1. Introduction
Workplaces are considered as social organizations where people and groups coexist and interact, transforming said organization into a community in search of common objectives and that must be and show physical and mental health for the integral development of the institution.
Based on the value of the institution, the cost of human resources and the end results of addiction, we want to frankly outline and present some general ideas of addiction; how to identify them and how to combat them.
According to Enrique Cabrera Mendoza, he tells us: “Traditionally, public manager training programs have clearly shown the complex nature of state and business logic in opposition. On the one hand, there are training profiles with an evident business bias and, on the other, profiles that are practically generalized in public administration that do not always establish differences between sectoral areas and by type of organization. Both trends contain basic assumptions about the nature of public organizations and, based on this, the choice of the variable determining the market, the training profile is structured around the nature of the business activity sector and the decisions associated with it. mercantile dynamics such as price, financing, production, investment recovery,economic-financial efficiency and others. »
This is how we can say that the public administration, which ultimately coordinates all the activities of the public sector, the private sector and the cooperative sector; So our question arises: Why do we need an organization with healthy people away from all that addiction means?
2. The Addiction Disease And Its Negative Influence On Public Management Activity
The word addiction has become a term used constantly by everyone in everyday language. We speak with a certain degree of naturalness about some of our addictions, using this word wrongly to identify activities, habits or pleasures that we love to experience or possess. That is, it tends to be confused with a simple inclination or addiction for certain things. Therefore, with the intention of clarifying our mistake, we will talk about addiction in the strict sense of the word, since it involves mechanisms that affect physical, mental or emotional health and that therefore interfere with the normal functioning of the person in daily life.
It should be noted that we will emphasize drug and alcohol addiction, which are the ones we consider to be the most widespread, we will also deal with the issue of addiction in certain cases, activities, behavior and emotions, such as the case of addiction to gambling and gambling..
It is also important to point out that when we talk about addiction we mean alcoholism as well as drug addiction. In the same way, when we use the word drug, we mean by this any substance that changes emotions through alterations in the central nervous system; so alcohol fits perfectly into this classification.
Unfortunately, the topic of addiction is still a taboo, an issue that everyone fears, almost all people prefer to avoid talking about this problem because the concept of the alcoholic or drug addict is still very negative. The image that generally comes to mind when these terms are heard is that of the dirty, deplorable-looking person, lying on the street, without a place to live. Commonly, one thinks of a desperate madman who is willing to steal or kill to get some reals to buy her drug.
This image can be real and it is common for some people to end up like this when the first symptoms of addiction are ignored; because we know that this is a progressive disease, this type of addict is not the most common. Today's drug addict or alcoholic may be the executive who goes out to eat every day and has a few drinks, then returns to his office and eagerly awaits the moment to go home for a few more drinks and relax until you fall asleep. He does this daily until the day comes when he feels the need to carry a small portion to drink a little, in case he feels very tense.
Another common case in our environment is represented by the student who begins to use cocaine to gain energy, stay awake and thus be able to study for longer. Little by little, and without realizing it, he begins to increase his use and increase his need for the drug.
The purpose of our work is to create awareness in readers and make them feel more familiar with the subject, that by acquiring specific information, based on the latest scientific discoveries, they can dispel all fears, as well as any misconceptions that they would have had, and feel safer, stronger and capable of facing any situation that could arise, such as the case of an addicted relative, a subordinate official who begins to show symptoms of this nature.
The problem of alcohol haunts man from the moment he discovered it as a palliative for pains of the body and soul comparatively. In recent times science is beginning to be genuinely interested in studying this problem in greater depth. This is mainly due to the fact that among all the so-called addictions it has been the one that has claimed the highest number of victims. This is likewise the most expensive disease in the world.
Previously, the effort to eradicate alcohol abuse had been limited to trying to control the production of this substance, as well as to control and penalize intoxicated people. Finally in 1956, after years of experimentation and study, the United States Medical Association declared through official channels that alcoholism was considered a disease. The statement was quickly corroborated by the World Health Organization, whose investigations had reached the same conclusion.
However, it was not easy for professionals in the medical field, nor for the general public to accept this reality. Most people considered that this would be a perfect excuse to justify the fact that the person kept drinking more and more, so they rejected the idea immediately. However, there were others who saw this statement as a door that was opened to show them new possibilities, more fields of research and they set out to discover more about it.
