Brief Therapy in Substance Abuse Treatment

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts related to brief therapy in substance abuse treatment, including definitions, comparisons, criteria for use, and therapeutic approaches.

Brief Therapy

A systematic, focused process that relies on assessment, client engagement, and rapid implementation of change strategies to effect important behavioral changes within a short period.

Brief Interventions vs. Brief Therapies

Brief interventions are more motivational and seek to motivate the client to make a specific change. Brief therapies aim to provide clients with tools to change basic attitudes and handle underlying problems.

Differences Between Brief and Longer-Term Therapy

Brief therapy focuses more on the present, downplays psychic causality, emphasizes using effective therapeutic tools quickly, and focuses on specific behavioral change instead of large-scale change.

Typical Duration of Brief Therapies

Brief therapies typically last between 6 and 20 sessions, with 20 sessions often being the maximum due to managed care limitations.

Criteria for Longer Term Treatment

Failure of previous shorter treatment, multiple concurrent problems, severe substance abuse, acute psychoses, acute intoxication, acute withdrawal, cognitive inability to focus, long-term history of relapse, many unsuccessful treatment episodes, low level of social support, serious consequences related to relapse.

Criteria for Providing Brief Therapy

Consider dual diagnosis issues, range and severity of presenting problems, duration of abuse, availability of support, level of influence from peers/family/community, previous treatment attempts, client motivation, clarity of goals, client belief in brief therapy, insufficient resources available for more prolonged therapy.

Prochaska and DiClemente's Stages-of-Change Model

A widely used model for understanding clients' readiness for change, helping counselors determine which therapy is compatible with the client's stage and the tasks needed to move forward.

Cognitive Therapy

Focuses on identifying and modifying habitual, automatic, negative thoughts and beliefs to change erroneous ways of thinking and associated behaviors related to substance abuse.

Behavioral Therapy

Involves teaching the client specific skills to improve deficiencies in social functioning, self-control, or other behaviors that contribute to substance use disorder.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Combines elements of cognitive and behavioral therapies, emphasizing the development of coping strategies to change what the client does and thinks.

Strategic/Interactional Therapies

Helps clients change their perception of the problem and apply existing personal strengths to find more effective solutions by shifting the focus to competencies rather than weaknesses.

Solution-Focused Therapy

Focuses on solutions that have already worked for the client in the past, rather than spending time talking about the problem itself.

Humanistic and Existential Therapies

Encourages clients to improve their self-respect, self-motivation, and growth by addressing the underlying cause of substance abuse disorders, such as a lack of meaning or disconnectedness.

Psychodynamic Therapy

Works with the assumption that substance abuse problems are rooted in unconscious and unresolved past conflicts, especially in early family relationships, to help clients gain insight and strengthen present defenses.

Interpersonal Therapy

Focuses on reducing the client's dysfunctional symptoms and improving social functioning by concentrating on maladaptive patterns of behavior, providing support and encouragement.

Family Therapy

Examines the family system and its hierarchy to determine dysfunctional uses of power that lead to negative communication patterns and contribute to substance use disorder.

Characteristics of All Brief Therapies

Problem or solution-focused, clearly defined goals, understandable to both client and clinician, produce immediate results, easily influenced by therapist style, strong working relationship, active therapeutic style, client responsibility, enhanced self-efficacy, discussed termination, and measurable outcomes.

Screening in Brief Therapy

Identifies clients possibly abusing substances, indicating the need for more in-depth assessment without determining the severity of abuse.

Assessment in Brief Therapy

A thorough process involving broad analysis of factors contributing to/maintaining substance abuse, its severity, and associated consequences; is an ongoing process throughout treatment.

Goals of Treatment in Brief Therapy

Include making measurable changes in target behaviors, improving understanding of related problems, enhancing personal relationships, and resolving other identified issues.

Maintenance Strategies in Brief Therapy

Educating about the chronic nature of substance abuse, developing plans to address relapse triggers, enhancing self-sufficiency, and creating future support plans.

Key Tasks in the Opening Session of Brief Therapy

Producing rapid engagement, identifying/prioritizing problems, developing solutions and a treatment plan, negotiating the change route, eliciting client concerns, understanding expectations, explaining the framework, and making referrals.

Ending Treatment in Brief Therapy

Explicitly discuss termination, leaving the client with hope, reviewing positive outcomes, anticipating pitfalls, and providing indicators for relapse.