larly since he had a family. He wanted to attain sobriety so that he could be a good husband and father, but did not see how this was possible. He did not think that he was ever going to be able to kick his habits. He said that he had already tried several times to abstain from alcohol and drugs, using will power, AA and NA, and outreach services. He did not think that anything would work for him.
In order to get a sense of Mr. Y's mental status, the Mental Status Exam (Kates and Craven, 1998) was utilized in order to provide an evaluation of his mental processes and problems.
During the interview, it was clear that Mr. Y was not suffering from any severe mental deterioration brought on by his drug use. He did not seem to have any obvious organic brain disorders, and his perceptual functioning was adequate. His appearance was clean and neat, and he was wearing clothes provided by the treatment center. His mood was thoughtful, subdued, and somewhat depressed. His thinking seemed surprisingly clear, but overwhelmingly negative. He was very much down on himself, felt defeated and hopeless, and did not see much of a future. His cognitive processes seemed stuck in that rut. He seemed to identify himself as a loser without any real hope of changing that in the future.
Not too surprisingly, Mr. Y has a family history which placed him at-risk for alcohol and drug abuse. His father deserted the family when Mr. Y was five. For many years, he believed that this was because he was such a bad boy that his father could not stand trying to deal with him. He thought his father left because of his bad behavior and his mother reinforced this to him, blaming him for his father+s absence. Along with blaming him, she also neglected and abused him, particularly when she was drinking.
Mr. Y said that this did not happen often. For the most part, he said, his mother was hard-working, trying to provide a home for him and his thre...