Discuss about the Interviewing Technique for Substance for Abuse-Disorder Patients.
Substance abuse remains one of the main concerns of health care institutions. It involves overindulgence in drugs and/or other substances, which eventually leads to very bad effects on the health of an individual. There are however, psychological intervention techniques used by health institutions such as counseling centers and these include among others, motivational interviewing, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. This research focuses on motivational interviewing and CBT, fielding their benefits and their individual advantages when used in the treatment of Substance Use Disorders (SUDs). These aspects will include information sourced from different peer reviewed journals and presented in a form of a discussion.
Motivational interviewing refers to a psychological treatment approach, which is both client-centered and semi-directive and mainly focuses on ensuring that an individual’s motivation to change improves and/or strengthens. This technique is used in the treatment of individuals suffering from substance abuse disorder involves the provision of both support and empathy to SUD patients (Knopf, 2015). It includes reflective listening aimed at helping people to work through their individual ambivalence concerning changing their behavior, boosting their motivation and the extent of their commitment to change. The practice is usually brief and involves between 1-4 meetings each of which may take 1 hour long (Storr, 2011). The choice of the venue lies between the two involved parties and may include outpatient clinics, correctional facilities, among others. MI among SUD-clients uses four major principles. These according to Kuhlmann & Bischof (2012) include expression of empathy to patients, development of discrepancy, the development of self-efficacy and the lastly, the rolling with resistance principle.
The first benefit of MI is that the technique is quick and only requires 2 to 4 sessions to achieve results. The fact that it can be administered faster makes MI one of the most inexpensive therapeutic techniques for treating SUDs (Kuhlmann & Bischof, 2012). Secondly, motivational interviewing has been proven very effective in influencing SUD-patients to change from their high-risk behavior. Having developed self-efficacy, individuals opt to avoid this behavior step by step and eventually quit the abuse of substances. Further, motivational interviewing is said to increase the probability that an individual will be committed to seeking addiction treatment (Storr, 2011). It predicts the possibility of continued such for assistance and eventual success in getting rid of risky behaviors.
One of the disadvantages of motivational interviewing is that it does not have a definitive process that will ensure that SUD-patients who have committed to change will keep on doing so forever (Johnson, 2013). Therefore, there is need for follow-up activities apart from recommending participation in support groups. Secondly, motivational interviewing has no specific clinical tools to follow and therefore counselors must accurately use their instincts to handle patients. Unlike in clinical approaches, MI counselors need to use friendly but well-thought out means to handle each particular case of SUD-patients (Kuhlmann & Bischof, 2012). This is because every patient has a unique concern and personality. Further, since there is need for cognitive clarity and patient participation, MI cannot be used in case where a patient has suffered physically based mental disorder. This is because these individual have less control on their responses and therefore cannot effectively participate in the interview.
CBT refers to a talking therapy that enables an individual to handle their own problems through changing their thinking and their behavior. The technique is based on the assumption that an individual’s physical sensations, actions, and feelings are all interconnected (Hersh et al, 2013). CBT is also based on the concept that negative thinking traps SUD-patients’ thinking. It thus helps break down a client’s problems positively into smaller parts and shows them the procedure to change from negative thinking. It involves 1or 2 sessions per week held between the SUD-client and the CBT counselor. It might take between 5 and 20 sessions each lasting between 30 to 60 minutes, to complete the process (Veliz & McCabe, 2014). From the interviews, the therapist finds out how to help the patient change from using substances and indulging in risky behaviors among other negative thoughts. The therapist then encourages the client to practice positive behavior and thinking while following up this trend in the subsequent meetings.
One example of CBT in cognitive intervention includes a situation where a woman with low self-esteem due to SUDs finds the help of a therapist who identifies their cognitive distortions and makes her more positive in life. Another example of CBT through behavioral intervention includes a situation where SUD clients together with the therapist identify the high-risk factors that make the client vulnerable to using drugs (Veliz & McCabe, 2014). As a result, the therapist may help the client replace and reduce the high risk factors such as influential friends, making them less vulnerable to SUDs.
One of the major benefits of CBT is that it enables both the client and the therapist to work with togetherness to recognize harmful patterns of thinking and to find the alternative ways of thinking (Hersh et al, 2013). This therapeutic relationship enables SUD-patients to change from high risk behaviors due to positive thinking. Secondly, CBT can be administered to both individuals and/or to groups. Therefore, this approach can be less costly and convenient especially in areas where there is, a high number of substance users such as slums (Veliz & McCabe, 2014). Another benefit of CBT is that it enables clients to come up with their own strategies to cope with and manage stressful and difficult situations after addiction treatment. Further, it has been established that CBT, helps clients to explore their own destructive behavior among other beliefs, which bring about ill behavior. As a result, they are able to find alternative healthy thoughts that enable them live a meaningful life.
The first disadvantage of CBT interviews is that it is unsuitable for clients suffering from complex mental problems and learning difficulty (Burrow-Sanchez & Wrona, 2012). This is because the process involves structured sessions to determine how to help patients live with positive thinking. Secondly, CBT mainly focuses on solving an individual’s current behavioral problems and relies on their capacity to make changes in their thoughts, actions, and feelings. This means that it does not address the wider problems from families and society, which might be significantly affecting SUD-patient’s health and wellness (Hersh et al, 2013). Further, CBT requires regular attendance of sessions and in case one has other commitments such as a job, it is likely that they will be inconvenienced and more probably, may need a longer period to realize behavior change.
Conclusion
In conclusion, therefore, interviewing techniques are very crucial tools in the management of substance abuse disorders. This research presents the benefits of using two of these techniques, motivational interviewing and CBT. It also presents the disadvantages of the two techniques when used to treat substance abuse disorders among clients. Further, the researcher has presented the limitations that prevailed while carrying out the study including time-consumption and limited access to resources. The research is based on the information obtained from various peer-reviewed journals that focused on the same topic of study.
References
Burrow-Sanchez, J. & Wrona, M. (2012). Comparing culturally accommodated versus standard group CBT for Latino adolescents with substance use disorders: A pilot study. Cultural Diversity And Ethnic Minority Psychology, 18(4), 373-383. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0029439
Hersh, J., Curry, J., & Becker, S. (2013). The Influence of Comorbid Depression and Conduct Disorder on MET/CBT Treatment Outcome for Adolescent Substance Use Disorders. International Journal Of Cognitive Therapy, 6(4), 325-341. https://dx.doi.org/10.1521/ijct.2013.6.4.325
Johnson, R. (2013). Motivational Interviewing with Adolescents and Young Adults. Motivational Interviewing: Training, Research, Implementation, Practice, 1(2), 20. https://dx.doi.org/10.5195/mitrip.2013.34
Knopf, A. (2015). To reduce teen substance use, create resilience and treat MI. Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, 27(47), 5-6. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adaw.30416
Kuhlmann, T. & Bischof, G. (2012). Motivational Interviewing. Suchttherapie, 13(03), 107-107. https://dx.doi.org/10.1055/s-0032-1321916
Schumacher, J. (2013). Motivational Interviewing Step By Step. Motivational Interviewing: Training, Research, Implementation, Practice, 1(2), 24. https://dx.doi.org/10.5195/mitrip.2013.37
Storr, E. (2011). Motivational interviewing: a positive approach. Innovait, 4(9), 533-538. https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/innovait/inr045
Veliz, P. & McCabe, S. (2014). Examining Potential Substance Use Disorders Among Former Interscholastic Athletes. Substance Abuse, 36(4), 400-406. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08897077.2014.988324
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