Biopsychosocial Perspective in Addiction Therapy - Term Paper Example

Social Work: Biopsychosocial Perspective in Addiction Therapy Type of service The agency works in close collaboration with behavior change service agencies to improve social and mental health of our clients. Our focus is addiction therapy that specially targets drug and substance abuse and other compulsive behavioral challenges. Presenting Challenge Addiction and falling to compulsive behaviors affects many persons who, despite admitting being exposed to certain consequences of different levels, are unable to avoid the behavior and the subsequent consequences. Diagnosis of the presenting challenges illustrates that there are several factors determining how individuals respond to agents of addiction and compulsive behaviors. Individuals suffering from the pressures of addiction and compulsive behavior find it hard to abandon the characteristic obsessive attachment with the addictive agents and almost certainly experience rebound soon after undertaking to quit. In this discourse, the various therapy perspectives that the agency applies in assisting the victims of this challenge are discussed in detail. Guiding Theory in Practice The fundamental perspective that guides the approaches devised and applied by the agency in assisting addiction victims to cope and come out of addiction is related to the biopsychosocial theory of addiction. In biopsychosocial theory, the mechanism of addiction is analyzed from a wholesome view that includes three addiction predisposing factors namely, biological, psychological and social. Initial addiction interventions were devised from some of these factors, which led to incomplete consideration of the addiction factors that the biopsychosocial perspective attempts to apply (Flores, 2004). Under the perspective, addiction is not selectively considered to be as a result of a single causative factor, which allows flexibility in diagnosis and appropriate intervention. In the design of the applicable model, the fundamental theoretical postulates dealing with the three addiction approaches are considered. However, there are other theoretical perspectives that coincide with the biopsychosocial theory that are also incorporated into the procedures. For instance, compatible theories touching on cognition and social environment that are inherent in human development are considered. Model The comprehensive approach of the biopsychosocial theory of addiction formulates the model of intervention that employs disease as well as psychosocial perspectives. Unlike the disease model that excludes other possibilities of addiction causation, the psychosocial model considers a multifactor perspective of dealing with all possible addiction causation. The initial step is the diagnosis of the three aspects of the biopsychosocial perspective, followed by the consideration of a complex interplay of the factors in the addiction (Donovan and Marlatt, 2007). As guided by the theory of addiction defined by biopsychosocial perspective, interventions designed by the agency are inclusive of the biological factors that interpret addiction as a treatable disease. Alternatively, psychological aspects of the model including behavior, feelings, and perceptions are included in the interventions. To generate the overall contribution that the internal factors may have on addiction, the environmental factors of addiction must also be included to disease and psychological elements. Excerpt 1 From the first excerpt, the discussion between the client and the therapist highlights the recognition of the first approach of biopsychosocial element of addiction, focusing on disease aspects. Intern: The last time we met, we discussed the biological aspects of addiction to alcohol and we also saw that there are psychological and social aspects. Today we begin by reminding ourselves on the biological aspect by summarizing what we saw last time. Client: Thank you. We saw that addiction can be interpreted as a clinical condition and drugs are available to treat it as other diseases. Several physiological manifestations are associated with addiction, which enable clinical diagnosis and treatment. Intern: That is right. It is important to define the bodily impairment links that accompany addiction manifestation. From such links, it is possible to point the health dangers arising from addictive behavior. Excerpt 2 The second excerpt highlights the third element of addiction covered in the therapy intervention with the addiction client. In this discussion, it is possible to highlight the coverage of the importance of the social environment within which the client is brought up in. Intern: We have seen that the environment affects the way individuals perceive their interactions with certain addiction agents. In your case, we will identify any alcohol exposure settings you might have had during your development. Are there any you might recall? Client: Yes, there are several instances. Firstly, nearly all of my close friends have been taking alcohol for a long time. The peer pressure was too strong for me to resist. Intern: You mean your friends introduced you to alcohol? Client: Yes. I remember we used to have night parties on my first encounters with alcohol. Then, my dad and two uncles like alcohol and I accompanied them in many occasions when they took alcohol. I grew knowing it is not that big a crime to get drunk. Description of Successes Reported by the Client There are specific areas of success that the client feels have been availed by the intervention devised by the program. One of the aspects of the intervention is constant review of the changes and developments achieved. During the stocktaking sessions, the client talks highly of the positive changes that have occurred since the therapy began. Every month, the client has a chance to highlight the main changes that have been experienced as a result of the weekly sessions to unravel complexities of the addiction condition. Some of the main successes reported by the client include the following under the specified categories. General Successes Since the client enrolled in the addiction therapy sessions that take part once a week, several positives have been reported. The agency involves the entire family in the recovery progress of the client, which makes the process oversight to have several players. In terms of the general assistance that the client highlights, understanding the process of addiction under the biopsychosocial model was the most important step in the therapy. From the description of the understanding acquired, the client explains that denial of certain elements of addiction has been overcome. It is only after the enrolment into the therapy that the client cultivated a positive attitude towards admitting struggling with the addiction (Van Wormer and Davis, 2007). Admitting a weakness in behavioral perceptions is perhaps the initial stage in any therapeutic intervention in psychology, which shows that the client responds positively to the entire program. The appreciation of the complexity of addiction with regard to biological, psychological, and sociological factors drew the attention of the client to the complexity of human health system. Learning to approach the challenges of the human life from diverse perspectives in a flexible way is reported to improve social skills of the client. Biological Prior to the therapy sessions, the client did not appreciate the biological implications of addiction. After discussing the interplay of addiction with biological factors that present addiction to and abuse of alcohol, the client was able to connect with health concerns at stake (Muisener, 1994). Learning of the possibility of genetic forces impact on addiction is perhaps important in the definition of the satisfaction that the client reports. This has changed the alcoholism perception held by the client from a personal problem to that involving the generations after the addict. Development of substance reliance as the body conditions itself to the chemical changes introduced by the substance was an important learning process that the client appreciates. Psychological Addiction advancement and deterioration of the victim’s health status is perhaps a construction of the psychology and attitudes held. Appreciation of deceptive feelings, beliefs, and attitudes has assisted the client to embrace behavior change. The client acknowledges the assistance obtained in understanding the direction of the path taken when deciding to indulge in excessive and harmful intake of alcohol. After being taken through the psychological aspects of alcohol addiction, the client reports, the ease with which voluntary resolve to scale down intake was adopted. Therapy sessions have been invaluable in cultivation of the correct approach to psychological health as the client reports. By introducing behavior and attitude changes into the interventions proposed by the model, the client felt that the recovery process was destined to complete success. Generally, inconsistent ideas regarding self-responsibilities when dealing with addiction related weaknesses are a major contributor to relapse even after therapy has been completed. To counter the feelings and thoughts equips the client with the necessary mental strength to counter desires and compulsive ideas (Rasmussen, 2000). Social In acknowledging the positive lessons picked from the therapy in terms of social relationship that addiction has with the presentation of the individual, the client reports several changes. Firstly, the importance of peer influence in subscribing to erratic perceptions is underscored in the client’s explanation of the healing process (Miller, 2012). Secondly, the role of the family values and interactions in the shaping of the child’s development as highlighted in the sessions assists the client to come to terms with influence of the social background. Perhaps the other important social aspect of the addiction challenge is defined by the cultural attitudes towards general use of alcohol. Apparently, the client’s culture does not present alcohol as a bad substance in the foods and beverages interactions. According to the culture, the client has understood the impact of general views on use of alcohol, which exposes individuals to the risks involved. The fact that the family members are involved in the healing process as designed by the intervention model has been a fundamental point of recovery for the client. In terms of the client’s view of the social role played by the inclusion of the family members, it is very important to increase care for the addict from those highly regarded in terms of social relations. The environment in which the victim under therapeutic intervention is very important in defining the recovery process as the client’s experience illustrates. This concept underscores the role of expression of love to individuals suffering from psychosocial challenges (Miller, 2010). Description of Success in Practice Using Biopsychosocial Theory, Model, and Interventions During the practice of therapeutic interventions based on the biopsychosocial model, personal outcomes have also been recorded in comparison with other interventions to addiction. From the therapist’s perspective, it is possible to isolate certain benefits that are inherent to the proposed by the approach. In light of the actual benefits achieved, personal achievement can be rated from how thorough the technique applied is to the client preference to the approach embraced. In this regard, there are a few areas that have been isolated in the therapy as applied in the case reported above. Learning Process and Growth In light of the learning process experienced in dealing with the biopsychosocial theory, the comprehensibility in handling nearly all the concerns involved in addiction raises the confidence level of expected results. Coincidentally, the ease with which the therapist’s options are availed by the techniques employed in dealing with the concerns complements the client’s expectations. As illustrated in the successes reported by the client, there are several advantages that the client feels that can be associated with the approach of the issues involved in addiction. In the description of the learning process that the application of the model presents