This essay will require you to explore the role of culture in assessment and treatment.

Guidelines:

This essay will require you to explore the role of culture in assessment and treatment. Create a hypothetical case by first identifying an individual’s culture (military, female, African American, college student, New Yorker, etc.), and secondly a substance abuse problem (alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamines, opioids, etc.). Then describe a specific treatment strategy that would be sensitive to the person’s culture and their addiction. Think about how the person self-identifies with the culture, cultural explanation of the illness, cultural practices re the substance, and treatment barriers. I want you to carefully consider how a treatment plan might look different for an American Indian with an alcohol addiction vs. a homeless person with a meth addiction, for example.

Requirements: 6 pages of text, using a minimum of 5 peer-review scholarly resources identified on a reference page in APA style. 

Requirements

The central idea is well developed and clarity of purpose runs throughout the paper

Evidence of critical, careful thought and insight

Evidence and examples are specific, while the focus remains tight

Running Head: MILITARY CULTURE 1

MILITARY CULTURE 7

Military Culture

Students Name

Institutional Affiliation

Military Culture

Ideas and customs lead to a particular behavior of an individual or a society at large. Every workplace has a unique environment that differs from other surroundings mainly because of the services or products that they offer, for example, a hospital environment is very different from a banking environment because of the difference in culture and practices. The US military place has a different environment that leads to army personnel and their families to live a different life and have encounters that differ from other civilians (Redmond et al., 2015). Army personnel and their families are affected with challenges created by a military culture that calls for an intense working environment, and they are not to show any resilience. (Did you mean to write the word weakness?)

Natasha Jones, a female African American military personnel who joined the army after making a tough decision, since the military requires self-sacrifice, and there are personal risks involved. The allegiance rate of black women sprung in the 1980s; by 1988, it had tripled that of the Hispanic and white women, and in early 2000 it had outpaced even those of black men (Melin, 2016). Many African Americans come from families with a long tradition of service, thus choose to join the military, but African Americans women tend to be more patriotic and courageous than men and women of other races. Natasha Jones, like all the other minority races in the military, she suffers health issues due to a variety of stressors leading to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Within military populations, PTSD is one of the significant mental issues that has been labeled to be caused by stress and injuries while serving in the army. Natasha strictly follows the military culture, and she is not to demonstrate when something terrible happens to her to protect the military image. She suffers from military sexual trauma (MST) that is related to posttraumatic stress disorder.

Military sexual assault is a significant concern throughout the military service despite a fight to end it. Sexual abuse has been defined by the Department of Defense as; Intentional sexual contact characterized by the use of force, threats, intimidations, or abuse of authority when the victim cannot consent (Castro, Kintzle, Schuyler, Lucas, & Warner, 2015). Natasha’s first military sexual assault was while she was in the military academy, and she blames the experience of alcohol abuse. The consumption of alcohol is common in the military culture, which leads to a high risk of sexual violence. Natasha, like any other sexual assault victim, faces blame, dismissal, and random questioning, whether even it is clear that the assault occurred since she was under the influence of alcohol. Alcohol leads to an increase in sexual desire, aggression, and as well as a misinterpretation of victim responses as an invitation to sex. Natasha describes the impact of the sexual incident as more painful than the crime itself since she has to live with all her life with no justice served. There are reports of military utilizing personality disorders as a way of discharging victims of sexual assaults, which leads to an increase of PTSD symptomology among victims. These lead to victims to perpetuate the culture of alcohol and substance abuse as the military norm (Please include citation).

The culture of substance abuse and alcohol consumption influences military personnel and their working environment. No gender difference was found in the prevalence of heavy episodic drinking or substance abuse while on duty in any military environment (Dennhardt, Murphy, McDevitt-Murphy & Williams, 2016). Natasha admits of first consuming alcohol while she was in the military academy as a way of coping up with anxiety problems, depression, and racial abuses. Over the years, her consumption rate of alcohol increased as she suffered from military sexual traumas and how her fellow servicemen viewed her in general. Alcohol makes Natasha endure all the criticism and negative energy she receives at her workplace, thus a continuous drinking behavior that led to her alcohol addictions. The military has specific treatment strategies that apply to a serviceman culture and habits.

Alcohol and substance use is a significant problem among military personnel in our nation. There are interventions, and evidence-based treatments that focus on thoughts and behaviors associated with craving and consumption of alcohol and substance use, which are mainly caused by posttraumatic stress disorder (Teeters, Lancaster, Brown & Back, 2017). There are several services and interventions available to reduce posttraumatic stress disorder, alcohol, and substance use abuse, including both behavioral and pharmacological treatments. Clinical help from the military aims to review addictions, and PTSD provides information and options for screening and treatment of military personnel. Integration has been kept in place for easy access to mental health care and treatment of addictions by military personnel. Over recent years, the government and the army agencies have tried using evidence-based therapies to reduce problematic substance abuse and stress disorders among military personnel, and it has proved a bit helpful. The best treatment strategy that would be sensitive to Natasha includes both behavioral and pharmacological treatments that range on a spectrum from preventive screening and residential treatment programs.

