Etiology and Treatment of Substance Paper

Etiology and Treatment of Substance Paper

1. What substance/activity/behavior did you choose to give up?

The substance I decided to give up was eating cheese

2. Why did you choose that substance/activity/behavior to give up?

I decided to give up cheese because something I love to eat. Almost everything I consume consist of cheese. In order for me to truly understand what addicts go through when detoxing I felt it had to be something I truly love and feel I cannot go without.

3. When did you choose to give it up

I decided to give up cheese on 09/21/2013

4. Please explain your reason for time frame you chose in question 3

Originally, I did not know what I was going to give up. I knew it was going to be something pertaining to food. At first I thought about giving up unhealthy foods, then I realized that would be difficult because I don't even know what I consider unhealthy food. That would take too much research. I decided to go with giving up cheese. I created I list of all my favorite foods that I liked and when narrowing down, I realized cheese was an ingredient in everything on my list

5. What were the benefits of giving up the substance/activity/behavior you chose?

The benefits of giving up cheese was being able to connect, and understand how hard it is for and addict to give up their substance. An unexpected benefit of giving up cheese was the weight loss I discovered. Before I decided to give up cheese I did not know the extent of which I consumed on a regular.

6. What were the challenges of giving up the substance/activity/behavior you chose

One of the challenges I faced was going cold turkey. It would have been a lot easier if it was a gradual process. Another challenge was simple remembering to not eat cheese. I did not realize how much of the food I ate contain cheese, so majority of my lapse were done subconsciously.

7. Did you seek support in giving up the substance/activity/behavior you chose?

My support system was my close friend Trameka. I chose Trameka because she is someone I spend a lot of my time with because we are colleagues. I told her to bring it to my attention every time she see me eating cheese, about to eat cheese, or mention eating something that has cheese in it. Had I not had a great support system I would have had more lapse or relapse. Trameka was very supportive when around or not around. When we were at work she wouldn't eat cheese, and on the days I did not see her she would call and simple say “im just making you aware” and by her saying that I was able to remember throughout the day to not eat cheese.

8. Did you slip or relapse? If yes what were the reasons for the slip or relapse?

In behavior modification class I learned lapse is a slip or mistake and relapse means going back to ...