In addition to wanting to be aware of the latest discoveries in all things addiction, there are very personal reasons why people should be informed about this topic. We are in a time of great global concern about the widespread problem of drug abuse. Not even the best family is safe, at present, from suffering firsthand what many good families have already suffered worldwide. They have struggled with one of their members who has abused drugs and has become addicted. Addiction is rooted in its influence more powerful than the good example and guidance of concerned parents.
That is why we consider it so important to be well documented about the problems of this terrible disease, in order to prevent drug abuse, to learn to intervene in the life of a family member who begins to manifest symptoms of this disease, or to know how to search professional help ourselves, should there be such a need.
Science in the last ten years has proven that addiction is a medical problem and that it still has no medical solution. Millions of dollars are invested in looking for its physical cause, we do not know how addiction works in the brain and what the genetic prediction consists of, which biologically determines who becomes addicted and who does not.
Due to lack of this information, it has not been possible to develop a predictive test that determines whether a person is at high risk of becoming an addict. The only group that has been identified as high risk is that of children of addicts or alcoholics due to genetic factors.
It is expected that in approximately ten years there will be a test that will allow the general public to know the chances of being addicted or not. Meanwhile, it is possible that any of us, public officials, private or a cooperative company could develop one or another action. Our western society is very permissive, since it tolerates and induces the consumption of alcohol, which affects the vulnerability of certain individuals. A social event without alcohol. it is unacceptable. Drugs for nerves are used almost universally. The use, generally, develops the abuse that leads to addiction, which is a disease that does not respect sex, race, social class or educational level. We even know that many doctors, psychiatrists and nurses have been treated for alcohol addiction,prescription drugs and illegal drugs. In other words, not even the bed of having a high level of medical knowledge can be kept safe. However, being well-informed helps them to make an intelligent decision, with extensive knowledge of the risks involved, when one decides to use alcohol and other addictive substances.
For the Public Administrator or Public Manager, for the superior or Director of an institution it is important to be updated on this knowledge, for that reason one of the purposes of our work is to try to help understand the most current concepts about additions, presenting the signs and symptoms that characterize people with high probability of becoming addicted and how to identify them.
There are various classes of alcohol and drug users. Some fall within the framework of those who are responsible and who do not harm themselves or those around them. Others use substances irresponsibly and run a much greater risk of harming themselves and those close to them.
- Occasional or social consumers Abusers or excessive consumers Addicts.
The social or casual consumer
He does not give any importance to alcohol or other drugs. He drinks alcohol occasionally, and does not use drugs for their effects or use the consumption of these substances. Do not create any problems for him or for his family, or others around him. These people can enjoy a social event without taking any type of drugs, without worrying about whether or not there is alcohol. This is secondary. It does not seek to solve their physical, mental or emotional needs, through the consumption of alcohol or other illegal drugs or prescription drugs, but uses those prescribed only according to the doctor's instructions in the least amount possible and as a last measure they use illegal drugs.
The abuser or excessive consumer
It is the person who gives alcohol or other drugs an importance they do not deserve. She uses the drug frequently, every time she can looking for its effects, she uses it to solve her shyness, to have fun and combat boredom. gets intoxicated or intoxicated very often. Look for and create occasions that allow or justify getting drunk, each time that this happens, it induces itself to a state of alteration that damages your health and can create problems for your family, wasting money that you could invest in useful things. for him the abnormal has become normal.
Addict
It is anyone who has crossed a biological wall, thus manifesting a physical seizure when using the substance. That is, when starting to use the drug, this person cannot predict whether she will take it according to her plans or if the seizure will take over her body and she will not be able to stop. The addict does not control the drug, it is the drug that ends up controlling him.
What seems to happen is that the drug begins to take the place of the true transmitting resources that are normally produced in a person's body and that will be deficient or altered in the body of the person suffering from addiction. By seeking balance, the body naturally produces the desire and seizure to use more drugs. This loss of central nervous system balance and therefore loss of control over drug use totally affects his life.
Symptoms, Phases and Characteristics of the Disease
The problem about the cause of the addition, Dr. Robert E. Windows, Assistant to the Ministry of Health, Department of Health and Human Services of the United States, says the following:
"Today, thanks to the growing knowledge about the antecedents of alcoholism, we know that this, like other diseases, has many manifestations and results from a complex interaction of genetic and environmental factors that participate in its development as such"
It is important to identify the term addiction, so according to María Álvarez del Real, it does not say that:
Addiction is an alteration of the neurotransmitter system that results in a physical compulsion to control the body that seeks to restore its balance
For the Public administrator it is important to know everything related to addiction, since he will work with human resources who are predisposed to fall into this situation of addiction is a personality disorder. psychoanalytic therapy, however, has not been shown to be successful in treating the addict.
