You are not alone.

A big part of helping your brother or sister with his or her addiction is educating yourself about the disease. A good start is to check out some of our factsheets or alternatively, check back here for updates on the latest AOD (alcohol and drug) research.

The Health Report: Research into Addiction 17^th August:

Audio and transcript can be found at:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/2009/2653827.htm

Looks at identifying the kinds of people who are more likely than others to become addicted to substances; whether they be legal or illegal, and explores new ways to help people come off their drugs. Because some of the old ways could be doing more harm than good. All this from a person who leads one of the world's foremost drug research groups, Barry Everitt.

Shortened version of the most recent research into addictive behaviour, by Barry Everitt

- summarised from the full transcript, taken from todays Helath Report (21-June-2010), accessed at: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/2010/2929643.htm#transcript

A resent study of addictive behaviour (based on rats - not humans), using cocain and heroine.

This link provides a radio transcript that you can either listen to or read. It details the latest research in understanding addiction and behavioural characteristics and draws away from the idea 'that 'addicts' are weak willed people who just need to say no.' And draws attention to a compulsive behavioural trait that %20 of people appear to both have and develop through drug use and learned behaviour over time.

‘Barry Everitt: That's right, it's complex. I think the notion is that there are vulnerable individuals who when they take drugs will be led down a path of behavioural and cognitive change that they have no control over, there's an interaction between their genetic therefore brain makeup and the effects that the drug has but at some point individuals, most individuals do recognise that the drug taking is damaging them and they want to stop so you have this volition to stop. It's whether you can actually bring that to play and gain control over your own behaviour. And I think this does hark back to why I think the drug addiction field is being so ignored ... addicts are [though of as] just people who show a weak will and all they need to do is say no. And the fact is by their makeup it's hard to say no, because they don't say no, say for example they are impulsive their brain is sitting waiting for these drug induced chemical effects to usurp the control that they had in the first place. And so that cycle goes on and it's very difficult to resist.’

The elemet of compulsivity as it is understood in relation to this study of behaviour and drug use is the
ongoing seeking of the drug even when it is not present and regardless of adverse social affects.

Adverse social affects for people includes loss of job, family, friends. For people who display compulsive behaviour these adverse affects cannot deter the individual enough to make them stop using drugs. They may want to stop but their learned behaviour and responses are two strong, coupled with impaired 'reversal learning' (evident in cocain addicts) - reversal learning can be understood as the process by which you give a person a situation in which a certain 'thing'/stimulus (in this case cocain or heroine) and link it with a reward (the eurphoic feeling of a drug induced state) - the relationship between the stimulus (cocain) and reward (euphoria) is probebalistic, in that the stimulus may not always result in a reward, but does so more often than not. Then you reverse the contingency - so that a stimulus that didn't produce a reward now does and the timulus that did now doesn't - the impairment of reversal learning is charchterised by 'perceveration of the wrong response choice which could be seen as a kiind of compultion in behavioural type.' Barry Everitt 21st June 2010.

People who both have and develop compulsive behaviour would most benefit from abstinence (rather than harm minimisation appraoches to managing addiction), as any drug use or even associated stimuli (such as needles, or rolled up bank notes) can (and do) act as prompts to retrive memories and renact compulsive behaviour linked to drug use and learned expectations of rewards.

Unlearning compulsive behaviour - Everitt goes on to talk abou this concept and posiblities for treatement that are not far away - if you want to read more ... follow the link provided bellow


http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/2010/2929643.htm#transcript

Drugs in the family: The impact on parents and siblings, Marina Barnard (2005)

http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/1859353207.pdf

If you’re feeling worried, anxious, stigmatised, helpless, shameful, embarrassed or guilty over your brother/sister’s problem, you’re not alone. All of these aforementioned feelings were identified as being most problematic amongst 20 siblings whom were interviewed in this Scottish qualitative study. The following is a short summary of each:

Worry and Anxiety: Worry and anxiety mostly tended to revolve around their siblings health and well-being (particularly when they were using drugs away from home) and over the possibility of them overdosing. Siblings who had a good relationship with their parents also experienced additional anxiety over their parents’ ability to cope.

Helplessness: Feeling powerless of their position as a sibling to alter things. Many siblings felt like helpless spectators in the unfolding drama of their brother’s or sister’s lives.

Shame and embarrassment: Siblings found it particularly embarrassing to see their brother or sister in public under the influence of drugs or begging in the streets. In public there was a tendency to slip out of sight to avoid being publicly humiliated by their sibling. Additional feelings of shame were triggered by drug using siblings who neglected their personal appearance and hygiene.

Stigma: Universal reluctance amongst siblings to publicly acknowledge that a family member had a drug problem.

Having a brother or sister on drugs also tended to put a strain one’s relationship. Many felt a lack of connection with drug-taking sibling – as though drug using sibling is uninterested in them. Continued drug use was also seen as causing greatest damage to their sibling relationship – some saw that it could create a permanent wedge between them.

Drug Use: Siblings had an elevated likelihood of developing drug problems themselves. Particularly where younger brothers and sisters are routinely exposed to drugs there is the chance that they will develop a curiosity as to their effects and that this might encourage experimentation.

Sibling peer support group for young people with a sibling using drugs: A pilot study, Elizabeth Gregg, John W. Toumbourou, 2003

Gregg, M.E., & Toumbourou, J.W. (2003). Sibling peer support group for young people with a sibling using drugs: A pilot study, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 35, 3, 311.

Siblings of young people are at particular risk for drug abuse and other health compromising behaviours. This research, an evaluation of two pilot peer support groups, indicated positive benefits for group members, who reported feeling better informed, more supported, and having a reduced sense of isolation. Parents reported that their adolescent attending the group demonstrated improved communication with, greater understanding and tolerance of, the family member using drugs.

The impact of illicit drug use on non-using siblings in the Vietnamese community, Ruth Webber, 2003.

Webber, R. (2003). The impact of illicit drug use on non-using siblings in the Vietnamese community, Australian Journal of Social Issues, 38, 2, 229-245.

This paper examines the ways in which Vietnamese young people are affected by a sibling's illicit drug use (2). The aim is to explore the changing reactions of Vietnamese young people and parents and the changing strategies they employ as they seek to cope with the situation. The focus is on the siblings' reactions and experiences as the family system changes and adapts.