Addiction Movie Analysis

Addiction Movie Analysis

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University of Phoenix

Addiction Movie Analysis

Types of Addictions

There are various types of addictions out lined from the onset of the first scene of the film. The first scene showed two girls, who are the main characters of the film smoking marijuana in their new neighborhood they moved to. The second type of addiction that I noticed in the film was a cocaine addiction. This would go on to be the centerpiece of the movie, showing the main characters takin this drug throughout the course of the film. The third type of addiction that I noticed was a sex addiction. The last type of addiction that was on display was an alcohol addiction. All the drugs were used simultaneously throughout the film.

How the Addiction Affected the Main Character

The marijuana, alcohol, and cocaine seemed to affect the main character of the film in a way where she was open to dealing with strangers and she was very naïve to the things going on around her. I think that the drugs made her mentality carefree and made her feel like she could trust others to be in her life. The main character was a free spirit that was willing to try anything. The drugs seem to enhance all the character flaws of the main character in the film, which lead to behavior that many parents today would deem as unacceptable to the point where they may have disowned family members.

The addiction that the main character had to cocaine ironically was accepted by her boss at a media company in New York in the film. The boss introduced her to cocaine, and from that point she became a regular user of the drug. The boss used that to get personal benefits that were not work related. The film doesn’t really show her having any suffering work relationships with coworkers. She did however develop a relationship with a drug dealer in the neighborhood, who she introduced to her boss at a work function. The relationship she developed with the drug dealer became romantic in nature, which made her work boss very jealous due to his intent with the main character. The relationship with the drug dealer started to affect things with her best friend, who was also her roommate. The main character started to engage in questionable behavior every night, which started to affect her sleeping habits and she began being late to work. Her life started to fully go downhill when the drug dealer was arrested, and she began to do anything to find ways to help him get out of jail. Her behavior became so bad that his friends and her roommate stopped helping her, as she was risking the safety and freedom of everyone with the drugs she was around.

Long Term Health Problems of Cocaine Addicts

Specific routes of cocaine administration can produce their own adverse effects. Regularly snorting cocaine can lead to loss of sense of smell, nosebleeds, problems with swallowing, hoarseness, and an overall irritation of the nasal septum leading to a chronically inflamed, runny nose. Smoking crack cocaine damages the lungs and can worsen asthma. People who inject cocaine have puncture marks called tracks, most commonly in their forearms, and they are at risk of contracting infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis C. They also may experience allergic reactions, either to the drug itself or to additives in street cocaine, which in severe cases can result in death.

Cocaine damages many other organs in the body. It reduces blood flow in the gastrointestinal tract, which can lead to tears and ulcerations. Many chronic cocaine users lose their appetite and experience significant weight loss and malnourishment. Cocaine has significant and well-recognized toxic effects on the heart and cardiovascular system. Chest pain that feels like a heart attack is common and sends many cocaine users to the emergency room. Cocaine use is linked with increased risk of stroke, as well as inflammation of the heart muscle, deterioration of the ability of the heart to contract, and aortic ruptures.

In addition to the increased risk for stroke and seizures, other neurological problems can occur with long-term cocaine use. There have been reports of intracerebral hemorrhage, or bleeding within the brain, and balloon-like bulges in the walls of cerebral blood vessels. Movement disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, may also occur after many years of cocaine use. Generally, studies suggest that a wide range of cognitive functions are impaired with long-term cocaine use—such as sustaining attention, impulse inhibition, memory, making decisions involving rewards or punishments, and performing motor tasks. (NIDA, 2016)

How Would I Confront the Addiction?

Keeping everything in the context of the film, there would really be no real way for me to approach or combat the issue of the cocaine addiction. The environment and the mentality of the character allowed for the use of drugs to be viewed as normal and something that was recreational in nature. I have never had to physically confront anyone about an addiction or drug problem, even though I have life experience where I have lived in environments where family members had substance abuse issues in the past. There are so many factors to consider when thinking about how to approach someone with a serious issue of this nature, and sometimes the best thing to do is get outside help from experts who have experience with the mental and psychologically aspects of addiction.

Addicted Individual Analysis

In the film, the addicted individual was not using others to blame her addiction on and she didn’t blame or use others as a scapegoat to justify her behavior. It seemed that she was someone that was used to drugs being an everyday escape and the addiction wasn’t deemed as a problem until the latter end of the film. The main character in the film does recognize how the drugs affected her everyday life, and she was accepting the responsibility for her actions. She would carry on with good and bad behavior, and she was always aware of what might happen because of her actions in the workplace, at home, or doing recreational activities that she enjoyed. The addictions portrayed in the film seemed to highlight that the main characters wanted to enjoy the pleasures of life, and the film certainly showed the good and bad side of the addictions.

Treatments Available

SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is SAMHSA’s National Helpline?

SAMHSA’s National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357), (also known as the Treatment Referral Routing Service) is a confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year, information service, in English and Spanish, for individuals and family members facing mental and/or substance use disorders. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations. Callers can also order free publications and other information. (SAMHSA, 2017)

Caron Treatment Centers for Sex/Eating/Gambling Addictions

Caron believes that specialized screenings, comprehensive assessments, individual and group addiction counseling and educational lectures are effective strategies when treating addicts and their families. Our programs involve a daily 12-Step curriculum while addressing multiple addictions and to promoting a culture of peer support.

We believe that quality addiction care is patient-centered, rooted in the 12-Step tradition, and focused on the whole person. Caron’s comprehensive behavioral healthcare treatment and addiction rehabilitation provides screening, assessment, education and treatment for chemically dependent patients and their families who may also be struggling with co-existing compulsive behaviors or addictions. Commonly identified compulsive behaviors or addictions in this population are nicotine and caffeine addiction, problematic gambling, eating disorders, work addiction, and sex addiction or compulsive sexual behaviors. (Caron, 2018)

Self-Help/Recovery Support Groups

Self-help groups, also known as mutual help, mutual aid, or recovery support groups, play a vital role in substance abuse treatment in the United States, and research has shown that active involvement in support groups significantly improves the likelihood of remaining clean and sober.

In a self-help group, the members share a common problem, often a common disease or addiction. Self-help groups can occur in a wide variety of forms, from two individuals sharing experience and coping strategies, to small groups gathering in community meeting rooms, to large, incorporated organizations offering information, support and advocacy services. (NCADD, 2018)

References

NIDA. (2016, May 6). Cocaine. Retrieved from on 2018, February 3

2018. Retrieved from Caron

NCADD. Self-Help Recovery/Support Groups. 2018. Retrieved from

SAMSHA. (2017, 09 15) Retrieved from SAMSHA

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