The Addict in Moral Terms.
We identified the misconduct caused by the influence of the drug by the person who chose to consume this substance. All this misclassification of the addict was diverted because at that time there was no deep understanding about the addict and addiction was not conceived as a disease. Today, thanks to the immense advances in science and technology applied to medicine, addiction is accepted as yet another disease that affects humanity.
If it weren't for the rise of the epidemic problems of cocaine, perhaps we would think the same way today. The thousands of cocaine addicts force us to find a solution as soon as possible. We came to understand how wrong both professionals and family members had been with regard to the addict and the illness he suffered. We see today that we do not understand the disease, our investigations, our diagnoses and our treatment were wrong and consequently they were useless. For this reason only a minimal number of patients healed. Few professionals wanted to treat the alcoholic, the drug addict, considering it a useless work.
Alcohol, contribution of its qualities, also has an inner psychological effect that modifies reasoning. A single drink can change the mindset of an alcoholic in the sense that he thinks he can tolerate another, and then another, and another.
The alcoholic can learn to fully control his illness, but the affliction will not be cured in such a way that he can resume drinking alcohol without adverse consequences.
The Solution is Looming. Alcoholics Anonymous and Jellinek.
According to the Ocean One Color encyclopedic dictionary, the addict can be defined as: »delicate, attached, united with another to understand something.
This definition is closely related and it follows that addiction is a physical or psychic dependence due to habitual ingestion of some siotropic substance or the habit of those who use some drugs.
The result of the repeated failures in the treatment of addiction was what led the patients themselves to start looking for their own answers, since no one else could give them. This movement caused the sick to become their own doctors, psychologists, and spiritual guides.
The first to be successful in recovering alcoholics and drug addicts were the Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous groups.
"Alcoholics Anonymous: In the basic text of Alcoholics Anonymous as we know it today, is the further development of this book, which was originally prepared by a hundred alcoholics who had learned to stay sober through mutual help. After a few years of sobriety, they wrote what they had done and gave that summary the mentioned title. That is why our community began to be known by the name of Alcoholics Anonymous. "
Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in 1935 in the United States, its first two members were highly educated men, a middle and a stockbroker, both had tried to recover from their alcoholism through psychology, medicine and religion, but they did not have satisfactory results. For this reason they themselves decided to study their condition and help each other to find an effective formula to stop drinking.
3. Phases of the Disease
Like other diseases, alcoholism has its own symptoms and stages of development through which the characteristics and obvious signs of the disease appear.
to. From Social Drink to Pre-Alcoholic Phase.
Drinking no longer serves a social purpose, but rather people use alcohol to satisfy a need or to alleviate an emotion.
The amount of alcohol he drinks increases more than those around him must. He is losing some responsibility in his way of drinking. He talks about alcohol frequently and thinks more and more about it.
b. Symptomatic Stage.
You experience blackouts, forgetting what happened the day before. Her way of drinking begins to change, she takes shots in one shot, she drinks before going to parties; he begins to feel discomfort the next day, which, with each new drunkenness, gets worse. The family begins to notice that something is wrong, and perhaps her friends at work have called her attention that she is taking too much, but despite the comments she continues to drink only that she tries to do it more privately and in a hidden way.
c. The Chronic Phase
In this phase the need for the drug is overwhelming. the person has to drink every day to feel good physically.
Drink without caring for everyone else. Children, family, food and work. To survive you have to take.
You have tremors in your hands and body when you do not have alcohol in your body
You feel the constant need for how to get your alcohol fix.
His low tolerance becomes obvious a few drinks produce very strong effects on him. Use this data to continue in self-deception and sometimes in denial.
He has strong resentments against everyone and pathological self-pity. You are at a dead end, full of fear and anxiety.
4. The Genetics of Addiction
It is proven that there is a genetic predisposition to the disease of addiction. In many cases, when we consider the possibility that genetic factors may contribute to predisposition, the public tends to reject such an idea, some claim that this is giving the addict reason to justify their behavior by saying: I can't help it, my genes they force me. Those who want to give more emphasis to the influences of the environment than to the biological, immediately begin to defend their point of view and forget the psychosocial factors, which is certain that doctors have to focus on the biological, because in addiction environmental factors are involved. As for genetics, referring to addiction, which is a technical or medical part, according to what María Álvarez del Real points out:
It was enough for the scientific world that the American Medical Association accepted alcoholism as a disease, and this fact that it could be treated as a medical problem, instead of a psychiatric or moral one, opened the doors to investigate the medical causes of this disease… that alcoholism was the only one accepted as a disease, scientific entities and government money were dedicated to its genetic study.
Today it is clear to us that this required genetic research to be carried out. Unfortunately, the study of other addictions had to wait its turn.
Other Addictions to Consider
Food addiction has the same characteristics as drug addiction. The effect that calories or fatty foods and sweets have on the brain and the neurotransmitters of the central nervous system cause it to alter and produce withdrawal signals due to a mixture of fat and sugar, something similar is what happens when you are addicted to opiums. As we have read in different authors, the food addict runs the risk of being addicted to alcohol as well, since the reactions in the body are similar in both cases.
Food addiction is such a strong chemical imbalance that the person loses control of eating and eats compulsively, but their addiction is not accompanied by vomiting in order not to gain weight.
Another is the addiction to gambling, in this case we can see that the social player combines this activity with others. Her emotional insecurity allows her to only feel comfortable in a casino or similar environments, she wants to get things done without much effort, avoiding responsibilities and pretending to solve her life by playing the lottery or gambling games.
We also have the sports or exercise addict. By compulsively practicing their favorite sport, the addicted to it gets the pleasure they are looking for.
There is also the sex addict, this person puts the sexual relationship before the other important links in life. His preoccupation with sex is such that everything else is secondary.
The administrator is an element that has a very special role in the development of the activities of the institution, taking into account that the administration is a unique occupation that is described with the purpose of obtaining action points of various types to achieve the objectives that the public institution has been proposed.
One of the most important resources are the employees, therefore the problem of addiction must be handled by the Public Administrator with serenity, objectivity, scientificity, with respect and honesty.
Public Managers dedicate a large part of their efforts to planning, organizing, employing and controlling the work of these human resources. A clear distinction between managers and other types of employees is that the manager directs the work of others rather than executing that work himself.
5. How to Select an Effective Treatment Site
The administrator must take into account the Director of Human Resources, Social Workers, Psychological; the ways of directing the addicted employee to a specialist and closely monitoring their treatment and that this psychiatrist or addictologist is in permanent communication with the institution through the Human Resources department who is responsible for this field of action. The main point of this area of our research work is to present the appropriate recommendations for an effective treatment of addictions.
For María E. Álvarez del Real, the places of treatment and the methods used in the field of medicine, tells us
“There is still a lot of confusion. The dissemination of information and the general acceptance of the knowledge obtained in the most recent research on addiction and its treatment is very slow.
While it is true that addiction sufferers are difficult to treat, there are a large number of addicts who want to help, and respond when the treatment is appropriate! How many millions have recovered only through the self-help groups of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous!
As we can see the inclination of the addict to drugs such as: barbiturates, narcotics, tranquilizers requires specialization to prevent this disease from transcending.
Some of the aid programs that are presenting the best results according to María Eloísa Álvarez del Real are:
Types of Programs for Addicts
External clinics; has programs:
- Intensive daily / night, weekly contact, follow-up.
Internal programs that are developed in:
- Detox centers, hospitals, residences
Short-term programs (less than 30 days)
- Hospitals, residences, halfway house
Long-term programs (30 days to 2 years)
- Residences Half-way house Three-quarter way house.
6. Self Help Group for the Family and the Addict
According to our research there are 83,000 thousand Alcoholics Anonymous groups around the world, it is the grandfather of self help for the addict and his family. Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson, a New York stockbroker, and Dr. Bod Smith, a physician from Akron, Ohio. Three years later in 1938, they wrote the Twelve Steps, which have been adopted by almost all self-help groups for the rehabilitation of all kinds of addictions. The twelve steps are the How of Recovery, they are the principles that each individual who wants to follow the Alcoholics Anonymous program to achieve recovery must learn and apply in their daily life step by step.
Prevention Against Drug Addiction
Taking with a guide to the Ocean One Color Encyclopedic Dictionary. We can define the term prevention as: «Preparation and provision that is made in advance to avoid a risk or carry out something.
