Substance Abuse Counseling Health Article

Definition

Substance abuse is a maladaptive pattern of alcohol or other drug use that causes social, physical, legal, vocational, or educational distress or impairment. In addition to those trained specifically as substance abuse counselors, mental health and rehabilitation counselors work with individuals who abuse alcohol and other drugs.

Description

Counselors who work with substance abusers should have the same qualities as other counselors. For example, they should be able to pose direct questions and confront clients, self-disclose appropriately, identify counter-transference issues, and recognize the effect of their own beliefs on the counseling relationship. Essential qualities include empathy, sincerity, warmth, genuineness, and nonjudgmental acceptance.

In order to assess, diagnose, and treat substance abusers, counselors must have general counseling skills and abilities in addition to specialized skills and abilities relative to this population. Counselors working with substance abusers must have knowledge of assessment instruments and techniques in order to communicate with other professionals and make treatment recommendations.

Substance abuse counselors develop a treatment plan based on the individual client's needs. The information necessary for the individual's treatment plan is gathered through interviews in conjunction with assessment instruments.

Major substance abuse counseling theories include reality therapy, psychodynamics, grief therapy, clientcentered therapy, rational emotive therapy, and cognitive-behavioral. Additional approaches such as life-skills training and behavior modification are often included.

Mental health counselors work with individuals and groups to promote optimum mental health. They deal with addictions and substance abuse, suicide, stress management, problems with self-esteem, issues associated with mental and emotional health, and family and marital problems. Mental health counselors work closely with other mental health specialists, including psychiatrists, psychologists, clinical social workers, psychiatric nurses, and school counselors.

Substance abuse among people with disabilities exceeds that of the general public. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, recovery from alcohol or drug addiction is considered a disability. Rehabilitation counselors work with people with disabilities resulting from birth defects, illness or disease, accidents, or the stress of daily life. They help people with disabilities deal with the personal, social, and vocational effects of their disabilities. Rehabilitation counselors evaluate the individual's strengths and limitations, provide personal and vocational counseling, and arrange for medical care, vocational training, and job placement. They interview individuals with disabilities and their families, evaluate school and medical reports, and confer and plan with physicians, psychologists, occupational therapists, and employers to determine the capabilities and skills of the individual. By conferring with the client they develop a rehabilitation program, which often includes training to help the person develop job skills. Increasing the client's capacity to live independently is also a priority. To enhance the likelihood that the substance abuse client will continue to recover, many counselors encourage or support the client's attendance at meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.