Holistic Systems Treatment for Substance Abusers

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the holistic systems treatment approach as a viable intervention for African-American substance abusers. For the purposes of the paper, substance abuse is defined as a maladaptive pattern of substance usage despite negative social, psychological, physical, and/or legal consequences (Sue, Sue & Sue, 1994). The first section of the paper examines some of the basic characteristics of the population of African-American substance abusers while the second section explores studies of holistic treatment efficacy and discusses the applications of this research to African-American substance abusers.

Characteristics of African-American Substance Abusers

Eshleman (1991) has noted that African-Americans are over-represented among the population of illegal substance abusers. Specifically, he reports that:

(1) Among males, blacks represent 20 percent of substance abusers while whites represent 14.2 percent, and Hispanics only 14 percent;

(2) Among females, blacks represent 11 percent of illegal substance abusers while whites represent 7.5 percent and Hispanics 7.4 percent; and

(3) When both genders are considered together, blacks account for approximately 15.7 percent of illegal substance abusers, whites for 11.7 percent and Hispanics for 10.7 percent.

The foregoing statistics lead to an interesting question. Why is it that Hispanics who may also be considered to be an American minority challenged by prejudice and discrimin

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ics. Thus, the question can be asked as to whether the approach would work well with African-Americans? The answer is that there are a number of features about the model which are applicable to the unique concerns and needs of black Americans. First, as can be seen from the provided example, the holistic systems treatment model is customarily used in family therapy (wherein the family itself is considered to be a system impacted upon by psychological, biological and social factors) but it can also be applied to individual therapy. Woody and Springer (1985) report that one of the most important aspects of the model is an ongoing evaluation of clients for signs of stress as well as an ongoing effort to pinpoint the etiology of any stress-related problems. With respect to substance abuse, it is important to note that often people who become substance abusers turn to the alcohol or drugs as a means of stress-reduction. Therefore the model seems particularly appropriate for the substance abuser in that the therapist can use it to both understand how the substance abuse developed and to monitor the situation to determine whether stress levels are rising and therefore the probability of relapse. Not only is the holistic systems a

Category: Psychology - H