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Substance Abuse Counseling Assessment and Intervention Plan

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Substance abuse counseling assessment and intervention plan: Lisa

Therapy model
Substance abuse is one of the most difficult and intractable of mental illnesses to treat because it possesses both a physical and a mental component. The substances Lisa is currently abusing change her physical chemistry and cause withdrawal symptoms when they are not present in her body. Over time, they also change the way her brain experiences pleasure and pain.
Lisa has ingrained behavior patterns that have existed in her life since childhood which include using substance abuse to structure her day and cope with unpleasant stimuli and 'acting out' with rage. Although substance abuse may have biological origins, in terms of a genetic predisposition to addictive behavior, Lisa's belief in her need to fight as a way of dealing with conflict and to self-medicate with drugs, is, according to the cognitive therapy model, also a product of unproductive ways of thinking that have been 'learned' and thus can be unlearned. "Cognitive therapies provide a means for evaluating the reasons why an individual chooses to use substances and the affect or affects these actions can have on the individual's overall quality of life. In addition, it also provides a means whereby thoughts, values, and beliefs relating to substance abuse can be challenged and changed in instances where the client, with the therapist's assistance, finds a need to alter behaviors" (Cilente 2009). Cognitive behavioral therapy has

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