Addiction or substance abuse is nothing new as one of the human tendencies. However, it is since the middle of the nineteenth century that drug addiction and substance abuse turned out to be a dangerous peril that has, in multiple ways, not only undermined the human civilization but also dehumanized mankind at times. The rate at which the number of the substance abusers is increasing is even more alarming. In the United States and in Europe the misuse of Hallucinogens increased remarkably during the span from 1988 to 2003. The rate of the High School students reporting lifetime Hallucinogens use increased to 36% from 7.7%. Most amazingly, lifetime risk at 2003 was estimated at 14.5% (Gelder, Harrison and Cowen, 2006). The problem with substance abuse is that it not only affects the human body but also the human mind, as a result of which, the addicted person starts having a lot of problems not only in his or her personal life but also at work places. Therefore, the problems caused by substance abuse never remains confined within the personal sphere, rather, it affects a wider range of space including the industry as well as the society that the person is involved with. Let us now have an overview of substance abuse and different aspects related to it.
What is substance abuse?
Substance abuse refers to a sense of dependence on a drug or overindulgence in it, leading to such impacts on man that are detrimental to the physical as well as mental health of the consumer and also to the welfare of the others associated with the person (Mosby, 1998). ‘Substance abuse’, as a term, has often been used to refer to drug addiction or drug abuse. But the fact remains that substance abuse is quite distinct from drug addiction. Substance abuse is basically consumption or use of substances in a way that hardly conforms with the socio-cultural conventions.
Why is substance abuse a problem?
According to the concept of substance abuse, as stated in Mosby's Medical, Nursing, & Allied Health Dictionary, the person who falls victim to substance abuse is affected physically as well as mentally. Researches show that substance abusers have been suffering from depression, lack of the enthusiasm for activity, declination of grades and forgetfulness. It has also been found that the person habituated with substance abuse, have grown suicidal tendencies.
Apart from these problems that can be categorized as mental illness, there are many other problems that substance abuse results in. One can become more and more selfish and the least caring about anything or anyone else. The tendency to take risks including sexual risks gets high. Resorting to theft or other criminal activities is also nothing unusual. The family of the person will also remarkably suffer for his or her taking to substance abuse.
It must be, by now, quite evident that all of these problems negatively influence not only the person but also others associated with him. What is even more important is that the industry that the person is involved with, suffers in ways more than one. A fall in the productivity of the employee is not the only problem that the industry suffers for any of its employees getting used to substance abuse. It has to be kept in mind that an employee who has taken to substance abuse can affect the very work atmosphere in the work place. As a result a large share of the entire productivity of the industry may badly suffer. there have been innumerable case studies as well as clinical reports that have been unanimous in demonstrating that a single employee with the habit of substance abuse or drug addiction or alcohol dependence can have a “significant impact not only on his or her own productivity and medical or legal costs but also on those of others – both specific coworkers and business operations” (Joel B. Bennett, G. Shawn Reynolds, and Wayne E. K. Lehman, Page 31)Though the problems at the personal or familial level are, in no way, less important, the huge loss that the industries suffer for its employees taking to substance abuse becomes obviously more prevalent. There is, therefore, no scope for the minimum doubt that substance abuse is one of the most threatening concern for the entire society of the present time.
Causes of substance abuse
A person can grow the habit of substance abuse in such various ways that it is really impossible to identify and list all the factors. However, there are certain risk factors that may lead person to take to substance abuse.
There are various personal as well as familial events that can increase one’s likeliness to abuse the substances. A chaotic home environment is one of the major reasons in this regard. Lack of proper parenting and nurturing is also one of the most possible reasons that play important roles in inspiring one to resort to substance abuse. If a person grows up in an environment characterized by lack of attachment with the parents, or by utter negligence, it is most probable that he or she would start taking drugs or abusing substances from adolescence.
There are also some other factors that contribute to the increase of the likeliness of a person’s abusing drugs. If a person is either shy by behavior or aggressive by nature in the classroom or in the association that he or she keeps, there is a higher risk of tending to start substance abuse. Other reason take into account poor performance in the school, poor coping skills with the society and perception of the approval of the behavior related to use of drugs. However, the most important and most obvious factor that have been found to be responsible in most of the cases, is nothing but association with a deviant peer group.
Why do people abuse substance in the work place?
Too much of stress is one of the reasons for which people resort to substance abuse. Considering the hectic hurry and sick business of the modern times it can never be denied that people belonging to any social or economic status have to undergo a lot of stressful time, especially in the spheres related to work. Again, it is a human instinct to get rid of the stress in some way or the other. Considering the general trend, substance abuse appears to be the easiest way to get unstressed, as most of the people think. Tremendous workload, non-cooperation from the coworkers, lack of autonomy, and even the perception of the absence of distributive justice can make an employee feel too stressed and burnout. In such cases the employees may feel like quitting the job. Again, it may not always possible for one to quit job for several reasons including his or her financial or familial conditions.
What effect does it have on families?
It is impossible that a person abuses substances and his or her family is not affected by it. There are a number of ill effects that the family of the person who abuses substances has to suffer.
Financial problem is the most obvious effect of the one of its member’s substance abuse. The substance abusers always have the tendency to spend the maximum amount of money for buying substances. If the substance abuser happens to be the earning member of the family, he starts thinking that he has every right to spend as much money on buying substances as he wishes. If there is any other family member who turns to be his or her accomplice, it just adds to the financial crisis of the family to a large extent.
