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Substance abuse is one of the main problems of our society today, which ruins people’s lives and the happiness of many families. This is why the problem cannot remain without attention and it requires specially trained people who will be able to provide necessary help for those who are in need. It is obligatory to form the appropriate attitude of students who will work in the sphere of substance abuse counseling to their clients. It is necessary to decide if the book “Substance Abuse Counseling” should be regarded as a reliable source for beginning-level students and for all those who deal with substance abuse counseling.
On the whole, the book provides the reader with a general survey of substance abuse counseling that may be characterized by practical orientation, suitable and acceptable simplicity of the delivery of information. From the purely technical point of view, the book may be considered precise and the manner of presentation of the material is very accessible even to a non-specialist.
One of the main issues the book is built on is as follows: the necessity of designing a treatment that would fit the individual needs of the particular client. In addition, the innovation presented in the book is that Lewis et al. (1994) suggests treating chemical dependency not as a dichotomy, but as a continuum.
As it can be judged by the title of the book, the individualized approach to the client should stand in the center of the system of substance abuse counseling. The authors of the book clearly explain to the readers how to apply substance abuse counseling to the needs and specific features of particular clients. The individual approach necessarily includes the analysis of such factors as personality, cultural specificity, gender, and lifestyle (Lewis et al., 1994). It is stated that treatment should be individualized in two dimensions: in goals and in methods depending on the client (Lewis et al., 1994). It is evident that the counselor should analyze all available information about the client and his personality, as it is sure to be helpful in the rehabilitation process. Thus, the individualized approach may be also called the humanistic or person-centered approach.
The successful application of the individual approach may be seen due to numerous practical case examples and client dialogues in the text of the book. By means of such form of information delivery the authors manage to show students how theory may be applied in practice. This is, certainly, the merit of the book, for it is commonly known that theory without practice is worth nothing and, vice versa, practice may be dangerous without suitable theoretical basis. Thus, it may be stated that the book delivers necessary information in suitable form.
As it was already mentioned, the authors of the book provide counselors with practical information that helps to develop their professional skills. Such is, for instance, paper and pencil diagnostic instruments, like the Adolescent Alcohol Involvement Scale, the purpose of which is to determine the adolescents who are addicted to drugs (Lewis et al., 1994). The methods like this are very useful and may be successfully applied in practice with clients; still, it is the counselor, who should finally determine, if counseling is needed, and this will be possible only after careful analysis.
Chapter 3 “Assessment and Treatment Planning” accessibly explains the students the necessity of connecting the results of assessment of client with the treatment planning, thus establishing fruitful ground for partnership and introduces the possible ways of motivating clients. The authors stress the importance of strong motivation in successful work of counselors, and we admit that the firm belief that people can help themselves is an essential part of recovery and the counselor should do his/her best to establish warm relationship, the relationship of mutual respect and trust with each client.
It should be mentioned that Chapter 6 deserves special attention of the readers. It deals with the concept of work with families in different stages of recovery from substance abuse (Lewis et al., 1994, p. 144). The authors prove that, speaking about adolescent substance abuse, family treatment approaches prove to be more effective in comparison with group-only approach. This point of view is reasonable and the material of the chapter proves it. Lewis et al. (1994) also describe how substance abuse changes relationship in the family, tackles the possible roots of substance abuse that can be found in relatives’ relationship and gives detailed analysis of the ways of solving problems of substance abuse inside the family. It gives the counselor instructions how to make the family ready and eager to give adequate help to the member who suffers from substance abuse. We also think that work with family is one of the main ways of counseling substance abusers, as it helps to create multidimensional approach to counseling that has great potential to be successful.
One more chapter of the book should be touched upon: “Empowering Clients Through Group work” (Lewis et al., 1994, p. 126). It represents the concept of group work with substance abuse that proves to be efficient. The effectiveness of this type of work is explained by the nature of human beings, their tendency to congregate. Group work is proved to be effective due to the reduction of isolation and shame. What is more, group work is a useful method of overcoming depression due to the possibility to witness the gradual recovery of other members of the group. We agree with the authors’ point of view concerning the importance of group work as we think that group can become therapeutic when a person starts to experience positive emotions to other members of the group, this is sure to strengthen his/her motivation. Also, we think that group work may be especially useful for the development of skills that are needed to cultivate abstinence.
Appendices also deserve our consideration, because we think that visual aids are the one of the most productive means of teaching. They contain rather useful instruments for assessment, like Initial Behavioral Assessment, Psychosocial and Substance-Use History, Comprehensive Drinker Profile, several standardized questionnaires (Lewis et al., 1994). They may be used to create simulation of real problematic situation for students to adapt to working conditions.
On the whole, the book helps us to understand the social significance of counselors that may be proved by J. Lewis’s quotation: all counselors, regardless of setting, should consider themselves mental health professionals; that all counselors, regardless of setting, should consider themselves educators; that all counselors, regardless of setting, should be community workers, influencing their clients’ social environments as well as their personal functioning (Locke et al, 2001, p.258).
Lewis and other co-authors of “Substance Abuse Counseling” stress the fact that nowadays the demands placed on counselors become more and more complicated. There are various reasons for such changes: immigration, the changes in demographic situation, various adolescent problems, etc. The counselor should catch up with the dynamics of the requirements and should be able to respond to the clients in constantly changing situation. What is more, J. Lewis and her co-authors advise counselors to remain open to innovations, like new methods and goals with the development of research.
Finally, let us sum up the information presented above. The book under analysis may be treated as a suitable basis for students due to its numerous advantages. It presents general theoretical information on the topic and informs the students about future perspectives. At the same time it provides suitable ground for practical application of theoretical knowledge. The main concepts presented in the book are proves to be efficient. The innovations introduced in the book are sure to be of great use for substance abuse counselors.
Reference List
Lewis, J.A., Dana, R.Q., & Blevins, Q.A. (1994). Substance abuse counseling: An individual approach. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Locke, D.C., Myers, J.E., Herr, E.L. The Handbook of Counseling. NY: SAGE.
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