during practice of addiction therapy, there is a wide window of opportunity to understand the complexities involved in addiction. The requirement that the three aspects of addiction factors are considered in therapy has improved the learning outcomes of the interventions. In devising interventions, the requirement of covering the three concepts of addiction contributing factors opens the possibility of unearthing all potential addiction forces unlike when approaching therapy from a single perspective. The importance of the technique in terms of personal growth in practice illustrates the relevance of the underlying research that is proposed by the theory. Apparently, the relevance of the postulates of the theory points at the accuracy with which personal confidence levels are raised. While applying therapeutic competence in addiction issues, the fundamental intervention requirements seem to be wholly captured in the biopsychosocial model (Miller, 1994). Personal growth as nurtured by the biopsychosocial perspective is represented by the fact that the reliance on any other perspective does not solve the clients’ concerns as comprehensively as this perspective does. Personally, the application of a single concept of intervention was preferential for purposes of a single undivided and focused attention. However, the extra allowance for dealing with potential factors from two other perspectives makes the approach adopted better prepared to significantly cover all involved issues. Flexibility of the model in accommodating the views of a majority of other perspectives only enhances personal growth in devising interventions from different contributions. Accommodating three different thoughts of addiction issues facilitates the interaction of personal views with the theoretical postulates of the biopsychosocial model (McCaffrey and Puente, 1992). The high score of compatibility with different postulates makes the model easy to work with. As illustrated in the outcomes reported by the client, it is possible to dissect the entire addiction problem and isolate the areas of intervention from a wide range of options. For instance, it is possible to identify how medical treatment can be incorporated by diagnosing the actual extent of alcohol abuse and complement the treatment through behavior and social interventions. Countertransferential As mentioned above, client perception of the coverage of issues involved as reported in the perceived success are satisfactory. The client-therapist relationship is likely to be maintained on the expected professional level since the focus on the factors is distributed across various factors. As an illustration, the requirement of the model to focus on medical, behavior and environmental factors facilitate shifting the attention of the presenting challenge from the client on a number of occasions. As a result, it is possible for the recommended professional distance to be observed, at least until at the end of the sessions. The opportunities presented by the various intervention factors of consideration enable the client and the therapist to avoid emotional fixation of feelings on a single topic (Frankel, McDaniel and Quill, 2003). Personal perception of the responsibility and vulnerability of the client with regard to the addiction forces does not amount to excess empathy likely to compromise the independence and professional role of the therapist. The majority of our cases are alcohol addiction cases that are common among adults than in the youths who have other forms of addiction or compulsive behaviors. In the overall design of the applicable intervention model, the first procedure that our agency carries out is the clinical diagnosis. To illustrate the relevance in dealing with countertransference, which easily results in burnouts and compromise of professional duty, the therapy is divided into three levels of attention. In the alcohol addiction procedure, the medical diagnosis report is used to determine the extent of addiction. Addiction in alcoholism results in full-blown disease that can be differentiated into different categories. Recovery interventions that the rehabilitation therapy recommends must therefore be based on the extent of damage caused to the physiological functioning of the body. Alternatively, the appropriate therapy must analyze the behavioral alterations that the addiction client must have suffered and intervention introduced. Behavioral conditioning that the psychological impairment introduces to the life of the victim must be tackled as precisely as possible. Additionally, social challenges that the addiction victim faces are isolated and pointed for the appropriate response to be advised to the client. References Donovan, D. M. & Marlatt, A. (2007). Assessment of addictive behaviors. New York, NY: Guilford Press Flores, P. J. (2004). Addiction as an attachment disorder, Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson Frankel, R. M., McDaniel, S. H., & Quill, T. E. (2003). The biopsychosocial approach: Past, present and future. Rochester , NY: University of Rochester Press Irvin, J., Phil, D., Ritvo, P. & Shaw, B. F. (2011). Addiction and recovery for dummies. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons McCaffrey, R. J. & Puente, A. E. (1992). Handbook of neuropsychological assessment: A biopsychosocial perspective. New York, NY: Plenum Press Miller, G. (2010). Learning the language of addiction counseling. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons Miller, G. (2012). Group Exercises for addiction counseling, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons Miller, S. N. (1994). Treatment of the addictions: Applications of outcome research for clinical management. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press Inc. Muisener, P. P. (1994). Understanding and treating adolescent substance abuse. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc. Rasmussen, S. (2000). Addiction treatment: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Van Wormer, K. S. & Davis, D. R. (2007) Addiction treatment: A strengths perspective. Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Learning Read More