Michael Skilnik Critical Thinking Analysis

Improved Essays
The guest speaker, Michael Skilnik, really stood out for me. First of all, my heart reaches out to Michael to talk to the class about his addictions. I cannot imagine how hard that would have been. During his talk, I began to get frustrated when Michael brought up that his teacher gave him candy and then started banging him. When I was in high school, my best friend encountered something similar just in different context. The only thing that is different between Michael and my best friend’s stories is my teacher never made sexual contact. I knew this was not right and I did not know who to talk to because I did not want to get my friend in trouble. Therefore, I was frustrated a lot during this time, perhaps why I felt frustrated when Michael …show more content…
The ability for an individual in an active addiction to self-reflect is many of the possibilities why the addict can remain trapped in their suffering for numerous years. Cognitive dissonance was one of the reasons why Michael remained in an active addiction. This means he held two contradictory beliefs. While he was driving to buy drugs he was thinking I should not be doing this my girlfriend will be mad. Consequently, these thoughts happened more than once. I believe Michael, along with my friend, protected their ego from their conflict through utilizing denial. The individual discovers other sources for their problems and refuse to reflect the likelihood that it is the substance abuse that is at fault. However, they may believe that the drugs or attention are the only positive thing in their life. It is questionable if the individual would be able to continue with their addictive behavior if they self-reflected precisely. If anything, Michael and my friend learned from the situation. This is where I do not understand why people still understand addiction as hopeless? Whether it is drugs, sex, or gambling, addiction is a disarray of learning. It is not a disarray of self-indulgence or imperfections. However, the learning experience will include our brains because learning is involved, cultural, social and environmental influences are important in constructing it. As a social worker, I want to be able to help individuals in active addiction to learn from the experience rather than conditionally make the substance abuse worse. Therefore, I believe I can use my friend’s story as an example for myself to learn from the experience, rather than thinking what if I would have done this or that. I believe this situation will be a reminder for me to learn from my experiences and mistakes throughout my social work

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Critical Thinking Case

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages

    1. The overall trends in the position statements posted for this assignment about the use of fMRI technologies; included mind reading and criminal justice. Some aspects of fMRI technologies were supported by others; they supported the use of fMRI technologies in criminal justice. However, many aspects of fMRI technologies raised concerns for the majority of the others; they unsupported the use of fMRI technologies for mind reading. 2.…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I really enjoyed the guest speaker, Cathleen Morgan and was quite impressed with her forsaking aspect of being on the board of education. She gave a new insight on the idea that we are no longer a minority and majority school district. Whites were truly the minority, of which 35% are Hispanics and 15% are black. The idea that teaching with these numbers is extremely hard to do and is a challenge. The challenge of experiencing a certain culture and gaining a new culture at the same time.…

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1. For some doing wrong is a sense of pleasure, rather than doing the right thing. Some people find life better to do others wrong rather than being a victim of someone who has done them wrong. Glucson makes things clear when he states that “those who practice justice do so involuntarily and because they have not the power to be unjust will best appear if we imagine something of this kind”. In other words, to my understanding he is making it clear that those who practice justice have come to an agreement for those who do things justice vs others who do wrong-doings.…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I enjoyed many things about our guest speaker. However, if I had to choose one it would have to be when he shared the story of why he left the airline company he was working for in Dallas Texas. The reason I chose this part of his presentation is because he did not agree with the moral decisions they were making, and decided to leave because of them. In the world of business cold hard decisions are made everyday, however Ken Janssen saw the decisions that the company was making and left because of them.…

    • 166 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Book Report/ Critique Paper #2 Addictive Thinking Understanding Self-Deception The book Addictive Thinking, by Abraham J. Twerski is intended to help those that are codependent and those that are in recovery and teach them about addictive thinking and how to overcome it. It talks about how those that have an addiction think. Sometimes we fail to recognize that self-deception can be harmful. Deceptive thinkers can hurt everyone around them.…

    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ratification-Rick can request the executives to ratify their decision of renting two costly autos for them. if he picks this privilege than directors need to review their choices. 2) Injunction-rick can apply for order u/s1324 which will limit Tanya and Rachel from renting the auto and different acts. It will also help Rick to stay in the board. 3) Oppressive behavior- being in a minority, Rick can speak to the court u/s 233 for the oppressive behavior of the individuals from the board i.e. evacuating him out of the board, or not declaring profit.…