The treatment is available across the country to all military personnel, with help to reduce stress and deaths. Behavioral and pharmacological treatment interventions are prescribed. Each military personnel with PTSD and substance addiction are encouraged to try self-help groups, such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA), which are free of charge and available in most cities (Teeters, Lancaster, Brown & Back, 2017). Natasha’s participation in AA or NA can be of great help as a part of ongoing and aftercare healthcare, that has numerous services that help in the management of substance abuse and stress. Providers of the self-help groups are encouraged to consult and check up with the Department of Defense for updated clinical practice guidelines for PTSD and substance abuse for more detailed treatment recommendations. For Natasha, in response to alcohol addiction, the military has implemented a system for comprehensive alcohol screening. The goal of screening is to intervene upon risky and unhealthy drinking habits before progression to an alcohol use disorder, or to provide immediate treatment to those with alcohol use disorder. The military guidelines state that if there is any indication of PTSD and substance abuse among its personnel, an assessment should be conducted, followed by the development and implementation of a comprehensive treatment plan. Following the collaborative treatment plan, Natasha, with alcohol use disorder, will be offered substance focused psychosocial interventions. These interventions focus on the identification and modification of maladaptive thoughts and behaviors connected to increase craving, use, and relapse to alcohol. Also, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), help reduce substance and alcohol use by helping individuals to achieve and maintain abstinence, or by increasing their ability to skilfully manage stress without being under the influence of alcohol or other drugs.

The use of alcohol and substance abuse among active-duty personnel has significantly increased. Natasha’s heavy use of alcohol can be attributed to multiple factors such as psychosocial and environmental stressors of military life that is frequently linked to mental health issues such as military rape and the transient nature of the military people (Castro et al., 2015). Natasha, who has suffered rape while in camp, lengthy deployments abroad, and exposure to life-threatening situations in the combat environment sees alcohol and substance abuse as the only remedy that can help her live life without any regrets and stress that she goes through while in the military camp. The military personnel, mainly the active-duty ones, mostly rely on alcohol and substance abuse to perform their duties correctly. The military is a subpopulation of American society with a history of heavy drinking and substance use(Please include citation). The culture of drinking alcohol is well established in the military, for example, the ritual of Navy sailors where they rush to bars on ports or when in liberty. Military personnel often use alcohol to cope up with boredom, stress, for fun, or to be part of the brotherhood, which has led to excessive alcohol consumption among the military personnel.

Alcohol and substance abuse is well documented in the US military camps. Problems associated with excessive alcohol consumption are more common among the younger ranks of army personnel and recruits. Not only do young adults in the military drink than their seniors, but drink more alcohol than civilians of the same age(Please include citation). Heavy alcohol consumption can affect the physical and mental health of the military personnel and increases the risk for on and off duty injuries; this leads to consequences that are associated with increased medical care costs for those on active duty or the veterans. Military personnel and veterans underutilize treatment services offered by the government, mainly because of public stigma and underutilization of mental health services(Please include citation). Public disgrace has led to military personnel to avoid treatment services since most people view individuals with psychological problems as dangerous, unpredictable, and responsible for their conditio. Hence, based on the public stigma, mental health issues such as addiction and PTSD are frowned upon, leading to a barrier in seeking health treatments(Please include citation). Similarly to civilians, military personnel and veterans shun away from seeking medical help for their mental and addiction problems to avoid anticipated discrimination from other military personnel. The belief that soldiers are supposed to be tough leads to most affected soldiers to shut down their feelings and do their best to deal with their conditions privately. The stigma of seeking health treatment is undesirable and socially unacceptable in society(Please include citation).

Culture plays a significant role in how an individual will relate to each other in their surroundings. Customs lead the way an individual behaves in society and the way he interacts with other people. A military environment is a unique place that leads to military personnel, and their families live a different life compared to other civilians. Due to the kind of situation that our servicemen live, they are exposed to substance abuse and posttraumatic stress disorders, thus the need for a specific treatment to help our military personnel.

Please finish this page….Guidelines said need to have full body 6 pages

References

Castro, C. A., Kintzle, S., Schuyler, A. C., Lucas, C. L., & Warner, C. H. (2015). Sexual assault in the military. Current Psychiatry Reports, 17(7), 54.

Dennhardt, A. A., Murphy, J. G., McDevitt-Murphy, M. E., & Williams, J. L. (2016). Drinking motives mediate the relationship between alcohol reward value and alcohol problems in military veterans. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 30(8), 819.

Melin, J. (2016). Desperate choices: why black women join the US military at higher rates than men and all other racial and ethnic groups. New England Journal of Public Policy, 28(2), 8.

Redmond, S. A., Wilcox, S. L., Campbell, S., Kim, A., Finney, K., Barr, K., & Hassan, A. M. (2015). A brief introduction to the military workplace culture. Work, 50(1), 9-20.

Teeters, J. B., Lancaster, C. L., Brown, D. G., & Back, S. E. (2017). Substance use disorders in military veterans: prevalence and treatment challenges. Substance abuse and rehabilitation, 8, 69.