Monday, February 25, 2008
Dual Diagnosis Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Substance Abuse Treatment Conclusion
For substance abuse patients, and therapy in general, the effectiveness of treatment is determined as much by the therapist as by any theoretical orientation or patient characteristics. With this dual-diagnosis population, it is often difficult to provide effective therapy. Therapist processes emphasized in Seeking Safety include compassion for patients' experiences; using coping skills; giving patients control whenever possible to counteract the loss of control inherent in trauma and substance abuse; promoting honesty in contrast to the secrecy, denial and lying that may occur in trauma and substance abuse; meeting patients more than halfway doing whatever is possible within professional bounds to help patients get better; and obtaining feedback about how patients view the treatment. The more severe the patient, the more likely that negative processes may impede the treatment. This includes harsh confrontation, sadism, difficulty holding patients accountable due to misguided sympathy, becoming victim to the patient's abusiveness, power struggles, and in group treatment, allowing a patient to be made a scapegoat.
What the evidence does suggest, however, is that it is first necessary for clinicians and researchers in the field to begin to address the severity and unique profile presented by dual-diagnosis PTSD and substance abuse victims, particularly women.
What the evidence does suggest, however, is that it is first necessary for clinicians and researchers in the field to begin to address the severity and unique profile presented by dual-diagnosis PTSD and substance abuse victims, particularly women.
Labels: Dual-Diagnosis-Treatment, Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder, Substance-Abuse
