Substance Abuse Treatment

Abstract

There are many individuals who suffer from substance abuse dependency. Even with treatment for substance abuse some individuals struggle to maintain sobriety and have a successful life with stability and security in all aspects. The reason for some ineffective treatment is the negligence to treat not only the substance abuse dependency but also other causative factors such as comorbid mental illness and or any previous traumatic events that may have occurred in the individuals past that may have contributed to the substance abuse. Effective substance abuse treatment in individuals with any other causative factors must be inclusive of all factors and illnesses to be effective not only short term but also long term. Within the six participants used in study who have had treatment for substance abuse five had additional causative factors and three had treatment that included both the substance abuse dependency and other causative factor or factors.

Effectiveness of Substance Abuse Treatment

Individuals with a substance dependency are not often provided the opportunity for treatment and it is very unlikely that the treatment is effective and long lasting. One explanation for this is that there is a high percentage of persons with a substance dependency also have other causative factors that may hinder the success of treatment of the substance abuse. The causative factors may include but not limited to a traumatic life event, for instance sexual abuse, or a comormid diagnosis of mental illness in combination with the substance dependency. It has been demonstrated in previous studies that those who have experienced sexual abuse were significantly more likely to have a lifetime drug use disorder, 62% (Meade, Kershaw, Hansen, & Sikkema, 2007). In 2000, Drake and Mueser report that the majority of studies indicate that 25-35% of individuals with a serious mental illness have developed a substance abuse disorder. Mood disorders and substance abuse disorders, in particular, have been found to frequently co-occur. (Peterson & Zettle, 2009) Thus knowing that individuals with substance abuse dependency have a relatively high probability of also having causative factors then substance abuse is an indicator of such factors. The effectiveness of substance abuse treatment in individuals is dependent not only on the substance abuse treatment but also the dealing with causative factors such as an underlying mental illness and or trauma in order to produce successful treatment results with lower reoccurrences of substance abuse and a restorative management of mental illness. “Persons with a co-occurring substance use disorder and serious mental illness are poorly served when practitioners do not have the skills to treat both disorders” (Weinstein & Painter, 2003). Ray, Weisner, and Mertens concluded in 2005 that the use of psychiatric services among patients with chemical dependency is associated with enhanced long-term outcomes.

Methods

The most operative amount of participants for this study would be much larger

than the amount that is feasible at this time. Due to limitations of the inclusion criteria the study will contain six participants. The inclusion criteria will be for the participants will be to have had or do have a substance abuse dependency as well as a causative factor such as a mental illness or disorder or a traumatic event and who have had previous treatment or in current treatment. Exclusion criteria for the study would be individuals with substance abuse dependency and do not have a causative factor that has comormidity with the diagnosis of substance dependency. The diversity of the participants should not be limited to improve the rate of generalizability. The participants will include male and female, different socio economic levels, and differences in causative factors which will help to the acceptance of the hypothesis which includes more than one causative factors. The population in which the sample will generalize to individual’s success in a specific treatment plan inclusive of substance dependency treatment and also treatment of all other causative factors and the success of the treatment. The variables in the study will be as follows: type of substance abuse, treatment plan types that have been used, causative factors and success or effectiveness of plans. The operational definitions for each variable are as follows:

a) Type of substance abuse: Alcohol abuse, prescription drug use, illegal drug use such as marijuana, cocaine, opiates, etc...

b) Treatment plan types: Treatment of only substance abuse or treatment plan which addressed substance dependency and causative factor(s), short term or long term treatment plan.

c) Effectiveness: Did said treatment plan render any success at all, short term success, long term success of substance dependency and or causative factor(s).

The type of substance abuse will be defined by the type (alcohol, prescription