Elizabeth White
English 102
Instructor: Richard Samuelson
26 February 2011
Discourse Analysis
Throughout the semester, I have been taking all of my reflections and analysis’s into my own hands to find a deeper meaning in these findings. What I found is there are some things worth doing because it is the right thing to do. My first reaction towards my English 102 class was confusion; I was confused as to what service learning had to do with writing in college. Now, being further into the course, I realize that there are valuable lessons that I have learned. Being in college means being an adult, taking matters into your own hands and being a part of the community. However, what does it mean to be a part of the community, what would a community expect from me? These are questions I never would have thought to ask myself before this class and the answers I am coming up with are even more surprising. To play my part in my community I don’t have to save a baby from a fire, although I would; or anonymously give a million dollars to a stranger, in which case I highly doubt I ever could. The point is, I’m doing something. Changing the world isn’t about how “smart” you are, it’s about the wisdom you gain from your experiences. I’m proud to say that I feel as though I am well on my way to having many new experiences and sharing them. So, by taking everything that I have learned through my Baby Steps program I have also come up with some questions.
While speaking with Diane, my Baby Steps advisor, she explained that our goal is to be someone that cares. When mothers of the program join in Baby Steps daily meetings it’s my job to check their points list. This points list allows them to be rewarded by redeeming their points for things for their children. They collect these points by doing something that is overall beneficial and healthy to themselves or their babies. So, for example bringing a support system with you gets you points, going to a doctor’s appointment; but the point that struck me as a surprise was not being involved in substance abuse. It hadn’t occurred to me before then that some of these women have struggled or are still with abusing substances such as drugs or alcohol. This is where I got my question. What kind of physiological, emotional, or psychological damage can occur to a child or a parent involved in substance abuse?
To find out more about this problem I decided to start with looking more specifically at an effect of prenatal substance abuse that I was familiar with, but didn’t know much about, fetal alcohol syndrome. I found a fairly recent video online that had snippets of legitimate doctors from a few universities through the nation, and even a couple of adoptive parents that agreed to share their stories, give the facts and spread the word. This is the source I decided to go with. In a very broad sense, the facts are FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome) can occur at anytime of the pregnancy and can be more or less severe dependent upon the mother’s use of alcohol. In latent terms these doctors explained that this syndrome is something that this child lives with forever and cannot be treated. There are many brain abnormalities and even anomalies in physical appearance. FAS is especially hard as the children affected grow to be adults. They have many behavioral problems because they struggle particularly with problem solving skills and aren’t able to understand cause and effect relationships and long-term consequences. These are only a few of the struggles that many of these children have. Although, I don’t believe that every parent that is involved in substance abuse will have a baby with syndromes such as FAS, nor do I believe that it makes you a bad parent. So I then questioned, what doesn’t someone else think about who’s “fault” it may be when a child is diagnosed with a substance related disability.
I found this next source to be extremely fascinating in it’s overall ideas and points! Something I myself have never questioned was who’s “fault” is it when a child ends up with a syndrome or particular kinds of abnormalities due to substance abuse throughout pregnancy? Marguerite Babcock pulls all sorts of research exclaiming that there is a severe bias among the people of the United States when it comes to pregnant women, or mothers, and their babies having diagnosis’ such Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). She points out that no one ever bothers to question what part the father might have had in the situation and unfortunately, there tends to be this stigma attached to these mothers. According to Babcock, “science as knowledge exists in a social and political context, women blaming is old news in the sciences as well as in the culture.” (Babcock pg. 87) By saying the knowledge we take in and the new sciences we learn about, these are all affected by our culture and the environment at that point and time. So, maybe two decades ago, women would have been looked down upon, and even shunned in some religious settings, for carrying a child with FAS; but today more and more people are trying to look at all ends of the spectrum.
Research has found that not only can the father impact a babies overall health, but he can even be the cause of the child’s diagnosis. If a man takes part in any kind of substance abuse or consumption of alcohol his toxicity levels are extremely high. These toxicity levels range from anywhere in his blood flow to his spermicidal chromosomes. If a man decides to have intercourse while his toxicity levels are still high he could easily effect the zygote, the chromosomes that come together to make a baby, during conception. I found all of this information fascinating! The research stated ultimately changes my outlook on the mothers in this predicament and makes me wonder how many of them have been stigmatized for it. Babcock mentions, “It is hard to be a good o even “normal” mother when those around you doubt your competence…the assumption that substance abuse impedes maternal functioning, including prenatal, further increases the stigmatism of female drug users…” (pg. 88) Just because a women struggles with substance abuse doesn’t always mean they don’t love their baby, their problem just may be bigger than they can carry. To sum it all up, mothers, for many many years, have been blamed for birth defects caused by the father, but ignoring the fathers’ involvement is inaccurate and doesn’t adequately address the problem of birth defects.
