Introduction
Individuals overcoming multiple issues, such as eating disorders, drug and alcohol misuse, and other behavioral challenges, can benefit from psychological counseling. Counselors help patients on their path to addiction treatment by developing a relationship based on trust and offering them the tools, support, and judgment-free advice they need. Counseling and therapy treatment for addiction helps individuals understand what causes addiction, learn to recognize risk factors for relapse, and develop tools for coping with stressful situations.
Conceptualization
Stephen, 45 years old, lives with his wife and three kids. He began drinking alcohol at age 18. Initially, Stephen drank a couple of bottles of beer on weekends; however, this quickly evolved to daily drinking, which has lasted for the past 14 years. Stephen starts drinking his first beer as soon as he wakes up and keeps drinking all day. If he fails to drink in the morning, his hands begin to shake, and he becomes unable to work. Due to his drinking, he was fired from work a few years ago and frequently argues with his wife. He was brought to the hospital a few months ago after vomiting blood. He had fits last week after not drinking alcohol for two days due to a religious occasion, for which he sought treatment.
As seen above in the instance of Stephen, alcohol misuse has ramifications in many areas. The earliest indicators can appear in a number of areas; however, as the intensity of someone’s drinking issues rises, it begins to influence more and more of these spheres, and people eventually start to display difficulties in all of them. Alcoholism has impacted Stephen’s physical health, social and family life, and career, and caused withdrawal symptoms. Counseling is the most popular and successful method of treating harmful and dependent drinking, in which assistance is provided by talking to patients about their drinking issues. Treatment will be designed to endeavor to modify Stephen’s harmful and dependent drinking by providing counseling therapy and medication treatment. Helping him assess his drinking habits, build motivation to confront the issue, and adjust his drinking and the reasons he drinks is a solid approach to starting therapy.
Counseling Therapy for Stephen
Alcohol abuse is a behavioral disorder that necessitates a learning process of breaking cognitive biases and dysfunctional beliefs to overcome it. Harmful alcohol consumption is linked to mental health and social issues, including suicide, an increased risk of severe depression, marital violence, child abuse, and absenteeism at work (Caselli et al., 2018). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) emphasizes the importance of learning processes in overcoming cognitive biases and dysfunctional beliefs. By identifying risk factors that contribute to alcohol use and teaching coping mechanisms to patients, such as assertive drink refusal skills training, increasing involvement in non-alcohol-oriented activities, and removing cognitive and motivational barriers to change, CBT aims to lessen alcohol’s strongly reinforcing effects.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Techniques
Motivational Interventions
Motivation for treatment and the possibility of treatment adherence has to be examined by a counselor at the onset of treatment consideration. Motivational interviewing is a technique that targets ambivalence about behavior change in the context of drug and alcohol dependence, with later applications to motivation and adherence to a wide range of other disorders and behaviors (Ehman & Gross, 2018). Through motivational interviewing, I will seek to enable Stephen to become aware of discrepancies that exist between his current behavior and his goals or values. In this phase, I will document the behavioral steps Stephen may be contemplating or may have taken to initiate change. Motivational interviewing is effective in increasing motivation to attend and engage in therapy among individuals with alcohol abuse disorder and decreasing alcohol abuse.
Contingency Management
As therapy is underway, a fundamental hurdle is overcoming the powerful reinforcing effects of alcohol dependency. Following the display of abstinence from substances, contingency management options entail the provision of a non-drug reinforcer, such as vouchers for products (Ehman & Gross, 2018). As part of CBT, I will reinforce Stephen’s recovery with non-drug reinforcers such as prizes and rewards to ensure that his streak of abstinence from alcohol stays consistent. During this phase, I will concentrate on changing environmental circumstances through methods such as including pleasant non-alcohol-related events in Stephen’s daily routine to make sober conduct more rewarding than drug use.
Combination Treatment Strategies
Combination treatment strategies, that is, CBT together with pharmacological treatment will lead to enhanced alcohol abuse treatment outcomes. The most often used drugs to treat alcohol withdrawal syndrome when using pharmacological therapy are benzodiazepines such as diazepam, chlordiazepoxide, lorazepam, oxazepam, and midazolam (Witkiewitz et al., 2019). According to Ray et al. (2020), CBT and pharmacological treatment are associated with increased benefits for alcohol abuse treatment. By using the two strategies, Stephen will be able to overcome his alcohol abuse tendencies effectively and efficiently. The goals of this approach are to improve treatment, increase adherence to treatment, and equip Stephen with support and skills as he waits for the benefits of the medication to manifest.
Conclusion
To inform best practices as regards Stephen’s treatment, Cognitive behavioral therapy ensures optimal clinical outcomes for alcohol abuse treatment. Together with pharmacological interventions, the treatment becomes superior in offering successful treatment for Stephen as he battles alcohol abuse. CBT for alcohol abuse disorders includes a wide range of behavioral therapies, such as those that target aversive learning processes, motivational obstacles to change, and the standard spectrum of other cognitive-behavioral interventions.
References
Caselli, G., Martino, F., Spada, M. M., & Wells, A. (2018). Metacognitive therapy for alcohol use disorder: A systematic case series. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. Web.
Ehman, A. C., & Gross, A. M. (2018). Acceptance and commitment therapy and motivational interviewing in the treatment of alcohol use disorder in a college woman: A case study. Clinical Case Studies, 18(1), 36–53. Web.
Ray, L. A., Meredith, L. R., Kiluk, B. D., Walthers, J., Carroll, K. M., & Magill, M. (2020). Combined pharmacotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy for adults with alcohol or substance use disorders. JAMA Network Open, 3(6), e208279. Web.
Witkiewitz, K., Litten, R. Z., & Leggio, L. (2019). Advances in the science and treatment of alcohol use disorder. Science Advances, 5(9). Web.