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Drug addictions counseling is a challengeable and daunting profession because it requires specific abilities and skills to establish a good rapport with the client. Indeed, individual characteristics and qualities are of particular concern to medical treatment and counseling because they influence significantly the attitude of clients to treatment.
There is a false assumption concerning the idea of initially bad perception of counseling because the each person can be approached effectively. The task of the counselor is to find a unique technique and establish favorable relations with a client. Certainly, an addict should not be considered as a patient with disorder or impairment, but as an individual who came to the meeting to talk about his/her problems.
In this respect, the focus should be made on client-centered counseling which emphasizes “empathy and the client’s potential growth, shifting away from an attitude of therapist as high-and-might expert and putting a “human face” on the therapeutic process” (Myers and Salt, p. 75). Knowledge of psychology, therefore, is indispensible to substance abuse treatment.
For a substance abuse counselor, the term denial is commonly used to refer to a reaction of patients who deny their dependency, although they confront the obvious disorder. However, the traditional alcohol abuse treatment is often premised on the assumption that all addicts fail to recognize their problems, and their ability to change is encouraged only by ignorance of negative consequences (Springer and Rubin, 2009).
As a result, such approach cannot be considered efficient because it entails the change of behaviors on condition that external outcomes become sufficiently distressing to break the denial by immediate confrontation. Therefore, denial should be seen as “…a reflection of the interpersonal relationship between the counselor and the client” (Springer and Rubin, 2009, p. 5).
In this respect, the task of a counselor is to develop the clients’ intrinsic motivation and enhance their desire to recover through realization of positive consequences.
Positive correlation is vital for ensuring further recovery because it activates patients’ inner motivation to treat the disorder. Moreover, motivation for change can be fostered by amplifying and expanding client’s inner incentives to shape new positive behaviors that would allow patients to confront the challenges.
Some substance addicts believe that abstinence is the only means of reducing the alcohol consumption and gaining social approval. They resort to these measures because of the fear to lose social and clinical support. Patient’s assumptions are premised on the verbal statements about the importance of reducing the amounts of substance use. Moderate consumption and abstinence should not be the only condition for gaining acceptance.
Rather, patients should develop inner awareness of the negative consequences of abusing alcohol. According to Mueser et al. (2003), “although…abstinence is a much more successful remission strategy than occasional or moderate use…the decision to pursue abstinence must come from the client” (p. 29). In most cases, clients start the recovery period by gradual reduction of the amount of alcohol consumed.
Such a strategy can only enhance patients’ dependency. Therefore, the counselors should monitor their clients gaining awareness of the abstinence development, which is much more effective than a gradual reduction strategy. They should also make sure that abstinence does not affect directly their life choices. On the contrary, it should be their choice to resort to abstinence. Attaining abstinence should not be prior to changing life goals.
References
Mueser, K. T., Noordsy, D. L., Drake, R. E., and Fox, L. (2003). Integrated Treatment for Dual Disorders: A Guide to Effective Practice. US: Guilford Press.
Myers, P. L., & Salt, N. R. (2007). Becoming an Addictions Counselor: A Comprehensive Text. US: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Springer, D. W., & Rubin, A. (2009). Substance Abuse Treatment for Youth and Adults: Clinician’s Guide to Evidence-Based Practice. US: John Wiley & Sons.
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