When looking at all of the damage that can be done to a family when involved in substance abuse I wondered what could be done to fix the problem. Addiction isn’t something you can change overnight and more times than not, the only person that can change it is the person who is addicted. There has to be a will to stop and get better for their family and their lives, one thing I’ve noticed about all of the beautiful mother’s at Baby Steps; they’re all willing to put their families first to have a better life. I decided to look at the most effective techniques to help someone who is still struggling with alcoholism or drug addiction, and I found that although addiction can be solved individually, it’s much easier to be successful when you have a support group. A suppost group has to start with the family, everyone needs to be on board with the recovery. What’s generally most helpful is being involved in family or couples therapy. What most therapist’s miss with treating addiction is the fact that the addiction has most likely effected more than just the person struggling with the addiction. In many families, everyone is effected by the illness in some way or another. So, family therapy is very important for recovery, but does not occur nearly as much as it should. According to medical doctor Peter Steinglass, “Family treatment doesn’t happen as often as it should because health care rarely reimburses family for the treatment. But equally important is the minimal training that addiction professionals receive in family systems assessment and treatment.” (pg. 10) Unfortunately, family treatment can often be ignored as a source for a cure and treatment generally leads to slef-help programs, rehabilitation programs, or individual therapy. None of which are fully benefitting or focusing on the overall picture and well being of the family. Steinglass mentions that there are three main components that have proven family therapy is more effective than that of therapy centrally focused on the indivual:
First, that the active inclusion of family members during the assessment/ diagnostic phase of treatment substantially increases the clarity of the clinical picture, second that early involvement early onincreases subsequent engagement of both the patient and family in an on-going treatment, and third that all of these approaches substantially improve long-term outcomes, not only for the alcoholic family member, but for the whole family as well.”
In simple terms, this kind of therapy can often lead to; recognition of quantity and frequency of substance and its impact on overall health and family relationships, increased sobriety rates, and increased marital satisfaction and stability. All of which are crucial steps to take for your family to be a improved, healthier, happier family.
For my final discourse analysis write up I decided to look for something that brings all of my other sources together. I’ve talked about the physiological effects a substance using mother may have on her child during prenatal development, then about the bias of mothers with children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), to now exploring the women’s success stories from drugs and alcohol as a parent at the Baby Steps program. Initially I was interested in the overall well being of every mother in the Baby Steps program, and wanted to research families struggles in general with low income. But, to me, it seemed too easy. I tried to think of something personal that I would like to learn more about and sustain a substantial argument without leaving room for offending anyone. I like to give the facts, sometimes I don’t agree with what my sources are saying either, but the truth is much more interesting to me than pleasing myself or frankly the reader. Since I have distant family members that struggle with substance abuse and it has affected their children, I figured this would be a good place to start. On the Baby Steps website I noticed, weeks before I started the program, a link that led to success stories. I took a look and a particular women caught my eye. Now her last name is not given, but Colleen, was a member and now a graduate from the Baby Steps program that sticks around and helps to make Baby Steps a better place for all mothers. There were points in her life when she was detached from her family and homeless and she decided something needed to change for her baby. She joined Baby Steps and within two years her and her partner kept steady jobs, saved up money for their child, and continues to help out at Baby Steps and other non-profit organizations. What I found so inspiring was that colleen had struggled with her teeth rotting, “due to bad decisions made in the past.” In addition, Baby Steps agreed to pay for her to have a new, beautiful smile. This is a great success story and I wanted to share it because I think that any parent can have this kind of success with a little bit of help!
I would really be interested in having an interview with Colleen and asking her about her journey, however, I understand that it may not be my place to pry. So, I will for now leave what I have learned of this women and take my own interpretations of her story. Ironically, I guess you could say that I am being bias, and that’s okay. I’ve enjoyed learning about these mother’s even learning the hard stuff; but it feels good to know that families that struggle with drug and alcohol abuse are not alone. Just down the corner from where I attend school there is a giving program ready to help.
Works Cited:
• Rosaryfilms. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome- the Biological Basis/ FAS FASD Video. Television.
• Babcock, M. "Substance-using mothers: bias in culture and research." Journal of Addictions Nursing 19.2 (2008): 87-91. CINAHL with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 28 Feb. 2011.
• BabySteps - A Community Ministry of St. Michael's Episcopal Cathedral. Baby Steps, Dec.-Jan. 2010. Web. 28 Feb. 2011.
• Steinglass, Peter(2008) 'Family Systems and Motivational Interviewing: A Systemic-Motivational Modelfor Treatment of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems', Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 26: 1, 9 — 29
