concepts
addiction
Various drug addictions are addressed in Water by the Spoonful. The play's focus is primarily on crack cocaine addiction, but also mentions prescription pain medication. There are a variety of drugs mentioned, however crack cocaine remains at the forefront of the story and conflict.
What is crack cocaine? The Meriam-Webster dictionary defines crack cocaine as "cocaine that has been altered into a more potent drug that can be injected or smoked." It further describes how it is extremely addictive in this form and has many negative health consequences. Health issues include heart damage, seizures, severe personality disturbances, inability to sleep, appetite loss, and paranoid psychosis (loss of reality, defects in judgement).
Prescription drug addiction is another addiction within the play. This addiction can occur when someone is prescribed a drug to ease the pain of an injury. It is dependency on the drug that leads to addiction. There are several symptoms including: taking higher dose than prescribed, excessive mood swings, increase or decrease in sleep, appearing to be high, and visiting multiple doctors to get the same prescription ("Prescription drug abuse").
What is crack cocaine? The Meriam-Webster dictionary defines crack cocaine as "cocaine that has been altered into a more potent drug that can be injected or smoked." It further describes how it is extremely addictive in this form and has many negative health consequences. Health issues include heart damage, seizures, severe personality disturbances, inability to sleep, appetite loss, and paranoid psychosis (loss of reality, defects in judgement).
Prescription drug addiction is another addiction within the play. This addiction can occur when someone is prescribed a drug to ease the pain of an injury. It is dependency on the drug that leads to addiction. There are several symptoms including: taking higher dose than prescribed, excessive mood swings, increase or decrease in sleep, appearing to be high, and visiting multiple doctors to get the same prescription ("Prescription drug abuse").
PTSD
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder may happen after an individual has been through a traumatic event, as described by the National Center for PTSD. A traumatic event is something scary that is seen, heard about, or happens directly to a person. These events include, but are not limited to, combat exposure, sexual or physical abuse, sexual or physical assault, serious accidents, or natural disaster ("What is PTSD?").
Major symptoms listed by the National Center for PTSD include: Reliving the event. Avoiding situations that remind of the event. Negative changes in beliefs and feelings. Feeling "keyed up," which includes being jittery, always alert looking for danger, which may result in trouble concentrating or sleeping.
Major symptoms listed by the National Center for PTSD include: Reliving the event. Avoiding situations that remind of the event. Negative changes in beliefs and feelings. Feeling "keyed up," which includes being jittery, always alert looking for danger, which may result in trouble concentrating or sleeping.
Grief
Grief is when you lose a loved one. Mayo Clinic describes the stages of grief as: acceptance of loss, experience pain due to loss, adjusting to the loss, and having other relationships. The time it takes for someone to go through these phases varies from person to person and on the situation. Ultimately coming to terms with the loss, achieving acceptance of the loss, and obtaining peace, is the goal with the grief process ("Complicated grief definition").
Grief affects everyone differently. How one person experiences grief will not be how anyone else processes the same loss. It is these differences that make it difficult to predict how someone will experience grief.
Grief affects everyone differently. How one person experiences grief will not be how anyone else processes the same loss. It is these differences that make it difficult to predict how someone will experience grief.
immigration
Puerto Rican immigration is a concept that appears in the play. There are multiple reasons why Puerto Ricans have immigrated to the mainland, mostly it appears to be financial and better opportunities. However, with leaving your home behind there is a unique struggle to becoming an American while identifying ones own heritage and culture ("Puerto Ricans in America").