Country Strong

“Country Strong” tells the story of Kelly Canter, a country music super-star who unfortunately suffers from addiction to alcohol and prescription medication. Kelly publicly displayed her addiction at a televised concert and was forced to go to rehab. At the time of her drunken display, she was 5 months pregnant and she lost the baby. She was let out of rehab a month early because her family and doctors convinced her she was “better.” She immediately began touring again, with disastrous results. Kelly drank so much before her first two concerts that she could not perform.   She pulled it together for her third concert, but, afterwards, succumbed to her addiction and committed suicide. I chose this movie because I thought it was a good depiction of the effects of an addiction and I genuinely like this movie.

There were several different reactions to Kelly’s addiction. Her husband/manager got her out of rehab early even though he knew her “legs were still shaky.” When she was back on tour and began drinking again, he ignored it. He thought her performing would solve her problems, not realizing that the pressure of performing was the cause of the addiction, not the solution. Kelly’s sponsor/boyfriend knew that Kelly needed help and tried to give it to her. However, he also had a tendency to baby her, wanting to be her savior. Kelly’s fans seemed to love her despite her problems. However, there were some who hated her and thought she was a “baby killer.”

Throughout the movie, I felt empathetic toward Kelly. She knew that she was not ready to leave rehab and perform again. She tried to tell her husband this, but he wanted everything to go back to the way it was. When she could not cope with the pressure, she began drinking again. When Kelly wasn’t drinking, you could catch a glimpse of the woman she used to be: a strong, fearless person with a good heart. The only time I was slightly mad was when I learned she drank while she was pregnant. It reminded me that people who suffer from addictions can have two very different personalities.

I think the movie did a good job in their portrayal addiction. It accurately displayed what her triggers were and that addicts can have good days and bad days. I think the movie also properly explained that recovery is a long road and that many people do not understand that. I think that this is the hardest and saddest part of addiction: it can take a lifetime to recover, but there are always people and things that will try to convince suffering people that they should be over it in a certain amount of time.

Addictions are partly caused by the person’s environment, or context. Kelly’s addiction developed because of the pressure that comes with stardom and the disappointments of a failing marriage. She turned back to her addiction after rehab because of the continued pressure and the inability to talk and reconnect with her husband. Kelly also suffered from low self-esteem. Millions of people adored her and her talents, yet she was always begging for approval and fishing for compliments. Alcohol and other drugs are often abused to escape from reality. In Kelly’s case, she turned to alcohol when she could not fix or control her environment.

 

 

Chapter 6 - Adolescent Drug Use

Reviewing the connection between paradigms and theories to understand adolescent drug use

There is evidence that about half of adolescents aged 10 to 17 use, and sometimes abuse, substances. These youths will also engage or come in contact with other risky behaviors, such as delinquency, violence, homicide, unprotected sexual intercourse, homicide and suicide. To understand these problems, Clark (2010) summarizes and explains theoretical frameworks and paradigms to organize and comprehend adolescent drug use.

            Before we can understand how theoretical frameworks can solve problems of adolescent drug use, it is important to realize what these things are. Clark (2010) says that “theories are sets of concepts and propositions that explain a phenomenon that stem from a set of assumptions that are influenced by the social, economic, and political context of the theorist.” A paradigm is an organizing standard that describes. There are four main sociological paradigms: functionalist, radical structuralist, interpretive, and radical humanist.

So how do sociological perspectives relate to adolescent drug use and interventions for this subset? Helping professionals build their practices and interventions around certain theoretical concepts, comparable to a worldview. This would shape what type of clients professionals take on and what type of interventions they use. The following are explanations about the views of each perspective:

·         Traditional functionalist – believe in incremental change and evidence-based practice. This paradigm would encourage the use of therapies that have been well researched and proven.

·         Radical structuralist – move for empowerment and social reform. This would involve seeking policy change that would better the lives of their clients.

