Attitudes toward Death and Dying on a Drug Addiction Unit

Gertler, Robert; Ferneau, Ernest W.; Raynes, Anthony E.

doi:10.3109/10826087309057474

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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This research studied the function of heroin addiction as a family-learned method of coping with death, separation, and loss across the life cycle. The data on delinquents suggest that the inability to "mourn creatively" may result in deviant behavior.Within the last few years the literature reveals an interesting association between drug-abusing behavior and unresolved grief (5,7,24,11,25,28,30,18,21). Because the impact of death is often overcome through religious rituals, this study also investigated the subjects' perception of their families' religious values and orientation to life's meaning and purpose.

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confidence: 99%

“…He reconstructed parental-loss profiles showing that eminent persons and delinquents were both orphaned at significantly higher rates than normally expected. The data on delinquents suggest that the inability to "mourn creatively" may result in deviant behavior.Within the last few years the literature reveals an interesting association between drug-abusing behavior and unresolved grief (5,7,24,11,25,28,30,18,21). It is repeatedly suggested that unresolved or incompletely mourned death, as well as other separation and loss factors, serve an important family function, particularly in families of heroin addicts.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within the last few years the literature reveals an interesting association between drug-abusing behavior and unresolved grief (5,7,24,11,25,28,30,18,21). It is repeatedly suggested that unresolved or incompletely mourned death, as well as other separation and loss factors, serve an important family function, particularly in families of heroin addicts.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Life Cycle and Loss — The Spiritual Vacuum of Heroin Addiction

Coleman

Kaplan²,

Downing

1986

Family Process

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This research studied the function of heroin addiction as a family-learned method of coping with death, separation, and loss across the life cycle. Heroin addicts, psychiatric outpatients, and normal students were given an extensive interview and test battery to determine the incidence of loss of family members and significant others. Because the impact of death is often overcome through religious rituals, this study also investigated the subjects' perception of their families' religious values and orientation to life's meaning and purpose. Results indicate that the incidence of death differs significantly across groups and that addicts have a distinct orientation to death, are more suicidal, and have more premature and bizarre death experiences. During childhood they have more family separations, and they tend to develop a distinct pattern of continuously separating from and returning to their families. They are also less likely to have a clearly defined purpose in life. A subset of parents from each group were also interviewed and tested, and these results support the theory of the intergenerational transmission of behavior.

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confidence: 99%

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Life Cycle and Loss — The Spiritual Vacuum of Heroin Addiction

Coleman

Kaplan²,

Downing

1986

Family Process

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“…Though so many of these young adults died prematurely, those attending the clinic showed no greater involvement in thoughts of death and dying than one might expect in a group with similar social and financial problems which did not misuse drugs. Certler, Ferneau and Raynes (1973) showed that a group of US addicts attending a clinic had similar attitudes to death and dying as a comparable group of psychiatric patients, though they expressed a wish for death more often than did members of the staffl…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deaths among Users of Dangerous Drugs

Pirrie

1977

British Journal of Addiction to Alcohol & Other Drugs

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In the four years from January, 1969, to the end of December, 1973, eight young adults who were attending a small drug dependency clinic in the south of England died. Though more than four times as many men as women attended in this period, deaths were equally divided, so that there was a very high fatality rate for women. Six or seven ofthese deaths were associated with the misuse of barbiturates rather than with the misuse of narcotic drugs. A number of these young people were living away from their home locality.The passing ofthe Dangerous Drugs Acts of 1965 and 1967 led to the opening of more specialized units for the care of users ofthese 'dangerous' drugs as the only legal way of obtaining regular suppHes of these drugs, in effect heroin, morphine, methadone and pethidine. One of these clinics is in Brighton, Sussex; it covers an area with some quarter of a million persons, though most of those attending live near the clinic. From the beginning of 1969, in which year the Act came into force, to the end of 1973, 37 women and 154 men attended the clinic. While these numbers are too small to warrant any general conclusions, their very size does permit of particular examination, an advantage not always fully appreciated. Some of the 'facts' behind these pathetic deaths are given in the two tables.

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“…Stanton (1977) in a recent review of the literature suggests that drugs are perhaps an alternative to or an equivalent of suicide. He cites research by Whipple (Note 1) and Gertler, Ferneau, and Raynes (1973) among others as providing support for a suicidal component of drug use. Conger (1977) concludes that excessive drug use among adolescents is not isolated behavior; such individuals generally tend to engage in more deviant and self‐destructive behavior than non‐abusers.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Role of Drugs in Adolescent Suicide Attempts

McKenry

Tishler

Kelley

1983

Suicide & Life Threat Behav

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Drug histories of 46 adolescent suicide attempters and their parents are described. In addition, these attempters and their parents are compared with a group of non-attempters and their parents on selected measures of drug use. Findings indicate that adolescent drug use is closely related to and perhaps symptomatic of suicidal behaviors and overall pathology. The relationship between adolescent suicidal behaviors and parental drug use is unclear because of the discrepancy between parent-adolescent responses.

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Attitudes toward Death and Dying on a Drug Addiction Unit

Cited by 8 publications

References 3 publications

Life Cycle and Loss — The Spiritual Vacuum of Heroin Addiction

Life Cycle and Loss — The Spiritual Vacuum of Heroin Addiction

Deaths among Users of Dangerous Drugs

The Role of Drugs in Adolescent Suicide Attempts

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