Adapting Treatment to Patient Problems
O’Brien’s research on adapting treatment to the patient problem is purely descriptive. Descriptive research tends to describe the situation by adding knowledge to what is already known about the subject. Also, descriptive research uses methodologies that add up to the already known elements in a positive perspective. Hence, the recommendations and findings of the research aim at adding knowledge to the research subject.
O’Brien’s research is descriptive based on the medical subjects of the relationship between treatment and the patient’s problem. The research subject is already in existence and thus it needs a description of information that would add value to it to enhance its effectiveness. Besides, by looking into the subject, viz. adapting treatment to the patient problem, it is descriptive in the sense that the reader expects the findings to be substantive for knowledge addition purposes on the topic. In the case of descriptive research, the research findings and recommendations are expected to be congruent with the researcher’s hypotheses coupled with proving and adding knowledge to the question.
O’Brien (2011) used experiments as the key method for the research. Experiments produce substantive results that bear little errors in most cases as opposed to other research methods that demand the use of statistical methods to reduce the effects of random errors found in the obtained data. Also, it is easier to observe the recovery progress of a patient after going through this form of treatment than collecting data through interviews as the former saves time and resources.
On the research findings, the researcher found out that patients who receive this form of treatment, viz. a combination of medical treatment and patient problem, take a shorter period to recover fully as compared to patients receiving one form of medication. For instance, the subject of the research is the patient receiving a combination of treatments of depression and drinking and s/he takes a shorter period to recover than those who take either of the treatment in a given period.
The findings are valid and essential for the research topic, and thus necessary for this form of descriptive research. Besides, the findings are found to be congruent with the author’s argument, and hence adding weight to the research question. However, the findings are not exhaustive to the research question as it relies on the combination of two forms of medication at a go, thus leaving room for further research on the same topic.
The researcher’s recommendation is in line with his initial hypotheses, which depicts that a combination of two forms of medication is more effective than a single treatment. Being descriptive research, the main aim of the researcher was to prove the argument through medical experiments, which produced positive results to the argument. Hence, the recommendation depicts the usage of adapting treatment to patients.
According to the researcher’s findings, this form of treatment depicts that a patient suffering from two habitual problems can be treated simultaneously as is the case of a patient suffering from both alcoholism and depression. Therefore, this form of approach is the recommended form of treatment for patients suffering from problems that could allow for this approach to the treatment procedure.
An Opioid Deficit in Borderline Personality Disorder
According to the authors of this article, medical researchers argue that substance abuse is the leading cause of unnatural borderline personality disorder in contemporary society. Drugs have adverse effects on the personality ethics of a person whereby an individual loses behavioral control to unnatural influences due to the use and abuse of drugs. Continual use of drugs leads to addiction, whereby a person loses personal character and personality and instead becomes dependent on acquired traits like taking drugs. The researchers explored this topic by a descriptive argument, whose findings and recommendations add weight to the question. Also, the researchers used other previous research findings and added weight to them using up-to-date findings. This research is relevant to the topic of substance abuse as it adds knowledge to the problem that has posed a great risk to contemporary society.
New and Stanley (2010) used a relevant research topic, viz. An Opioid Deficit in Borderline Personality Disorder: Self-Cutting, Substance Abuse, and Social Dysfunction. The above research question is very descriptive to the reader, which eases the aim of the researchers to prove its validity as it touches on a common societal problem. Through its descriptive form, the researcher is only supposed to prove the researchers’ argument by using experiments and other previous research findings on the same subject.
On the research methods, the researchers used experiments and medical data collection as the key methods for the research. Both methods are effective in producing results that would support the research question. Experiments are done medically by using real patients that suffer from a borderline personality disorder and they are subjected to the process of inducing neutral and sustained emotional mental states. Subjects behave differently to each state and results are recorded. A hypothetical statistic implies that borderline personality disorder has a prevalence rate of 5.9 percent in the general population, and thus researchers were interested in applying that hypothesis in the research.
The research findings are congruent with other previous research findings. From the experiment, it was found that patients who suffer from borderline personality disorder respond to the psychotherapy treatment in both circumscribed and transient manner as established earlier by other previous researchers. Besides, according to the medical statistical reports, this problem has resulted in high morbidity and mortality rates in society and the findings show that patients are neglected due to a lack of proper forms of treatment for the problem.
The researchers’ recommendation is in line with their initial hypothesis, which depicts that there is an opioid deficit to borderline personality disorder. Being descriptive research, the main aim of the researchers was to prove the argument through medical experiments, which produced positive results to the argument. Hence, the recommendation depicts the usage of psychotherapy treatment to the patients would improve the current situation where those patients are neglected due to the lack of an approved treatment for the problem.
According to the researchers’ findings, this form of treatment depicts that a patient suffering from borderline personality disorder should undergo psychotherapy treatment. However, patients respond positively to the treatment, which is the main goal of the researchers. They recommend the medical personnel to approve this form of treatment, as it would propel the medical field to greater heights as they wait for the discovery of other medications for the problem.
Adolescents, Alcohol, and Substance Abuse: Reaching Teens through Brief Interventions
Many adolescents see alcohol as a substance for enhancing happiness, which explains why it should be present in any well-organized party. Adolescents form part of the most influential groups in the human race and their greatest desire is to enjoy life to the fullest with little or no effort applied to the creation of joy, as is the case in the real life. Researchers have found alcohol and substance abuse to have very close relations as either can easily lead to the other. The author of this article sees the idea of keeping alcohol and substances away from vulnerable persons as the primary control of the problem, and hence his argument leads to the development of the research question.
