Substance Abuse on Campus

SUBSTANCE ABUSE ON CAMPUS

Outline:

1) Introduction

2) BASIC ISSUES AND MODELS

AÐ'.... Alcohol Involvement over the Life Span: A Developmental Perspective on Etiology and Course.

BÐ'.... Neuropsychological Effects of Substance Abuse.

CÐ'.... The Disease Model of Addiction.

DÐ'.... Alternative Theories of Substance Abuse Implications for Understanding Substance Abuse and Dependence in College Students.

3) POLICIES, PROGRAMMING, AND PREVENTION

AÐ'.... Policy Development: An Essential Element in Addressing Campus Substance Abuse Issues.

BÐ'.... From Reactive to Proactive Prevention: Promoting Ecology of Health on Campus.

CÐ'.... Prohibition and Freshman Residence Halls: A Study of the Enforcement of University Alcohol Policy.

4) ASSESSMENT INTERVENTION, AND TREATMENT

A)Ð'.... Assessing Alcohol Problems in Student Populations.

B)Ð'.... Intervening with Substance Abusing College Students.

C)Ð'.... Treatment of Substance Abuse Problems.

D)Ð'.... The Role of Self-Help Groups in College Students' Recovery from Substance Abuse and Related Problems.

5) CONCLUSION

6) REFERENCES

The abuse of alcohol and other drugs remains the number one public health problem for colleges and universities across the United States. Alcohol misuse poses a serious threat to the intellectual, psychological and physical development of traditional-age undergraduate college students. College students who engage in alcohol and other drug use have been shown to experience significantly higher rates of motor vehicle fatalities, unsafe sex, and emergency care visits, sexual assaults and poor academic performance.

BASIC ISSUES AND MODELS

The developmental perspective is concerned with understanding the growth,

maturation, and decline of the individual organism, from conception, through birth, and

through all stages of the life cycle. Alcohol is a substance that is used for pleasure,

celebration, relief, and even sometimes for escape. A truly developmental approach to

understanding these patterns of use would require us to make inferences about the

discovery and early consumption of this ubiquitous substance, far back in prehistoric

time. Somewhere in that prehistory, humankind decided to put energy into figuring out

how to manufacture ethanol, and we have been doing so ever since. Out of consideration

of space, however, this researcher will skip what we know of earlier epochs and move

instead too more recent history, first to the seventeenth century, then to the nineteenth

and

twentieth, paying particular attention to the disease theory of alcoholism. The evidence

for a substantial degree of instability/epiphenomenality of alcohol problems over the life

course is now significant. Heavily based upon population rather than clinical samples, it

ranges from studies of youth to studies of adults. In the area of substance abuse behavior

neurophysiologists are interested in the antecedents of abuse (why do they drink so

much?), the patterns of abuse (how much do they consume over how much time?), the

cognitive consequences of abuse (what cognitive components have been affected?), the

emotional consequences of abuse (are they developing psychological problems related to

abuse?), the permanency of behavioral consequences (is the memory permanently

damaged?), and intervention strategies for both the abusive behavior and the potential

consequences (how can we change their behavior and work around the deficits created by

their abuse?). The view that alcoholism and other addictions are disease states is

pervasive in the United States today. Though many people are ambivalent about the

concept, upward of 90 percent of Americans agree that alcoholism is an illness ( Caetano,

1987). The disease (or medical) model is the foundation for professional practice in most

alcoholism and substance-abuse treatment centers and the personal recovery philosophy

for a majority of counselors in the field ( Sobell & Sobell, 1987). Furthermore, the model

is strongly endorsed by the membership of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), other related

twelve step programs, and by the medical community. These groups are largely

responsible for the shift in public attitude from scorn and punishment to the expectation

that the alcoholic or addict will be offered treatment. Without