Post by Day 4 two potential resolutions to the identified problem/issue and explain their advantages and disadvantages

Potential Resolutions

For those identified problems/issues with many causes and effects, there are potentially many solutions, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. The solutions may impact just one of the effects or may impact several effects. The goal this week is to generate as many solutions as possible based on the critical analysis of the problem created earlier. At this stage, don’t worry about whether the solution is effective. Simply generate as many potential solutions as you can. Once you have generated a list, select two potential resolutions and identify the advantages and disadvantages of each solution. You will share these with your peers; pay particular attention to their responses about which solution might work best in alleviating the problem/issue you selected.

To prepare:

• Review the “Problem Solving Template,” located in the Resources area on the left navigation bar.
• Review the causes and effects that you generated in Week 6.
• Review the critical analysis narrative that you prepared in Week 7.
• Think about some potential resolutions to your identified problem and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

With these thoughts in mind:
Post by Day 4 two potential resolutions to the identified problem/issue and explain their advantages and disadvantages. Provide specific examples.

Running head: Critical Analysis II 1

Critical Analysis II 8

Critical Analysis II: Comorbidity an Its Connection to Substance Abuse, Treatment, and Relapse

Paula King

Walden University

Capstone

Dr. Jane Lyons

July 14, 2019

Critical Analysis II:

Environmental influences are among the causes of drug abuse and mental illnesses identified in my week six assignment. The external environment surrounding a person plays a critical role in shaping a person’s behavior. Also, the impact of the environmental influences is far reaching as it may also dictate the mental health of a person. Early childhood exposure to stress and trauma may lead the child to experience mental illnesses in the future. According to the social learning theory which suggests that people learn from each other, a person adopts behaviors from the people around him or her through imitation, observation, and modeling (Rotter, Chance & Phares, 2012). With most of the human behavior being learned from observing others, an idea of how to perform and reciprocate such behavior builds up which later ends with one performing and adopting the behavior as one of their own. As a result, common behaviors are transferable from one person to another. This factor continually affects people close to drug addicts as they are likely to adopt and develop the behavior, which later affects their mental functioning.

The second factor identified as a cause of the problem is brain disorders. The brain performs a very crucial role in the body as it is the body’s control center. The mind is part of the nervous system, which includes the spinal cord and a network of nerves and neurons. Being a central component of the nervous system, the brain controls all body processes, including the activity of the muscles as well as sensory processes (Whishaw & Whishaw, 2014). Brain damage may result in changes in memory, sensitivity as well as personality. For our case, we are going to focus our attention on personality changes resulting from brain problems. People suffering from brain damage are affected by this factor as they are prone to personality changes, which may result in addiction as well as other mental problems.

The third cause of substance addiction and mental illness problem is genetic factors. Numerous studies have established that up to 50% of addiction problems are dependent on the genetic predisposition (Wang, Kapoor, & Goate, 2012). Genetic differences are responsible for the many variations observed in human beings, including height and hair color as well as other invisible traits such as immunity against certain diseases as well as addiction. The effects of this genetic cause are experienced by people coming from families with addiction history.

The epigenetic factor is the last identified cause of addiction and mental problem. Epigenetic factors are factors to do with gene expression, which lead to a variation in how the body cells respond when certain genetic information read. Gene expression may result in changes in brain functioning, which, as a result, impacts behavior (Pena, Bagot, Labonte, & Nestler, 2014). People exposed to drug exposure as well as those living in stressful environments may develop a behavioral change commonly resulting from gene expression.

In summary, the intersecting factors of environmental influences, problems related to the brain, genetic, and epigenetic weaknesses are some of the common factors that can contribute to drug abuse and mental illnesses. My week six assignment focused on the problem of drug abuse and mental illness, where I identified the causes and effects of these problems. The interaction of these two conditions continually worsens the health of a person. Drug abuse has an active link to mental illnesses as addiction leads to significant brain changes, which result in a change in a person’s desires and needs. A drug addiction problem replaces a person’s needs and desires with new priorities associated with the use of the drug. As a result, the person experiences behavioral changes and is unable to control his desires regardless of the undesirable repercussions associated with drug use, which results in similar problems to those of a person suffering from mental illnesses.

References

Pena CJ, Bagot RC, Labonte B, Nestler EJ. (2014). Epigenetic signaling in psychiatric disorders. J Mol Biol. 2014;426(20):3389-3412.

Rotter, J. B., Chance, J. E., & Phares, E. J. (2012). Applications of social learning theory of personality.

Wang J-C, Kapoor M, Goate AM. (2012). The genetics of substance dependence. Annual Rev Genomics Hum Genet. 2012; 13:241-261.

Whishaw, B. K., & Whishaw, I. Q. (2014). An introduction to brain and behavior. New York: Worth Publishers.