Dan and Mary have one son, James, who is 15 years old. James has been caught stealing from the local market numerous times, and he took his parents’ car out for the evening without their permission. James still experiences neck pain from a car accident that he and his mother were involved in two years prior. You learn that he is taking prescription pain medication that is not prescribed, and you have also noticed that Mary comes to the sessions intoxicated. James states that he does not talk to his parents and that he uses the pain medication to help him cope with his family life.
- Identify the roles that you see James, Dan, and Mary having in this family.
- What behaviors do you think are related to Mary’s drinking?
- What are the social, economic, and physiological factors that James presents due to his addiction?
- Identify at least one factor that one of your peers made that is different from your own, and comment on it. Identify another peer who chose a similar factor, and compare and contrast your answers.
To complete this assignment, review the Discussion Rubric document.
reply 1: Jessica Hendon
- Identify the roles that you see James, Dan, and Mary having in this family.
- James is the son and he is coping with his mothers drinking issues, most likely she’s an alcoholic or has some alcohol abuse issues. From the not mentioning of the father it would seem to me if I was to guess he is either not home often because he is the sole provider or for other reasons. Which means the father son bonding that James needs as a young male coming into adulthood. These are important ages for a teenager. James is the defiant teenager that is committing criminal actives either from the response form the stress at home or because he is that intoxicated from the pills he’s taking and commits the crimes once he high already. I would be interested to know what James was stealing to maybe gat a better understanding of is to the why on stealing those items. Mary, seems to be suffering the Negative consequences from heavily drinking. She comes to her sons meetings drunk or buzzed. I’m guessing she drove them there too and she already had an accident, this clearly is neglect by thinking this is ok not only to subject herself to this danger but her child and others on the road more importantly. This family has clear addiction issues with multiple members.
- What behaviors do you think are related to Mary’s drinking?
- It’s hard to say, but from the lack of mentioning of the husband/father Dan at all, if I were to have to assume either he is always gone and emotionally unavailable to both Mary and James. Or either Dan is abusive and drinks heavily as well or maybe uses some other type of substance which causes Mary to continue to drink and those problems have found their way down the family tree to James now with the pill taking and criminal activity.
- What are the social, economic, and physiological factors that James presents due to his addiction>?
- The social factors James presents due to his addiction and his family life are distant and withdrawn. He has a dislike for both parents so again that makes me think that the father is an unspoken part of the equation in this family, probably from abusive tendencies or using himself. Economic factors that are present just from what is described is they may not have much money to live on from the parents addiction or lack of employment. I would be curious to know if James was stealing food. This would reinforce the lack of food in the house or that James just doesn’t want to be around the family to eat or he isn’t aloud to eat only when they say so. That would be very disturbing to say the least. But these are real truths of children in the family with parents with active addiction problems. Physiological factors of James’s using is that he is saying he’s in pain and this may be true but the pain could be a manifest from his addiction as well. When you use pain pills it lowers your pain threshold and this would make his hurt back hurt longer and slow down recovery of it too. It is more then likely that James is physically and psychologically addicted to the pills he is taking. He is responding to his situation with the only tools he’s ever seen used in his family which is using alcohol and or drugs to deal with the problems in life, This is how James is learning to manage these unwanted and foreign emotions. I’m hoping that by starting therapy and maybe treatment early James can recover from this situation and learn how to manage life with the right tools that are needed to function and live a healthy lifestyle. The parents are adults but James is just a boy and if this environment was to believed to be harmful to James the right step would be to call the proper authorities and report the findings. This would be my assumptions of this case but to say definite on most of this situation I would have to have further meetings with the family or more information to say for sure.
Resource
Capuzzi D., Stauffer M. D. (2020). Foundations of Addictions Counseling. 4th edition. Pearson Education
reply 2: Katie Hillard
Class,
Based on the hypothetical case study this week, each family member plays a role in the addictions and issues going on. Mary, the mother, was involved in a car accident a few years back and has since developed a drinking problem. James, the son, who was also in the accident, has since developed an addiction to prescription drugs in response to his physical pain and emotional pain dealing with his new family functions.
Mary is an alcoholic who shows up to the sessions under the influence. Her addiction greatly impacts her son and her husband. Mary’s addiction has made James become the scapegoat in the family. Since his mother displays the attitude of “I don’t care” showing up to sessions intoxicated, James mimics that same attitude, resulting in his own addiction to pain killers and stealing habits. James needs more support and structure from his family, and he expresses this by saying he takes the pain medication to cope with his family dynamic. Dan, the father, has not presented himself with any addictive behaviors in this case study, however, that does not mean he is not playing a role. Dan is possibly an enabler by drinking with or around his wife, and/or making excuses for their son’s behavior. When Dan allows Mary to give in to her addictions, he is communicating with his son that it is okay for him to as well.
I think all of James’s behaviors are related to Mary’s drinking. It is possible James’s addiction began with the need to resolve his neck pain, however, his rebellious lifestyle would still need explanation. It is due to the lack of stability and structure in his family that James has spiraled to where he is. If Dan and Mary were both supportive, clean parents after the accident, then James could have leaned on them for support about his neck pain or emotional trauma. Mary was unable to provide this structure for her son and actually caused more pain and trauma by becoming an addict which also related to Dan being unavailable for his son by either being in denial or being too preoccupied with Mary.
Since James is taking prescription medication without a prescription, we know he is getting these drugs by people he knows within the community, such as school. He is also getting in trouble with the law by stealing at local markets and taking his parent’s car without permission or a license. Because of this, it is safe to assume that James is surrounded by a bad influence social group. James probably sees other children his age doing the things he is doing and feels that since there are more people doing this, it is normal or okay behavior. Jame’s behavior has economic consequences as well. By stealing from the local markets, James is creating a loss of profit and hardship for the owners. It isn’t mentioned in the case study how James is paying for his unprescribed medication, but he is certainly not getting them for free. James is not at an age that is common for teenagers to have part-time jobs, however, based on his behavior it does not seem like he would be employed anyway. This leaves us to assume James is stealing money from his parents or selling the items he stole illegally. Physiologically, James is addicted to pain medication that will over time, negatively impact his health and potentially kill him.
James and Mary both have long roads to recovery ahead of them. They will need Dan to abstain from being an enabler and provide support. Mary needs to recognize that her addiction is causing the negative behaviors of her son, which she can potentially turn in to motivation to get clean. With the support and effort from himself and his parents, James can seek professional help regarding his physical neck pain and learn to emotionally relay on his parents as a coping mechanism instead of medication.
Stay safe,
Katie
References
Capuzzi, D., Stauffer M.D. (2020). Foundations of Addiction Counseling, 4th edition. Pearson Education.
SNHU COCE Assistive Technology. (2016). PSY- 2–: Common Roles Played in Alcoholic Families. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=SI8nvUkmRuA
0 comments