The illness experience: eating disorders from the patient’s perspective
Kathleen M Berg, Dermot J Hurley, James A McSherry, Nancy E Strange, ‘Rose’ in Eating Disorders, 2018
This chapter explores the illness experience as revealed to us by the sufferers themselves. When the primacy of the patient is recognized in healthcare, a more collaborative approach to treatment is encouraged. Common misconceptions expressed by clinicians and family/friends alike are the notions that the patient is demonstrating complacency with the disorder or that she is defending her self-starvation or binge/purge behavior as a deliberate attack on them. Many patients who have suffered from anorexia nervosa are able to articulate their own strategies for maintaining this euphoric state. Exploration of a variety of feeling states helps to describe the emotional world of those who are struggling with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. A number of these feeling states are explored, including: initial denials of pain and suffering and accompanying feelings of euphoria, shame and feelings of inferiority, fear and distrust, depression and longing, anger and grief.
Conclusion
Eboko Fred in Public Policy Lessons from the AIDS Response in Africa, 2020
The euphoria resulting from treatment protocols that reduce Human Immunodeficiency virus transmission must nevertheless be relativised, particularly in relation to sub-Saharan Africa, because of the lack of attention health policies have paid to resistance that recent research suggests could set off a “fourth epidemic”. The trajectory of the political in the context of highly technicised public policy allows one to discern, at the summit of the State, political sentiments concerning a concrete public action carried out by legitimate bodies and translational networks. The world, and Africa in particular, faced a de facto “refusal to intervene”, because applications for aid had to be structured according to ever more restrictive accounting and administrative standards. Studies of international governance too often minimise the African State’s position as a major actor. African States follow diverse trajectories, their similarities and dissimilarities engendered by contrasting dynamics.
Substance Abuse and Handwriting
Michael P. Caligiuri, Linton A. Mohammed in The Neuroscience of Handwriting, 2012
As handwriting may be considered a highly complex motor behavior, it is reasonable to expect that abuse of recreational drugs that alter neuromotor system functions would also impact handwriting. In this chapter, we will explore the e“ects of commonly abused drugs such as methamphetamine, cannabis, and alcohol on handwriting kinematics. e National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA 2009) has been compiling statistics for many years on the prevalence of substance abuse worldwide. Estimates of the economic, societal, and legal costs of substance abuse in the United States exceed $500 billion annually (Nicosia 2009). Cannabis sativa has been a part of the human medicinal and cultural experience for over four millennia. Today cannabis is used mainly for recreational purposes because of its euphoric properties. While the epidemiology of cannabis use remains uncertain, it has been estimated that over 160 million adults have used cannabis worldwide (United Nations O±ce on Drugs and Crime; UNODC 2008), with the highest consumption reported in the Unites States, Australia, and New Zealand (Hall and Degenhardt 2009).
Excitement or anxiety? A case study of Indian postgraduate sojourners at University of Nottingham
Published in British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 2014
Moving to a new country is often seen as a disturbing event in sojourners' lives. Several models of adjustment postulate that the first phase of the sojourn is either categorised by euphoria or anxiety. Using a case study of three Indian Postgraduate students, this paper investigates whether the beginning phase of these sojourners was euphoric or anxious in nature. The findings revealed that they had varied experiences and even mixed experiences that were both pleasant and/or unpleasant which were in turn determined by their individual differences and personal experiences. Another salient finding of this study was that the psychological side of the sojourn starts much before the students have even first set foot in the UK. This could serve as a basis for further research and to conceptualise a model of cultural adjustment that takes into account the impact of the pre-arrival phase on the overall sojourn experience.
A new pattern of drug abuse among injecting drug users in Tashkent city
Published in Journal of Substance Use, 2013
Muyassar Turaeva, Birk Engmann
This article reports on a new trend of drug abuse in Tashkent city (Uzbekistan) among injecting drug users (IDUs). Kodatset®, a combination medication of acetaminophen and codeine in the form of tablets, is applied intravenously in extremely high dosages. It is usually combined with Dimedrol® (diphenhydramine). At first, Kodatset® was used to cope with withdrawal symptoms in heroin users; now it seems to replace heroin more and more because it is much cheaper and easy to get. The main effect drug abusers want to obtain is euphoria. The high dosages and the reported rapid spreading among drug users could lead to an increase of severe or perilous kidney and liver damages in the near future.
Butorphanol dependence in a health-care professional: A case report with narrative review
Published in Journal of Substance Use, 2019
Ankita Chattopadhyay, Snehil Gupta, Prabhoo Dayal, Piyali Mandal, Alok Agrawal, Atul Ambekar
Prescription opioids’ use are very prevalent worldwide. Butorphanol, one of the prescription opioid, is frequently used as an opioid analgesic especially in the peri-operative period. However, there are few case reports which highlight about the dependence potential of butorphanol. The available literature on butorphanol dependence have mostly reported about its physical nature of dependence. In this report, we intend to present a case of a health care professional who was suffering from butorphanol dependence. Contrary to previous reports, in the current case the primary reason for using butorphanol (intramuscular) was to experience the euphoria. The client was detoxified with the Buprenorphine (sublingual) in an in-patient setting following which he was started on oral Naltrexone (opioid antagonist) as a form of long term maintenance. The current report highlights about the addiction potential of butorphanol, which can be attributed to its euphoric effect. It also observes that the health care professionals are the vulnerable group in terms of becoming dependent on prescription opioids. Further, the report emphasizes the need of the judicious use of prescription opioids (including butorphanol) by the health care professionals and also to effectively regulate it.