Reviews : Glue Sniffing and Volatile Substance Abuse: Case Studies of Children and Young Adults DENNIS O'CONNOR Gower, 1983; £13.50, hb; pp103
| Published date | 01 June 1984 |
| Date | 01 June 1984 |
| Author | Ian Gascoigne |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058403100215 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
75
important
for
homosexuality
not
to
be
used
as
a
scapegoat
for
other
major
marital
problems.
Taken
as
a
socio-psychological
profile
of
a
relatively
invisible
body
of
people,
this
piece
of
work
has
much
to
commend
it,
but
might
have
pro-
ved
more
enlightening
if perspectives
of mves
and
families
had been
mcluded.
GWYNETH
BOSWELL
Probation
Officer,
Liverpool
Glue
Sniffing
and
Volatile
Substance
Abuse:
Case
Studies
of
Children
and
Young
Adults
DENNIS
O’CONNOR
Gower,
1983;
£13.50,
hb;
pp103.
That
some
young
people
have
discovered
the
habit
of
mhahng
the
fumes
from
a
variety
of
pro-
ducts
that
are
cheap
and
easily
available
has
aroused
a
considerable
amount
of anxiety
in
many
adults.
That
some
seem
to
become
dependent
on
the
habit
as
a
way
of
avoiding
the
world
is
something
that
should
provoke
a
concerned
interest
that
is
more
constructive
than
the
immediate
response
of
alarm
and
dismay.
Dennis
O’Connor
has
produced
a
book
that
attempts
to
go
beyond
the
banner
headlines
and
initial
feelings
of
shock
and
towards
a
study
of the
emotional
aspects
of
glue
sniffing
and
solvent
abuse,
which
emphasises
the
human
interests
involved.
It
describes
the
findings
from
three
years
of
clinical
experience
and
research
with
over
500
school
children
and
adolescents
who
voluntarily
attended
a
counsellmg
clinic
m
Newcastle.
It
is
essentially
about
the
people
who
inhale
toxic
vapours
and
the
feelmgs
they
have
about
themselves.
The
approach
advocated
rests
on
the
premise
that
the
management
and
treatment
of
behaviour
problems,
such
as
solvent
abuse,
will
only
be
effective
when
caring
approaches
are
aimed
at
the
subject
rather
than
the
symptoms.
Whereas
such
an
emphasis
on
the
individual
is
laudable
and
correct,
some
of the
small
cameos
and
case
studies
are
perhaps
over
dramatic
and
may
increase
alarm
m
a
way
I
don’t
think
the
author
intended.
Nicely
organised,
the book provides
an excellent
review
of the
literature
and
information
regarding
the
various
methods
of
abuse,
the
products
used,
the
physical
and
social
effects
and
possible
styles
of
intervention.
What
starts
for
many
as
a
teenage
dare,
develops
for
a
small
number
into
a
pleasant
escape
from
a
boring
or
frustrating
world
The
sniffing
of
glue
becomes
a
vital
source
of
relief
and
life
can
become
a
retreat
into
fantasy,
hallucina-
tion
and
altered
perception.
An
attempt
is
made
to
draw
together
the
literature
into
a
theory
of
solvent
abuse,
and
all
too
familiar
pictures
emerge.
The
bored
and
frustrated
teenager,
individuals
with
poor
self-concepts
increasingly
burdened
with
inferiority
feelings
It
is
rewarding
to
receive
substitute
attention,
the
intoxicating
effects
are
disinhibiting
and
alleviate
feelings
of
inadequacy
to
the
extent
that
a
dependence
develops
on
the
sol-
vent
and
the
state
it
induces.
The
chapter
on
treatment
is
straightforward
and
modest,
necessarily
eclectic
and
person
centred.
The
most
valuable
aspect
of help,
as
defined
by
the
abusers,
was
‘bemg
able
to
talk
to
someone
who
would
listen’
This
book
is
a
valuable
one
and
is
set
to
be
a
standard
text to
all
those
who
are
faced
with
working
with
solvent
abusers,
their
families
or
the
communities
in
which
they
lme.
Although
rather
expensive,
it
should
be
readily
available.
Information
and
training
officers,
please
note
IAN
GASCOIGNE
Probation
Officer,
Loughborough
Lads,
Citizens
and
Ordinary
Kids:
Working-class
Youth
Life-Styles
in
Belfast
RICHARD
JENKIN
RKP,
1983;
£6
95;
pp
134
This
book
is
an
anthropological
study
of
young
men
and
women
living
in
a
predominantly
Protes-
tant
housing
estate
in
Belfast.
The
empirical
research
was
based
upon
participant
observation
To
make
sense
of
his
data
the
author
uses
in
a
critical
way
the
Marxist
theory
of
cultural
reproduction
through
which
cultural
forms
and
social
practices
are
sustained,
thus
legitimising
capitalist
society
Divisions
within
the
working
class
were
crucial
to
this
process.
Jenkins
applies
this
theory
to
his
subjects
very
successfully
hav-
ing
briefly
and
lucidly
outlined
the
political
and
economic
history
of
Northern
Ireland
Focusing
equally
on
individual
experience
and
social
structure,
the
author
explores
the
life-styles
both
chosen
and
thrust
upon
the
young
people
and
how
these
are
determined
by
and
determine
the
opportumties
available
to
them
Much of the book
is
taken
up
m
distinguishing
the
’lads’
from
the
’ordinary
kids’
and
the
citizen’
His
analysis
of
the ‘lads’,
the
‘rough’
elements
of the
working
class
is
both
perceptive
and
sensitive
and
invaluable
to
probation
officers
working
m
any
environment
This
book
is
a
work
of
scholarship,
personal
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