ADDICTION
Important Vocabulary and Main Concepts
Addiction KWL

What do we KNOW or think we know about
addiction?
 Think,
“Pair”, Share
 Share several ideas with entire class


What do we Want to find out about addiction?
Throughout our addiction lesson we will summarize
what we Learned in the third column. Feel free to
add addictional information to the K or W column,
too.
Let’s start in our text…

Read together pg. 295-298
Read codependent roles note sheeti
Start thinking about what we really know…

Addiction Thought Questions
 Write down several ideas that come to your mind when I ask
you the following questions. We will discuss as a class.
 1.)
What are some common problems/stresses people
face today? What do they do to cope with these
problems?
 2.) Why are some people more prone to
addiction/addictive behaviors than other people?
 3.) Why is our society considered an “addictive”
society?
Addiction Thought Questions

Continued from previous slide
 4.)
How does our society encourage/discourage
addictive behaviors?
 5.) What do you think are the most common addictions
in our society? Why do you think these are so common?
 6.) What do you think people could do to avoid
addictive behaviors?
 7.) What do you think parents could do to discourage
children from becoming addicted?
Key Vocabulary/Main Concepts
Start Notes*
Addiction

Definition of Addiction
A
habit that grows into dependency on a drug or
activity.
 Does
not have to involve a negative activity/substance
 Occurs when someone loses interest in other things because
they are so attracted to a sensation/activity.
 Becomes the focus, consequences do not matter
Behaviors

Excessive behaviors
 Go
far beyond normal bounds of that activity
 Can

you think of an example?
Impulsive behaviors
 Demand
immediate gratification that moment the desire
hits
 Can

you think of an example?
Compulsive behaviors
 Acts
that are repeated over and over again to an
unnatural level
 Can
you think of an example?
Addiction

Tolerance
 Need
for increasing amounts of a substance or activity
to satisfy the craving or to produce the same effect

Withdrawal
 Occurs
when the drug or activity is suddenly cut off
 Symptoms
include cramps, shaking, spasms, nausea, moods
swings, irritability.

Clip from Basketball diaries, start @ Candy Shop.
 *Basketball
diaries
Downhill Slide
Color
assignments
On each
piece of
paper write
the following
in the
specified
color:
Three different people who you like a lot
Three things/possessions that you regard as
special
Three different activities in which you enjoy
participating
Three personal attributes, abilities, talents or
characteristics about yourself that you feel
good about
Downhill Slide

Addiction Process – 4 steps
1.
2.
3.
4.

Experimentation
Regular Use
Preoccupation
Dependency
Teens – these steps can happen in as little as 6-18
months due to the still-developing nature of the
teen bodies

Discussion Qs for activity:

What:
1.
How hard was it to choose 3 people who you like a lot?
2.
How hard was it to choose 3 possession to write down?
3.
How hard was it to choose 3 activities to write down?
4.
How hard was it to choose 3 personal attributes to write down?
So What:
1.
From which of the 4 categories was it most difficult to choose which square to tear up? Why?
2.
How did you feel as your pieces of paper were being torn up?
3.
How did the shortening of time you had to choose which cards to tear up impact your decision?
4.
How was it different when someone else chose the papers to tear up for you?
5.
How does this activity relate to a person who is going through the 4 stages of addiction?
6.
How does this activity show the loss of control an addicted person experiences?
7.
How does this activity show the consequences of addiction?
Now What:
1.
What can we do to avoid becoming addicted?
2.
If we know someone who is becoming or is already addicted, how can we best help them?
True Causes of Addiction

Lies within the personalities of the addicts
 Emotions
 Genetics
 Environment
 Beliefs
 Personality
characteristics
 Behavior patterns

Risk Factors
True Causes of Addiction

Lies within the personalities of the addicts
 Emotions
 Genetics
 Environment
 Beliefs
 Personality
characteristics
 Behavior patterns

Risk Factors
Addiction Cycle


Begins with emotional
need
Next, magical belief
 The
rush of confidence
following a drug or
activity induced high
seems like “magic” to
addict

Behavior which gets
out of control
Personality Traits of Addict

Low frustration tolerance
 Amount
of stress one can tolerate and manage in a
healthy manner
 For
some the urge to escape frustration causes them to seek an
escape

Feelings of inferiority

Believing you are not good as others
 Usually
a feeling of being over protected, spoiled, or
neglected as a child.
Personality Traits of Addict

Fearfulness
 Causes
person to seek escape, comfort or relief
 Excessive, impulsive, and compulsive behavior may
follow

Unrelieved Boredom
 Can
create vision of pointless future, leading to desire
to find an escape
 Accounts for much drug abuse among young people
Personality Traits of Addicts

Powerlessness
 Sense
of lack of control over one’s life
 May lead to sense of hopelessness or failure
 Drug or activity may seem to bring feelings of strength
or assertiveness

Emotional Dependency
 Tendency
to look for help from outside oneself instead
of using one’s own strength and intelligence to handle
difficult or unpleasant situations.
Family and Friends

Important factors in influencing addictive behavior
 Parents
with additive behaviors may pass them on to
children
 Over-protective/domineering parents keep children
from becoming self-reliant or self confident
 Poor
relationships between parents are common in families
in which addictions occur
 Peer
Pressure can influence in a positive and/or
negation way
ROLES with addicts Friends/Families



See page 460 health book
See codependence
Enabling activity
Codependent Survival Roles

Chief Enabler
 The
role of the chief enabler in the family is to provide
responsibility.
 Often
spouse or parent of chemically dependent person
 Closest or most depended on by addict
 With
the growth of the illness comes the development of
a set of survival defenses for the enabler






Attacking directly
Denying
Blaming
Daydreaming
Forgetting
Rationalizing
Codependent Survival Roles

Hero
 The
role of the hero is to provide self-worth for the family
 Person
who can see/hear more of what is really happening in
the family and begins to feel responsible for the family pain.
 Tries hard to make things better for the family
 Works diligently to improve the situation
 Due to the progressive nature of addiction, the hero is always
losing ground and feels consistently inadequate.

Feeling of being inadequate are well hidden by obvious visible
success of hero
Codependent Survival Roles

Scapegoat
 The
role is to provide distraction and focus to the family
 In
the family public eye
 Learned that he/she is rewarded for how one performs
 Doesn’t work as hard as the hero to prove self worth, but pulls
away from family and looks for feelings of belonging
elsewhere.
 Gets much attention for destructive ways




Running away, refusing to be part of the family
Getting pregnant
Using chemicals
Being stubborn and withdrawn
Codependent Survival Roles

Lost Child
 Role
is to offer relief
 Learned
not to make close connections in the family
 Spends much time being alone or quietly busy
 Safest role and likely not to cause trouble for self or others
 Most people don’t notice this role (Lost child is just there)
 One child the family doesn’t have to worry about.
Codependent Survival Roles

The Mascot
 Role
is to provide fun and humor
 Family
member who brings a little fun into the family
 No one takes this person seriously

Believe there would be limited understanding of anything too
serious
 Often
cute, fun to be around, and able to use chare and
humor to survive in the painful family system.
The Face of Teen Addiction

Dylan’s Story
Getting over addiction


Myths of addiction and help
Detoxification
 “Drying

out” or becoming drug free
Support Groups (pg. 146)
 Group
which helps addicts and family cope with
addiction and recovery proves
 Role of family and friends

Relapse
 Why
does this happen?