Personal Reflection
Alcohol abuse is a major social problem in many countries, with people of different social statuses suffering from this condition. During excessive alcohol consumption, an individual usually cannot control his actions, which can very often lead to dangerous and even tragic results. People, who are considered to have alcohol use disorder, are usually drinking heavily and disregard the consequences of such behavior (Alcohol use disorder, n.d., para. 3). Similar to alcohol abuse, drug abuse and addiction cause compulsive desire to take drugs regardless of how it will affect the abuser or other people (“Understanding drug abuse and addiction,” 2012, What Is Drug Addiction section, para. 1). According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, besides genetic factors, environment is an incredibly important factor that influences whether a person will or will not become a drug addict, and quality of life, socioeconomic status and meaningful relationships all play a great role (“Understanding drug abuse and addiction,” 2012, Why Do Some People Become Addicted section, para. 3).And just like society and conditions affect the abuser, each addict, in return, affects the entire community. As a result, the victims of substance abuse and addiction include not only the abusers, their friends, relatives, but very often complete strangers. The community life consists of the contributions of each individual member, and if some of its members are leading an unhappy life in addiction, the community becomes unstable and often unsafe. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, substance abuse costs to society $600 billion yearly (“Understanding drug abuse and addiction,” 2012, para. 2).This statistical data says it all about how drastic the effects of alcohol and drug abuse and addiction are on society, while also causing personal suffering to all abusers, their friends and family. For this reason, it is very important to find the causes of this problem and address it with effective measures, including treatments that bring long-term results, again not only to a single addict and abuser, but to the whole community.
Unfortunately, as all other disorders, this illness is often treated using only the acute-care model, which focuses on the immediate results and aims at reducing symptoms of the disorder, ignoring its possible roots and, consequently, leaving them without proper attention. In contrast, positive psychology suggests a different approach that focuses on long-term improvements in all aspect of life and on making a person feel happy and in harmony with oneself. This approach can also be referred to as a continuity-of-care model (Krentzman, 2013, The Addiction Recovery Movement section, para. 4). This method is already applied in such interventions as peer group treatment, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, and in such recovery-oriented approach as the strengths model. These two ways of treating substance abuse and addiction take into account the basic ideas and concepts of positive psychology and help individual patients find their strengths and reintegrate into society through meaningful communication with peers.
Proposal
While substance abuse and addiction are classified and treated as mental disorders, most of the time, the focus of the treatment is to eliminate the weaknesses of the patient and reduce the negative influences. However, these approaches do not take into account that well-being is not only the absence of significant weaknesses, but also the presence of well-developed and nurtured strengths, a concept that is promoted in positive psychology (Krentzman, 2013, Positive Psychology section, para. 1). Since positive psychology is an integral part of general psychology as a science, its ideas often can be found integrated into approaches of other branches of psychology. One of the many models that have adopted the ideas of positive psychology in praxis is the recovery-oriented model, and according to Krentzman (2013), these two approaches are actually very closely interwoven (para. 4). For this reason, I suggest the treatment of individuals suffering from substance abuse and addition with a strength model based on ideas of positive psychology as a possible solution to the problem.
According to Krentzman (2013), positive interventions are interventions, therapies, or activities aimed at increasing positive feelings, behaviors and cognition, instead of simply treating the disorder (Positive Interventions section, para.1). A meta-analysis of positive interventions has shown that they have moderate effect on individuals suffering from various disorders, while the recovery-oriented strengths model was very widely used for the treatment of substance abuse (Krentzman, 2013, Positive Interventions section, para. 3). This model combines the focus on developing individual’s strengths, as well as the attempts to engage community resources and assistance to the patient in changing his habits, environment and attitude to all important aspects of life. The model is based on six principles that coincide with the principles of positive psychology: people with disorders can recover and transform their lives through using their strengths, building meaningful relationships, and nurturing hope and positive expectations; the approach focuses on strengths, rather than deficits; patients are suggested to view their community as a thriving center with all resources needed for recovery; the patient is in charge of the process; the relationship between the patient and therapist or social worker are very important; and the interventions are conducted in a community, rather than office (Rapp & Goscha, 2012). The evidence from studies and research has shown that this model was very effective in reduction of instances of hospitalization and contacting of medical and crisis centers by people with mental disorders (Rapp & Goscha, 2012, p. 64). People using the model fulfilled the goal of independent living in about 84% of cases, achieved education and vocational goals in 77% of the cases; 80% of goals regarding improvement of leisure time and social support were met, and 85% of goals aimed at the improvement of health were met (Rapp & Goscha, 2012, p. 66). People treated using this model felt that their family has become less of a burden and more of a pleasure. These results are evidential of the model’s effectiveness and the general effectiveness of many principles of positive psychology that are incorporated in the model. This model will help the clients develop three kinds of life based on positive emotions, character strengths and positive institutions: the pleasant life, the engaged life and the meaningful life, which are an integral part of the science of positive psychology. By helping the patient recall and remember his past strengths and victories, the strengths model will help him or her stop lingering in the negativity of the past and start building the pleasant life based on positive feelings about him- or herself, about society and about the past, present and future. This way, the patient may stop searching for immediate, somatic pleasures, such as drugs and alcohol, but will instead seek long-lasting pleasures (Krentzman, 2013, The Pleasant Life section, para. 2). Since most patients with substance abuse disorders feel weak and believe that their strengths have vanished, the strengths model can help them reclaim their strengths in order to start a new, engaged life, where the strengths will be applied on a daily basis once again. Finally, since the model focuses on the engagement of the client in the community life and reintegration, it can help the client start living the meaningful life through participation in organizations with positive and meaningful aims as a member or an employee.
Given the aforesaid theoretical and evidential support, I would recommend the use of the strengths model, which is largely based on the ideas of positive psychology. This model has already been popular in the field of social work, since many people with various disorders, including substance abuse and addiction disorders, require not only pure psychiatric help, but social support and help to reintegrate into society. However, without considering the initial reasons behind substance abuse, psychiatric and social help cannot be fully effective. In this regard, the strengths model can help the patient heal faster, as it assists the patient in finding his or her inner and external strengths, a process that can boost the patient’s progress. The patient’s realization that he has a lot of strengths and that he does not need to live in the comfort of his weaknesses anymore can help him or her not only cope with substance abuse or addiction, but also to reach such a level of well-being in happiness and harmony, where substance abuse will be neither needed, nor tolerated by the patient.
References
Alcohol use disorder. (n.d.). Retrieved March 22, 2016, from http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-use-disorders
Krentzman, A. R. (2013). Review of the application of positive psychology to substance use, addiction, and recovery research. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 27(1), 151-165. Retrieved March 22, 2016, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3531570/
Rapp, C. A., & Goscha, R. J. (2012). The strengths model: A recovery-oriented approach to mental health services (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Understanding drug abuse and addiction. (2012, November). Retrieved March 22, 2016, from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/understanding-drug-abuse-addiction
