Postmodern Models

Variety of Interventions

Possible Drawbacks

References

• Linton, J.M. (2005). Mental health counselors and substance abuse treatment: Advantages, difficulties, and practical issues to solution-focused interventions. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 27(4), 297-310. https://doi-org.proxy1.ncu.edu/10.1774/mehc.27.4.qpj656h044442370

• Sobell, L. C., & Sobell, M. B. (2011). Group therapy for substance use disorders : A motivational cognitive-behavioral approach. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Postmodern vs. Traditional Models

• Culture - Working with those of different backgrounds can be different from the norm.

• Religion - The therapist might work with a client whose religion differs from the type of treatment they might have to receive.

• Support System - When dealing with an addiction, it's important to have a support system. It helps to know that the client is not alone on their journey.

• A client can revert back to the addiction and it could be more difficult to reduce the symptoms.

Abstinence

• In postmodern approaches, therapists focus on the mental health process and reducing the symptoms that occur and negatively affect the mental state.

• In traditional models, therapists work with more than just the mental state of health. They work on every piece of what's going on in their daily lives and find out how that takes place in their mental health.

How Does Each Approach Address Issues of Addiction?

• In each approach, the use of abstinence can be completely avoiding or going without something (drugs, alcohol, etc)

• To refrain from taking part in substances that are hurting the client, physically, mentally, & spiritually.

• By performing an act of abstinence, then there is a goal set of recovering from addiction.

• SFT -For this approach, certain questions are asked in order to better guide in client in treatment (a) scaling questions, (b) miracle questions, & (c) exception and coping questions (Linton, 2005).

• NT - For NT, there is normalizing/strengthening, group therapy and a few others that are used during the intervention process.

• MI - There are multiple interventions for Motivational Interviewing: asking permission, eliciting talk change, exploring the importance and confidence of changing and many more strategies and techniques.

Addiction

• Solution Focused Therapy - The way therapists/counselors address the issues of addiction is by focusing on the solutions rather than the problems.

• Narrative Therapy - This will be addressed by separating the client from the problem. The therapist will focus on why and how the client ended in the situation of addiction and how to "rewrite" their story.

• Motivational Interviewing - With MI, this approach addresses the inner conflicts of clients struggling with addiction.

Postmodern Models

• What is it ?
• A "brain disease" (Hammer, Dingel, Ostergen, Nowakowski, & Koenig, 2012).
• When a person is using a substance of some sort over and over (drugs, alcohol, etc), they become addicted.

Kandace Keel

Northcentral University