Introduction
Consumption of addictive psychoactive substances can be traced back to the earliest records of the human history. In ancient past, these psychoactive substances were consumed in various occasions: some priest consumed the substances during religious ceremonies; some substances such as opium were used for medicinal purposes; were consumed by the general population as they were socially accepted. People later devised various potent compounds which were easier to administer. As a result of high administration, addiction and abuse of these substances began. As early as in the 17th century, the concern of overuse of these substances and the loss of the use control – today known as addiction – had started to become an issue which was discussed (Crocq, 2016). From then, and even up to now, there has been a debate whether substance addiction is a disease or just a sin. Should the treatment of addiction be based on the moral concept or the medicinal concept? The other long pending questions are whether the addictions are caused by substances or it is caused by an individual psychology and vulnerability; should the psychoactive substances be restricted or be available to the people freely. The aim of this paper is to provide a clear history of substance addiction, discuss the current trends of the issue, discuss the societal concerns on addition, and try to relate its relevance in the counselling profession.
The History of Psychoactive Substance Use and Addiction
At least 4000 years ago, Shamans and Priests used “ethno-genic” substances so as to create a dissociative trance in their religious proceedings. Substances such as mushroom species called Amanita muscaria were commonly used by the Asian shamans. The use of Amanita muscaria was recorded up to the 8th century in the Northeastern Siberia (Crocq, 2016). Amanita muscaria was used to make Soma, which was the sacred beverage used by the Indians. Soma contained hallucinogenic compounds which they believed to have the ability to activate a state of spiritual meditation. Psychoactive substances were also used in medicinal fields. In the 9th century BC, Nepenthes pharmakov was used to treat Greek warriors (Crocq, 2016). They referred to it as the medicine of sorrow. Research has revealed that Nepenthes pharmakov was prepared from a portion of opium, and it was meant to “cure” grief and sorrow. In the 3rd Millennium BC, were using opium for various purposes such as calming crying children as they called it the medicine of “joy”. psychoactive substances such as nicotine, alcohol and caffeine were used by a significant portion of the world’s population foe millennia. These substances have penetrated into our cultural constructs and have become part of our social life. Vines were cultivated in Georgia as early as 5000 BC. Cannabis was largely consumed by the Islamic community. When the Biblical Noah came out of the Ark, he took a lot of wine and drunk.
Several psychotropic plants have been concentrated to form stronger substances which are easily administrable. By fermentation of cereals, people were able to make alcoholic beverages with a concentration of about 5% alcohol. Grapes have been fermented to form wines with a concentration of about 14%. By refining and concentrating psychotropic substances, people have been able to consume these substances of high concentration, as high as 50%, making them to become drunk easily. With high concentration and consumption of these substances, there have been tendencies of addiction. After the death of Alexander, the Great in 323 BC, the tendency of heavy drinking and consumption of psychoactive substances increased. Aristotle warned on the effect of alcohol withdrawal and said that pregnant women should not drink as it is injurious to the baby.
The term addiction is sometime credited to the Calvinist theologians. They are the first people who offered a psychological explanation of compulsive drinking which was later branded as addiction. In 1641, a Dutch physician, Dr. Nicolaes Tulp used the Calvinist theologians’ explanation to describe the process of losing control in the consumption of psychotropic substances. Even though Calvinist considered addiction as sin, Tulp gave some medical explanation for the phenomenon. This phenomenon was referred to as the loss of willful control to psychotropic substance consumption. Several journals on addiction were created in the 19th century. Emil Kraepelin was a physician who was suffering from substance addiction. In 1890s he wrote various articles on the effect of alcohol and tea in human’s life. By 1895, he was able to fight addiction and become teetotaler. The addiction has been a menace in the 20th and the 21st century. The underlying facts about addiction still remain the same.
The trends and Issues on Epidemiology of Addiction
The term epidemiology in drug abuse is used in a different way as compared to epidemiology of other infectious diseases. This is because even though some schools of thought believe that addiction is a medical condition, some do not agree to the same. There have been conflicting opinions when it comes to applying the medical models in the drug abuse and addiction issues. According to clinical researchers, there are three categories of drug behaviors, there is the drug use, drug abuse, and drug dependence. For an individual to be leveled at a category of abuse and dependence, they must have undergone through a medical diagnosis (Ganann, Ciliska, & Thomas, 2010). Drug use is just categorized in terms of the frequency and the amount of consumption. According to epidemiological researches, drug use is the first stage of the drug behavior and can be accurately and easily measured even in a non-clinical arena. It is also important to note that the drug use vary in patterns and the rate of graduation to abuse and dependence may vary in accordance with the type of drug used and the frequency and amount of consumption. So far, there has been accomplishment in the epidemiological research due to the coming up with the important aspects of drug use and abuse. There are two data system which has been formulated to measure the drug use and abuse statistics: The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse; and Monitoring and Future Study (Ganann, Ciliska, & Thomas, 2010).