The historic moment we are living in urgently urges us to unite in a worldwide prevention movement to cure the epidemic of alcohol abuse and the rest of the addictions that we see around us. The consequences of this evil affect us all. we hear daily from physically abused children; children born with physical handicaps due to drugs or being addicted even before they are born, in urban centers we see corrupt institutions; In the field of countries that produce drugs, the lands are damaged, all nations have dangerous sectors, due to the crime that this problem generates; entire economies are rising or relying on the fragile myth of drug laundering money.
Primary Prevention
This is the first of three different kinds of prevention that exists in the health world. When we talk about it, we refer to everything the person does to never get sick. For example, every day many of us drink natural juices rich in vitamins C to avoid colds or do exercises to strengthen the heart. The children of addicts avoid those behaviors or drugs that may develop an addiction in them. When we talk about primary prevention in the field of addictions, we are talking about helping the person to never use any kind of legal or illegal drug; to avoid the first contact, use or experiment with it. If there is never use, there will never be drug addiction.
Secondary Prevention.
Secondary prevention, on the other hand, is to remedy the first symptoms of a health problem that appear in the person. For example, we watch our diet when the doctor tells us that we are diabetic to avoid developing diabetes. We have visible symptoms, but we stop its process by taking certain precautions. A smoker begins to have a cough and manifest problems with breathing, he consults his doctor so that he can tell him that the bronchial system is affected by nicotine and if he continues smoking his health will worsen. The individual stops smoking and the lungs clear. In the field of addiction, secondary prevention is to stop the consumption of the drug in the addicted person, through a secondary intervention.
Tertiary Prevention
This is the treatment that is given to a person when they have a disease with all its symptoms. It is to re-cure the disease so that the person recovers their healthy state. In the case of addictions, they cannot be cured, but at least they can stop their progress and live a healthier life.
In the long run, the goals of primary and tertiary prevention become the same. The plan that a man draws up to avoid physical, mental or emotional health problems is the same that the addict requires to recover his health.
7. Present and Future Work of the Human Resources Administrator Regarding the Management of Addiction Problems
The Administrator must understand the social scourge that addiction represents, since there are daily children who are born with physical disabilities due to some drugs, or who are addicted before they are born.
The General Administrator and the Human Resources Administrator must understand that the historic moment in which we are living urgently urges us to unite in a national prevention movement to cure the epidemic of alcohol abuse and the rest of the addictions that we see around us. The consequences of this evil affect us all both in the family, organizations and the common society in general.
So as you can see, it is something that concerns each and every one of us. It is a systematic problem and its answer lies in prevention.
We will mention some aspects that have to do with the conduct of the individual in the organization and how the Administrator should handle the treatment of alcoholism, drug abuse, the treatment program and the hiring of addicts, so we have that alcoholism presents a medical problem and very important work, so that employers and workers must develop responsible standards and programs, to apply them without affecting the rights of privacy.
Dr. Keith David tells us that:
Contrary to popular circumstance, alcoholics are found in roughly the same proportion in all kinds of industries, types of occupation, and levels of work. On some occasions the work environment tends to contribute to the alcoholism of employees; but their habits and personal problems are also important causes. In many circumstances, they already had a high degree of alcoholism when they were hired by the company
In fact, the Public Administrator must bear in mind that an important limitation of the current Public Administration Council is the fact that little or no evaluation of the effectiveness of the council is made. For example, the numbers indicate that alcoholism costs the Panamanian state a large amount of money each year.
8. Bibliography
- Alcoholics Anonymous. Daily Reflections. Colombia. Printed in the National General Services Corporation of AA 1994. 384 pp. Álvarez del Real, María Eloísa Know everything about Addictions, how to identify them and how to combat them. Panama. Editorial America. 1991. 320 pp. American Medical Association Living Sober. Colombia, Printed in the AA General Service Office 1993. 127 pp. Bittel, Lester R., John W. Newstrom. What every supervisor should know. 6th edition. Mexico. McGraw-Hill Publishing. 1993. 534 pp. Cabrera Mendoza, Enrique. From the Administrator to the Public Manager. Mexico. Editorial Garamond. 1995. 137 pp. Chiavenato, Idalberto. Human Resources Administrator. 2nd edition. Mexico. McGraw-Hill Publishing. 1994. 540 pp. David PHD, Keith. The human behavior in the job. Mexico. McGraw-Hill Publishing. 1993.622 pp.