Veenhuis (2002) used a relevant research question that seeks relevant answers to the societal problem of alcohol and substance abuse by adolescents. Looking into the research topic, ‘Adolescents, Alcohol, and Substance Abuse: Reaching Teens through Brief Interventions’, the research is descriptive and seeks solutions to the described problem. The topic adds value to the research question as to what needs to be done to contain the problem by proposing a brief intervention mechanism.
On the research methods, the researcher used information from the proceedings of a conference on substance abuse and alcoholism as the information necessary for value addition. This aspect implies that the researcher probably found knowledge gaps in the known facts about the problem according to the conference presentations. The researcher did not look for self-researched evidence, but rather he relied on the evidence of other previously done researches.
According to research ethics, a researcher is supposed to work on adding information to something less known to bring a solution to a problem or bring into existence a novel idea. In either way, the researcher is supposed to develop unique evidence, as other evidence would lead to known findings and recommendations. Hence, the researcher failed in this part by relying heavily on other researchers’ evidence in the development of a congruent recommendation.
The research findings are in line with other previous research findings. From the presentations, it was found that adolescents could be saved from substance and alcohol abuse via a brief intervention mechanism. According to psychiatrists and other medical practitioners, a child’s behavior is shaped by both confrontation and brief intervention. The latter is used for warning or creating awareness about adverse effects that a certain act would bring forth to the child after committing that act. Confrontation is used for punishing the child after an offense or committing an act that is considered as wrongdoing.
The researcher recommends the brief intervention mechanism as the most effective way of containing the problem when applied to adolescents. However, it needs to be applied early enough when an adolescent is yet to crave harmful substances and alcohol. The researcher argues that confrontation is harmful to adolescents, as their reaction would render them into continual substance and alcohol abuse rather than stopping them; hence, the researcher’s argument is valid and necessary for further research by other researchers. Previous researches show that the brief intervention mechanism embodies love and gives a sense of self-worth to the recipient. In this case, adolescents will feel loved and appreciated and probably understand the dangers of alcohol and substance abuse.
Medication Treatment of Different Types of Alcoholism
According to Johnson (2010), alcoholism is a medical disorder in which a patient is addicted to alcohol after a prolonged period of overconsumption of the same. There are different types of alcoholism disorders whose types depend on the effects of alcoholism. In most cases, medical practitioners are capable of curing health defects that result from alcohol abuse, but the patient is responsible for the recovery period. This assertion implies that a patient has to control the attitudes that would enhance quick recovery from the problem. However, the most common types of alcoholism include chronic, late-life, and college alcoholism (Johnson, 2010).
Johnson used a relevant research question that seeks relevant answers to the problem of alcoholism to both the patients and the medics. Looking into the research topic, ‘Medication Treatment of Different Types of Alcoholism‘, the research is descriptive and it seeks solutions to the described problem. The topic adds value to the research question as to what type of medication needs to be applied for containing the problem concerning the type of alcoholism. The research topic is valid about the nature of the argument in the question, more so as it leads to easy development of answers to the question.
The researcher used medical experiments and pharmaceutical evidence in the medical literature as the source of information necessary for finding results to the research question. There are three forms of medical treatments for an alcoholic patient, which include psychotherapy, a placebo pill, and brief intervention (Johnson, 2010). Psychotherapy is often done in the form of a psychosocial intervention mechanism for an alcoholic. The researcher experimented on the effectiveness of each form of treatment once done to an alcoholic patient.
The research findings are congruent with other previous research findings, but there are some elements of new results. From the experiment, it was found that brief intervention is essential for college alcoholism in the case of young adults. The psychosocial intervention was found not to be effective for an alcoholic dependent patient. A combination of behavioral compliance and psychotherapy was found as an effective intervention for chronic alcoholism after the failure of other forms of medication. However, placebo pills are effective for the treatment of all forms of alcoholism.
The researcher made recommendations that are congruent with each finding. He recommended the application of brief intervention to college alcoholism as the victims are young alcoholics and the method is necessary for creating awareness of the harmfulness of the behavior if it persists. Secondly, he recommended psychosocial therapy treatment to be combined with another form of treatment, as when used alone would leave a loophole for the resumption of the behavior by the patient.
Thirdly, placebo pills are effective for treating all forms of alcoholism, but they are harmful if used for a long time, and hence the researcher recommended their usage together with other forms of treatment. Looking into the recommendations, they are seen to be descriptive of the most effective forms of treatments for different types of alcoholism. Hence, the research was well done and in a recap, Johnson emphasized that alcoholism is a sickness, and patients of the same should not be left on their own. More research on the topic of alcoholism is imperative as more people are falling to alcoholism every other day with the youths being the worst hit demographic group.
Reference List
Johnson, B. (2010). Medication Treatment of Different Types of Alcoholism. American Journal of Psychiatry, 167(6), 630-39.
New, A., & Stanley, B. (2010). An Opioid Deficit in Borderline Personality Disorder: Self-Cutting, Substance Abuse, and Social Dysfunction. American Journal of Psychiatry, 167(8), 670-671.
O’Brien, C. (2011). Adapting Treatment to Patient Problems. American Journal of Psychiatry, 168(7), 670-71.
Veenhuis, P. (2002). Adolescents, Alcohol, and Substance Abuse: Reaching Teens through Brief Interventions. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159(11), 1958-59.