Individual Prevention Paper, Essay Example

Behavioral treatment is an approach where the patients play a critical role of the retreatment process. The treatment procedure is meant to assist the patient to adjust their behavior and attitudes in relation to substance abuse and advance their life skills. This process also develops the significance of the treatment and patients may stay longer in the process. Drug addiction treatment may be performed using different behavioral approaches (Robertson, Rao & David, 2003). Behavioral treatment approach is inclusive of a wide range of programs designed for patients who go to clinics to have their regular checkups. These programs may be group or individual drug counseling. Other approaches of behavioral treatment include the following:

Cognitive-this approach is a behavioral therapy designed to cater for adolescent patients with addiction problems. It is designed to assist them to be in control of situations and at some point to avoid engaging in negative behavior (Heymann & Brownsberger, 2001).

Multidimensional family therapy is an approach with the desire to assist adolescents with drug addiction problems. It also assists their families in case they are faced with the same problem. The approach governs the influential patterns and enhances the function of the overall family (Robertson, Rao & David, 2003).

The prevalence of drug use or exposure to drug use for adolescents

Based on the findings by the Canadian Addiction Survey carried out in 2010, about seventy percent of the population of youth between the age of fifteen and seventeen were already drinking alcohol and another thirty percent had already started using bhang. The starting age has lowered as per the survey. On the other hand, other studies suggest that the starting age has grown over the few previous years. However, the early use of alcohol and drugs and the aftermath problems are aspects of the delinquency that comes in the future amongst the youth. Study has that most of the addicts engage in crime just to support their addiction (Heymann & Brownsberger, 2001).

Treatment’s missions and goals

The objective of these treatment programs is to make the addict adapt to a lifestyle free from drug and crime. From recent research, it is indeed true that drug treatment usually help the patients to have a turning point in their attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs on the abuse of drugs. The primary mission is to enable them evade relapse and change their perspective of crime life and drug abuse. Legal pressure plays a significant role in assisting the addicts to seek treatment and stick to the treatment. The moment they are engaged in the treatment even if they did not have the motive, they eventually see its significance and participate in the treatment process (Caulkins, Pacula, Paddock, & Chiesa 2002).

Activities used to enable the person to reach his/her goals

Exercise has been greatly applied to achieve the above goal and mission. Exercise has also been seen to reduce the self-administration of drugs by reducing the aspects of co-morbid risks linked with disorders of substance abuse. Available books suggest that exercise has been a factor of reducing the depression measure and anxiety among the youth addicts population (Robertson, Rao, & David 2003).

Effectiveness of the treatment according to the interviewee

School-based drug prevention programs targeting students was seen to reduce the abuse of drugs among youth. Generally, the programs based on schools have proven to have negotiations done by professionals, intense contact, number of students and the booster sessions for the adolescents who are at the risk on a later stage of the intervention. These programs are effective and promising and at times, they borrow support by collaborating with the community with components of intervention with commitment of work and using the instilled knowledge, which can relate well and engage the youth (Heymann & Brownsberger, 2001).

Conclusion

I truly agree with the information provided by my interviewer. This is because youth tend to spend most of their time in the environs of the school. These learning institutions play a significant role in equipping the students with knowledge and skills to deter them from abusing drugs. The school-based programs have been successful in reducing the rate of crime among the youth. Schools are a potential environment for implementing prevention programs meant to reduce the factors of risk and increase the factors of protection of drug use and abuse not to forget delinquency in the future amongst the youth (Caulkins, Pacula, Paddock & Chiesa, 2002).

References

Caulkins, J., Pacula, R., Paddock, S., & Chiesa, J. R. (2002). School-Based Drug Prevention: What Kind of Drug Use Does It Prevent?. Santa Monica: RAND.

Heymann, P. B., & Brownsberger, W. N. (2001). Drug addiction and drug policy: The struggle to control dependence. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

Robertson, E. B., Rao, S. A. & David, S. L. (2003). Preventing drug use among children and adolescents: A research-based guide for parents, educators and community leaders. In brief. Bethesda, MD: Department of Health and Human Services.