rehabilitate individuals with substance abuse disorders. HIV/AIDS and substance abuse correlation. HIV – Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a virus that causes AIDS.
AIDS – Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome which develops during the last stages of HIV. These viruses can be spread through infected blood and secretions as such vaginal and semen secretions (via unprotected intercourse or having multiple partners, among other circumstances). Unfortunately, pregnant women can pass this disease to their offspring during the term of their pregnancy, delivery, and as well as through breastfeeding. Until now there are no known cures for HIV and AIDS.
For HIV, only a cocktail of strong antibiotics can only hinder the progress of the virus within the body but not fully stop the virus being spread. The only preventive precaution is to practice safe-sex, having one partner, and discourage/prohibit the use of drugs especially with the use of syringes, education about this particular disease, setting up awareness campaigns to areas that this virus is rampant and as well as to those that HIV/AIDS have not reached yet.
Today, health centers and the governments are making an enormous effort to inform their citizens to follow safety precautions thus minimizing the spread of HIV/AIDS. As per the American Occupational Therapy Foundation, they found studies and reports that coincided with numerous findings that substance abuse and HIV/AIDS do correlate each other. This does not mean that substance abuse is the main cause for the widespread of HIV/AIDS. These studies show that substance abuse does contribute to spreading this disease.
The link between HIV/AIDS and substance abuse is the increase usage of injection drug use (IDU). Which is to say that sharing and the reuse of needles raises the risk of HIV being spread to many unsuspecting victims of this disease. Since the AIDS epidemic began, injection drug use (IDU) has directly and indirectly accounted for more than one-third of AIDS cases in the United States. Of the 42,156 new cases of AIDS reported in 2000, 11,635 (28%) were IDU-associated.
(TAOTF 2003) In the said report done by The American Occupational Therapy Foundation (TAOTF), Ethnic minorities, focusing on the United States of America, are commonly affected by contracting HIV/AIDS via injection drug use. Surprisingly, a large percentage of women are have been reported to have contracted the virus associated with injection drug use or have partners who themselves contracted the virus via IDU rather than the male population of the country.
There are also cases that IDU may not be the case in certain situations, as there are rampant the use of sex as a form of payment in exchange for illegal substances and behavior that put these individuals at a large risk and exposure to both disease and substance abuse disorder. Treatment for substance abuse is a vital part for the care for people with HIV/AIDS. Various schemas can be used to offer assistance to those infected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic such as counseling, access to healthcare, to name a few.