Substance Abuse

Such work begins with a thorough assessment of the individual's situation, including understanding the substances being abused, how dependent the individual is, and the extent to which abuse interferes with the individual's functioning. The social worker must then identify the appropriate response to the problem, including pinpointing the available community resources and planning a program of treatment. Treatment can range from inpatient rehabilitation programs to individual psychotherapy, group therapy, psychoeducation, and other kinds of programs. Treatment requires the patient's cooperation and may need to be preceded by intervention efforts and detoxification before other approaches can be effective. Clinical interventions are aimed at achieving abstinence and must include provisions for ongoing recovery. The patient's family also plays an important role in treatment and must be included in any clinical plan. Finally, the clinician must evaluate whether or not other issues are present that may affect a treatment plan, such as work or economic pressures, the threat of AIDS, multiple addictions, or the presence of psychological pathology. Substanc

. . .
rtant step an abuser can take toward recovery, after admitting that a problem exists in the first place, and the objections raised by Peele and others do serve to remind all clinicians that the individual abuser is not completely blameless, no matter how strong the biological, psychological, and social influences may be that triggered the initial impulses to use drugs. Assessment The first step in dealing with substance abuse is acknowledging that a problem exists. Individual substance abusers rarely recognize their problem on their own. Glenn Alan Cheney (1993) points out, "Because chronic drug use causes the mind to play psychological tricks, it's hard, even impossible, to recognize your own addiction" (p. 95). Initial assessment usually happens in one of three ways. First, the patient's family (or coworkers or close friends) may recognize the existence of a problem, though they may be unable to diagnose the extent of the abuse. Second, a clinical observer may diagnose the problem in the course of dealing with a different issue. Third, the patient may, in fact, acknowledge the problem, usually as the result of a "bottoming out" experience, a painful and unavoidable consequence to their abuse. One of the more common su
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Mark Gold, Alan Cheney, Katz Liu, Family Issues, Overeaters Anonymous, James McKay, , Carol Wekesser, Peele Brodsky, Charles Marwick, substance abuse, dupont 1997, addictive behavior, marwick 1998 april, social workers, april 15, 1998 february, marwick 1998, 1998 april, 1998 april 15, substance abusers, lenters 1985, gold 1998 july, miller gold 1998, lash 1998 february,
Approximate Word count = 4984
Approximate Pages = 20 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Substance Abuse