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Critical Thinking Case

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Last weekend when my friend Karen created her new instagram account she was childishly relieved to now have a location where she could outsource her selfies. Thankfully, with 15GB memory storage on her phone, she was then blessed with the daunting task of picking the best one out of the 500 pictures of herself taken in an assortment of angles, diverse places of lighting, and various facial expressions. What a disgrace would it have been had I not been present to save her from selecting the selfie where the megapixel next to her smile was a shade darker than the rest and made her look like she didn’t floss! #ratchet! If that picture made the final upload to be viewed to the public, Thomas would definitely not have asked her to the football game that Friday.…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Based on the interactions that the person underwent during that day, he was able to guide his responsive behavior by turning to drugs as an escape from that horrible day. The usage of drugs can eventually become addictive, making it nearly impossible for the person to quit doing it. Not only that, but the person’s daily life can take a turn for the worst. Unfortunately, many people who undergo horrific interactions with others or themselves often times respond and act upon them in a very negatively way.…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Finally, this recording is of interest to me because countertransference was and is still being used in our sessions. Each time the client talks about his grandmother and how he was not able to attend her funeral, he becomes sad and immediately starts grieving. I can tell because the tone of his voice changes, his body positions and mannerisms change, as well as his train of thought. I didn’t notice it in the beginning, but each time we have a dialogue about his grandmother, his feelings of his grandmother are being projected on me and makes me realize that I have unwanted grief and a little bit of anger towards my mother, who took my grandmother off life support before I arrived at the hospital. Taking my grandmother off life support prohibited…

    • 1134 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    5 Stages Of Addiction

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the past, we all have come into contact with someone who carries an addiction with them. Whether it’s drugs, food, alcohol, gambling, or even their phone. We have noticed the routine of an addict, as their habits become a mandatory part of their day. Some people may even be hesitant to speak to an addict. They believe that they are incapable of any normal life, as they may be lacking morals and self discipline, while also not caring for anyone besides themselves.…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Critical thinking is important because it helps people resolve every day issues without wasting time, effort, and coming to a conclusion that doesn’t resolve the issue at hand. Critical thinking involves thinking clearly, sticking to the point, asking others and yourself relevant questions, and being reasonable. I think that people can function on a daily bases without totally thinking critically. I see it almost every when I step out of the house. For example, when I’m at work I see some of my co-workers jumping to conclusions, asking people irrelevant questions, giving vague answers to people, and the list goes on.…

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Thinking, something we all do automatically all day every day even in our sleep, a constant flow of words moving throughout the mind. It’s an incredible activity making it one of the most important things in determining how our lives are lived. Basically the process of being able to live starts in our head. How we think allows us to determine how we feel and react to situations in life. Because of this it is so important to be able to evaluate facts and information, react properly to situations and be able to handle emotions.…

    • 305 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The United States is ranked 14th in education worldwide, 24th in literacy, and 17th in educational performance (rankingamerica.wordpress.com.) Many studies and statistics on the U.S. education system indicate that the nation is not a forerunner in this arena worldwide. I have learned that critical thinking is not only vital for thinking rationally but also as a tool for learning. Bell Hooks argues that children are organically predisposed to be critical thinkers and that this process is often interrupted once they enter the educational system (Hooks, Critical Thinking, 7, 8.) If there is an interruption in the system, a review of the system is warranted, to see what is being taught in the classroom?…

    • 1205 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Sitting in my first composition class in college was a little intimidating ,I was both nervous and excited when i was asked to write a passage about myself .The reason why i was nervous was because i had never seen myself as a strong writer even though the passage wasn't going to be graded the fact that my teacher was going to read it made me feel anxious. Later on in the week we got our first assignment it was to write a reader's response about a certain passage that we could relate to in a book that we had started reading called “The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Reading” the topic i choose to write about was how to have a open mind, in the chapter it talked about the importance of having an open mind whether it's with talking to people…

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Nursing process and critical thinking course has affected me in so many ways. I have learned so much in this course and found it very interesting. I have a very good learning experience from my instructor and classmates. The three main things that have great impact in my learning experience are the cases presented of each group in the class, applying critical thinking in nursing process, and journal.…

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays