Advantages Of Systematic Intervention : Behavioral Couple Therapy

Many participants engaged the group with stories of overcoming addiction or being sexually molested by family members as reasons behind their addiction. However all of their stories were compelling and empowering to the group of individuals who have seemed to endure some of the same sentiments as their fellow group mate. It appeared as if the individuals in the group even though that were court ordered appeared to be extremely engaged and very involved during the meetings. It seemed as though most who attended found peace and solice from the group during the NA meetings. As it stated by Krentzman, Robinson, Moore, et.al (2010), client’s state that their top two reasons for attending NA meetings were to promote recovery/ sobriety and to find support acceptance and friendships. One thing that I learned from the NA group that just as in AA, family support deems to be an important function on the perseverance of an addict and that the participation and involvement of family is detrimental in the treatment process for the addicts. In several of our readings many of the passages discussed the effects of family systems support as it pertains to substance abusers chemical addiction. The passages described the family system as being a detrimental part of the treatment process as well as for the treatment of the family as well. According to past studies, family involvement has aided clients in

Family is an instrumental part in an addict’s addiction and recovery process. Many families are left feeling hopeless, and frustrated on how to help a loved one dealing with a substance use disorder. Some families will give up on the loved one because of the frustration this disease brings upon a family, and the lack of understanding of what this disease is capable of doing. Other families are willing to do whatever it takes to help and get that

Drug and chemical abuse affect many families and that particular family that lives through a loved one who is an addict and the priority is to get help for the individual. In any intervention that involves drug addicts, a family's disposition is very important. Full recovery of any drug addict involves the restoration of the person's life as well as ensuring that those who are around the addict have the best ability when it comes to helping with abstinence which is a long-term goal. Abusers are often in denial or even believe that they are totally in control of their use of drugs

It was never my intention to work with addicted clients, but nearly every family therapy course I have taken has, either overtly or covertly, stressed the need to understand addictions. While I understand the concept on a cognitive level, I had judgements about the type of people that become addicted and did not feel compelled to work with them, until my niece died. Her drug addiction deeply affected all members of her immediate family. Her parents and her step-dad, my brother, each reacted to my niece’s addiction in different ways but none were successful and the family began to fail under the stress.

The key philosophies of the field, wellness, prevention and resilience, were discussed alongside of the main concepts important to marriage and family as well as addiction counseling. In regard to a specific hypothetical case, it was illustrated how marriage and family counselors may work in collaboration with addiction counselors in order to provide beneficial services to clients. Finally, assumptions were made concerning efficient collaboration between professionals within a team and human services agencies.

Brief Family Therapy. (1999). In Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 34. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US). Retrieved from Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 34.: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64953/#A59962

Relapse prevention is a comprehensive plan accounts for social interactions, emotional triggers and the development of positive coping mechanisms (Alcoholic and Drug Addict Relapse Prevention Suggestions, 2015). From the social interaction’s aspect, patients with substance abuse should interact with people who are able to recognize their issues and offer moral support in a daily basis. Loss of a loved one, change in employment, health issues, changes in financial situation, and change in marital status are considered as emotional triggers. The patient

Couples and family therapy can be helpful in that it focuses on the family system and their involvement in both the support of recovery and the possible contribution to the person’s dependency. Working on how the family contributes to the overall health of the individual can make recovery more possible.

While the alcoholic must detox and work through their problems, family counseling is a necessity during treatment. Over time, alcoholism has a strong impact on the family and friends of the alcoholics. From the genetic component of addiction to relationship quality, family members are intensely involved in the addiction.

Alcohol Behavioral Couple Therapy (ABCT) is used with individuals who have an alcohol use disorder, this therapy also includes their partners. ABCT is an outpatient treatment therapy based on an “Intimate partner behaviors and couple interactions can be triggers for drinking, and positive intimate relationship is a key source of motivation to change drinking behavior.” McCrady and Epstein (2004) explained the goal of ABCT is to help a client achieve a state of abstinence and maintain it, teach partners how to handle situations pertaining to drinking, and enhance the overall relationship.

One of the treatments used are behavioral or psychosocial Interventions. Research on behavioral/psychosocial interventions has made noteworthy advances in the past decade. Controlled trials now offer good evidence that several psychosocial treatment approaches can be effective in treating substance abuse. Some of these interventions are based on modalities that have been effectively used with adults and altered considerably (Riggs, P. D, 2003). Family based interventions include family therapy, parent management training, and multidimensional family therapy. They are based on family systems theory and share the assumption that dysfunctional family dynamics contribute to substance abuse problems (Riggs, P. D, 2003). Parents are shown better monitoring skills, and basic social organization principles to improve their adolescents behavior and reduce drug abuse together with strategies to improve overall family functioning and sustain to gain benefits from the treatment. Community reinforcement therapy combines values and techniques derived from cognitive-behavioral, behavioral, family therapy, and motivational often using encouragements to enhance treatment outcomes (Riggs, P. D, 2003). There are plenty of other methods used to treat substance

The points I learned about behavioral couples therapy are clients need to change their own behaviors and not others, help clients understand goals, find out what changes do they want to make, and be an expert on what behaviors will work and which behaviors will not after experimenting them in the real world. What stands out to me are that clients focus on changing their own behaviors. Additionally, counselors should identify and maximize their clients strengths. I thought that not spending time on how clients learned behaviors, but understanding what are their learned behaviors was the most beneficial part of the model. What I might consider in my own work was when Dr. Stuart was focusing on the here and now and not the past. I understood what

After completing reading the materials for this week, I have decided that my personal method of intervention to couple’s therapy is the model of Cognitive Behavioral Couple Therapy or mostly known as CBCT. Such model of intervention assists distressed couples to function adequately by teaching couples how to improve their communication utilizing techniques or ideas increasing their satisfaction level. Besides, CBCT has been researched and supported by a systemic family therapy (D’Aniello, 2013). In other words, in an intervention, the therapist uses techniques to help the couple to build commitment to prevent distress and increase satisfaction.

Another thing in relation to alcohol and substance use is the Family System Illness Model. This model focuses its attention on the “psychosocial demands of disorder (illness), individual and family development, and belief systems” (p. 320). When incorporating this illness and my observation of the Narcotics Anonymous (NA) support group, as previously discussed from the Phases of Illness Developmental Tasks, this type of illness is a serious issue every person should bring awareness to. This illness causes major changes inside and outside of the human body. It can also lead to death if changes are not made, or being met. This illness not only has a huge impact on the individual, but also affects the person and family relationships. The way

Relationship issues are common; no one has a perfect marriage. Marriage requires constant work, dedication and effort. If you feel like you and your partner are no longer connected or living separate lives in the greater New York City area, UMA therapists and counselors can help. Most couples avoid marriage counseling because they don’t feel comfortable enough with their therapist. Another reason couples contemplate therapy is because they feel ashamed. In a recent study, couples wait over six years from the start of their problems until they start looking into therapy. At this point, it may be to late to save the relationship. Not every one is comfortable sharing their mistakes such as infidelity or addiction. Knowing that you could be in