The very family environment gets affected if any of its members is a substance abuser. Especially, the effect on the children in the family seems to be the worst. It is very natural that the presence of the substance abusers in a family increases the likeliness of the children to take up substance abuse very soon. Moreover, it has been found through a number of researches that the substance abusers have tremendously poor parenting skills. It also increases aggression, sensation–seeking, delinquency, impulsivity, hyperactivity and negative activity among the children, especially among the adolescents (G. D. Shoal and P. R. Giancola, 2003, Page: 221 - 233).
The effect substance abuse has on people at work place
It is not that the workplace of the substance abuser remains unaffected by the ill habit of the employee. The direct way in which the workplace gets affected by the substance abuser is the lack of productivity, leading to the financial loss of the industry. Moreover, the behavior or the selfish nature, as it happens in most of the cases, creates lots of inconvenient situations in the workplace. What is even more important the substance abusers are most likely to get involved in and in creating negative relationships in the workplace, which is even worse.
Interventions
So far as intervention to the problem of substance abuse within the workplace is concerned, the best suggestion seems to come from Mrazek and Habberty as mentioned in ‘Understanding Employee Alcohol and Other Drug Use: Toward a Multilevel Approach’ by Joel B. Bennett, G. Shawn Reynolds, and Wayne E. K. Lehman (Page: 41), who indicated there should be different levels of interventions for substance abuse. Universal preventive interventions should be targeted to the whole population of a group. Selective preventive interventions should be used for the individuals or the small group who have the higher chance of developing the disorder.
Support at the workplace is also one of the most effective ways of interventions to prevent substance abuse. If the employees work as a team and practices thought provoking exercises (New Learning Tool, Training and Development, December 1996, Page: 62), it will add to the fun that employees have at the workplaces. In that case there would be little possibility of the employees getting stressed or exhausted.
There are a number of substances that do not have a very favorable legal status. In these cases it is not too tough to normalize situations when there is an instance of an employee is detected to have a habit of substance abuse. Attention of the management and the human resource departments can also be an effective intervention to prevent employees from abusing substances. It has been found that “compared to the other workplace factors, substance abuse is not an ongoing or salient concern that has gained sufficient among managers and human resources” (Joel B. Bennett, G. Shawn Reynolds, and Wayne E. K. Lehman, Page: 46).
Counseling also happens to be one of the main effective interventions that can prevent substance abuse. Proper counseling can make the abuser realize the ill effect that his abusing substances is causing. The typical way of the counselors will definitely have some healing impact on the substance abuser. If intervention for preventing substance abuse only at workplace is the concern, employee assistance program and applicant drug testing can be two very methodical means (Chester S. Spell and Terry C. Blum, 2005, Page: 1131). In these cases the risk of recruiting such people would be reduced. Even if some one us there wit the habit of substance abuse, he or she can be helped by the due employee assistance program.
There are some barriers that people face in the process of intervention for preventing substance abuse. It is for this reason that substance abuse at workplaces has not been annihilated. One of the barriers is the fact that the methods or the interventions are too stereotype to have some effect on the substance abusers. New and unique methods of intervention for preventing substance abuses have become badly necessary.
Response of the supervisor
The supervisor at the workplace has to play a responsible role in adopting interventions to prevent substance abuse at workplaces. They have to motivate the employees so that they do not feel stressed and do not fail to perform their job duties. The work should be distributed in such a way that the employees should have some time away from work for themselves. Again, the work should be distributed keeping in mind that this would make the employees fell that they are a part of the group. They will, in that case, find interest in participating in the group activities.
Strategies for children and their families
The families of the substance abusers should be made aware of the ill effects of substance abuses, as an intervention to prevent substance abuses. Apart from applying different methods of preventing substance abuse such as proper treatment or counseling, there should also be community support programs so that the families are strengthened more in fighting substance abuse. A story of the success of one family may inspire another. There should also be some interventions so that the families are able to overcome the barriers tat the families face in preventing substance abuse by themselves.
Afterwords
Though there are a number of methods for preventing substance abuse, including treatment, counseling, spreading general awareness, it seems that the existing intervention methods for preventing such abuses are not quite enough. In fact, much care has to be taken during the development of the personality of a person from the very childhood, the chances of getting introduced to or habituated with substance abuse can be avoided. If the socialization of the child is processed in such a proper way, there remains the least possibility of the child or the person taking to substance abuse for any reason.
References:
1. Gelder, M. Harrison, P. and Cowen, P. (2006), Shorter Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry Oxford University Press.
2. Chester S. Spell and Terry C. Blum, 2005, Page: 1131, Adoption of Workplace Substance Abuse Prevention Programs: Strategic Choice and Institutional Perspectives
3. Joel B. Bennett, G. Shawn Reynolds, and Wayne E. K. Lehman, 2002 (Page: 31, 41. 46) Understanding Employee Alcohol and Other Drug Use: Toward a Multilevel Approach
4. New Learning Tool, Training and Development, December 1996, Page: 62
5. G. D. Shoal and P. R. Giancola, 2003, Page: 221 – 233
6. Mosby's Medical, Nursing, & Allied Health Dictionary. Edition 5, 1998