·         Interpretive – believe that context must be the determinant for solving a social problem. Says that there are multiple truths and realities that must be taken into consideration. The goal of a practitioner would be to fully understand their client and what their perception is of their problem.

·         Radical humanist – anything that limits is considered oppressive. A practitioner with this perspective would not survive in any type of agency.

Which paradigm is the best to use? At the present moment, most theories and research are in the functionalist paradigm, but this may not be the best option. Multiple paradigms should be used simultaneously to obtain knowledge about a social phenomenon, such as adolescent drug use. Prevention programs could also be created from each paradigm and be equally effective.

Although it is sometimes helpful to work out of a particular paradigm, this idea has not really been discussed in class in connection with addictions. Our book has constantly suggested using the strengths perspective, which seems to be anti-paradigm. Paradigms may limit practitioners because they would not be able to start wherever the client is and focus on their definition of their problem. The interpretive paradigm seems to be the closest thing to a strengths perspective approach, but this has not been mentioned. This leads me to believe that most practitioners in the addictions field would suggest not to become attached to a certain paradigm.

References

Clark, T. T. (2010). Reviewing the connection between paradigms and theories to understand adolescent drug use. Journal Of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse, 19(1), 16-32. doi:10.1080/10678280903400479

AA

Last week I attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting at a church in Mount Joy. There were around 60 people in attendance. Most of the attendees were in their middle ages, between 30 and 60 years old. There were several young adults in attendance, but these people were not as vocal during the meeting. Regarding gender, I believe it was approximately half men and half women. The majority of people were Caucasian.

These people acted very comfortably with one another. One woman went around and hugged every person who showed up for the night, even me! Before the meeting, everybody was chatting. From what I could hear, they were catching up about work and families, not necessarily about anything that would be covered in the meeting. These people were obviously friends, having deeper connections than just showing up for the same AA meeting that night. Unfortunately, I was not involved in the meeting. I mainly observed what was happening around me. We were unsure whether to introduce ourselves when they asked if there were any newcomers in attendance. However, we did introduce ourselves to those we were sitting by and told them that we were at the meeting for educational purposes. Everybody was very accepting and welcoming.

An older man took charge of the meeting. He started the meeting with the Serenity Prayer and then opened up the floor for anybody who had some general information or announcements. After that, he designated people to read the general history of AA and what the meeting was all about. The Steps of AA were also read aloud. Then the floor was opened for story-sharing. The man who opened the meeting asked for everybody to share in a timely fashion so that anybody who wanted to speak had the chance to do so. He was also in charge of deciding whose turn it was to talk. When somebody shared a thought or story, they always started by saying, “Hi, my name is _____ and I am an alcoholic.” The rest of the group would then greet them. Everybody was very respectful of everybody else. There was no chatting while other people were talking and everybody was very attentive. The meeting lasted for an hour.

I believe that this meeting was very helpful to the participants. It was a time when they could vent their frustrations and talk about whatever was on their minds. They also had the peace of mind that they would not be judged and that everybody would understand their struggles. Many of the participants said that these meetings kept them sane and also away from the alcohol that once ruined their lives and had the potential to ruin everything that they had worked so hard to build. One woman shared that she had been in her car getting ready to head to a bar when she found the AA schedule on her passenger side seat. This gave her the strength to come to avoid the bar and go to the meeting. These meetings are literally saving lives.

This experience connected with a lot of the information that we have reviewed in class and from the book. AA attendees use this meeting and group as their primary support system. Many of the people mentioned having relationships with one another outside of the weekly meetings. They understand each other as not many other people can. This meeting also enforced some of the stereotypes that alcoholics must deal with. Many people associate alcoholism with the poor. However, from looking around the room, I could tell that this disease/problem could affect any type of person. Also, the fight is a lifelong battle, which some people do not understand. One woman shared that she was about 1 year sober. Her husband had recently asked her why she kept going to the meetings. He said, it had been a year, wasn’t she cured now? It amazed me that somebody so close to her did not understand alcoholism. Only people who have been through the same thing can truly understand.