The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse
A survey done on 2014 by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) was focused on the use of drugs at the household levels among individuals 12 years and above. This result was a representation of the trend from 2002 to 2014 9 (Adams, 2014). The research also examined various health issues related to addiction and drug abuse. The drugs were divided into three categories. This was done to ensure that the data represented is easily understandable and also to gauge the various effects of various drugs. The three groups included illicit drug use, tobacco use and alcohol use.
The Use of Illicit Drugs
The Use of Tobacco
In 2014, there are approximately 66.9 million Americans who were using tobacco. Among them, 55.2 million people were smoking while the remaining percentage were using it in other modes of consumption. Compared to other years, from 2002 to 2014, the number of smokers and tobacco users have reduced. This can be attributed to the various legislative restrictions which have been imposed in the use and the manufacture of tobacco products. Another reason can be due to public enlightenment. Public education on the health effects of tobacco use carry with it threatening realities. The imagination of diseases such as lung cancer have made many people stopped or avoided taking tobacco products. In 2002, 13% of adolescents were tobacco smokers. This has significantly reduced to 4.9% by 2014 (Sussman, Lisha, & Griffiths, 2014).
Alcohol Use
Disorders Associated with Substance Abuse and Addiction
Approximately 21.5 million Americans are suffering from substance abuse disorders. Out of these, 7.1 million are suffering from disorders associated with the use of alcohol; 2.6 million people are suffering from disorders caused by overconsumption of illicit drugs; while 1.8 million Americans are suffering from disorders associated with the consumption of tobacco products. Substance addiction have adverse health issues. The most common health problem among the addict are mental health issues. Approximately 43.6 million Americans are suffering from mental health disorders. Out of these, 9.8 million adults are suffering from serious health disorders. Other diseases associated with drug and substance abuse in America include Amnesia, Lung cancer, among others.
Counselling and Treatment of Addiction
Drug and substance addiction leads to mental disorders. The common disorder among the addicts are substance dependence and personality disorder. Some patients have been diagnosed by only one of the mentioned disorders, while others are diagnosed by both of them. Those who have both the disorders have been observed to be more compulsive as compared to those who have only one of them (Ta et al., 2008). These disorders can be treated in various ways. The most common way of treating mental disorders related to substance abuse is Psycho-pharmacotherapy. This involves the use of other psychoactive drugs in the treatment of the mental disorder (Kienast et al., 2015). Another treatment method is through psychotherapy. This is the most common way of treating drug addicts. This involves talking to a psychiatrics or a counseling profession over the addiction condition. Through this method, patients learn their conditions and are able to fight it more promptly. It also involves administration to rehabilitation centers where one can share their experience with other addicts.
Conclusion and Future Implications
Substance use and abuse can be traced into the history of human civilization. Psychoactive drugs and substance have been used for various purposes for millennia. With time people realized that Psychoactive substance abuse can bring overdependence which may eventually lead to health implications. Due to this reason several states and governments have put into place legislative restrictions to prevent the use of some drugs. However, drugs like marijuana are being legalized making it easily available to the users. Without the restriction in the legalization of these drugs, we are looking into a future where a big percentage of the population will be drug addicts.
Reference
Ganann, R., Ciliska, D., & Thomas, H. (2010). Expediting systematic reviews: methods and implications of rapid reviews. Implementation Science, 5(1), 56.
Ta, V. M., Juon, H. S., Gielen, A. C., Steinwachs, D., & Duggan, A. (2008). Disparities in use of mental health and substance abuse services by Asian and Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander women. The journal of behavioral health services & research, 35(1), 20-36.
Kienast, T., Stoffers, J., Bermpohl, F., & Lieb, K. (2015). Borderline personality disorder and comorbid addiction: epidemiology and treatment. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 111(16), 280.
Adams, K. M. (2014). Reflections of evidence: locating the role of data in drug policy discourse.
Sussman, S., Lisha, N., & Griffiths, M. (2014). Prevalence of the addictions: a problem of the majority or the minority?. Evaluation & the health professions, 34(1), 3-56.
Crocq, M. (2016, January 21). Historical and cultural aspects of man's relationship with addictive drugs. Retrieved May 08, 2016, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3202501/
