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Drug abuse is thought
to be a complex, self-gratifying and maladaptive way of coping with
life
problems that often becomes habitual and leads to a progressive
deterioration in life situations.
Habituation of drug abuse is addiction, seen as a disease in
its own right, which damages the
addict physically, mentally, and spiritually. Drug/Addiction
counseling addresses the symptoms
of drug addiction and associated areas of impaired functioning and the
content and structure
of the client's ongoing recovery program. Drug/Addiction counseling is
a time-restricted
approach that focuses on behavioral change, 12-step ideology and tools
for recovery, and
self- help participation.
The primary goal of drug/addiction counseling is to help the client
accomplish and maintain
abstinence from addictive chemicals and behaviors. The secondary goal
is to help the client
recover from the damage the addictive behavior has done to the
client's life. Drug/Addiction
counseling works by first helping the client identify the existence of
a problem and the
associated illogical thinking. Next, the client is encouraged to
achieve and maintain abstinence
and then develop the necessary psychosocial skills and spiritual
development to continue in
lifelong recovery. Most importantly, the role of the counselor is to
provide support / education
and to hold the client accountable through nonjudgmental intervention.
Ideally, the recovering
person sees the counselor as an ally in the struggle to achieve
abstinence.
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