Addiction Treatment, Termination of the Therapeutic Relationship
1) Consider and address the issues related to treating those suffering from addictions: Are there differences in treatment for those with illegal addictions vs legal addictions?
2) Discuss the benefits of individual, group, and family therapy with those in treatment for addictions and describe the advantages/disadvantages of these three therapies with patients with addictions.
3) Discuss termination of a therapeutic relationship both amicably and acrimoniously.
Sample Answer
Issues Related to Treatment of Patients with Addiction and Whether there are Differences in Treatment for Those with Legal or illegal Addictions
There are various issues related to the treatment of addiction in patients. According to the National Institute of Health (2019), successful treatment for addiction should include behavioral counseling, medication use, use of medical devices and applications to address withdrawal symptoms or skill training, evaluation for mental health issues, and long-term follow-up. Relapse is a major issue in treating addictions and has become a major public health concern. Successful treatment should therefore be tailored to minimize cases of relapse. Long-term follow-up is a common strategy to prevent relapse. Treatment should focus on stopping drug usage, making the patient drug-free and productive.
Legal addiction involves drugs categorized as medicine and well-known side effects, while illegal addictions involve drugs that are outlawed. Abuse of any category of drugs is illegal. Treatment for legal and illegal addiction differs significantly. Legal addiction is addressed by adjusting doses or switching prescriptions for the patient. Illegal addiction, on the other hand, is more complex as it involves the use of various interventions and seeks to make the patient drug-free. Illegal addiction entails detoxification of the patient, dealing with withdrawal symptoms, and preventing relapse.
Benefits of Individual, Group and Family Therapy in Treating Addictions and the Advantages and Disadvantages of the Three Therapies in Patients with Addictions.
The individual, group, and family therapy seeks to modify the behavior of the patients. According to Abuse et al. (2016), individual, group, and family therapy enables patients to impact their behavior, teaches and motivates them to change their behavior to control their addictions. Individual therapy is a more individualized approach, has more focused and intense interventions, and enables the individual to develop effective coping strategies and life skills. Benefits of group therapy include the development of communication skills, socialization skills, and self-awareness. Family therapy, on the other hand, enables a client to deal with other issues affecting them, such as family conflicts. A patient can develop skills required for healthy family functioning and establishing family support for the patient.
Advantages for the three therapies include the establishment of a broader therapeutic alliance to offer and receive support through group therapy, provision of more holistic and individualized interventions for individual therapy, while family therapy enables patients and family members to gain a clear perspective of family functions. The disadvantage of individual therapy is high costs. Group therapy is associated with social loafing, where certain individuals may ride on the success of others with no actual change at the individual level. Family therapy may not be effective when the family is uncooperative due to certain dysfunctions.
Termination of a Therapeutic relationship Amicably and Acrimoniously
Termination of a therapeutic relationship amicably is a positive experience and has a long-lasting impact on both the patient and the therapist. It is an opportunity for closure. An amicable termination is achieved through proper planning since the beginning of therapy. This is done by laying the groundwork for successful termination by setting therapeutic goals to mark the finish line and setting a rough timeline for termination of therapy (Bhatia & Gelso, 2017).
Terminating a therapeutic relationship acrimoniously can be traumatic for the patient as they may feel abandoned. It is also a malpractice case of abandonment. A therapist risks a lawsuit that can lead to legal consequences such as a penalty or fine. A therapist may also face the consequences from licensing board.
