Addiction And Substance Use Essay

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Addiction and Substance Use
This week’s topics has been quite enlightening to me. Addiction and substance use disorders are common challenges in the society that faces different groups of people such as adolescents, teens and adults. Substance use disorders involves people being dependent on medications or certain drugs. Such dependence may be mild, moderate or severe. Addiction on the other hand is considered a disease of the brain. It affects the functioning of the brain and individuals who are addicted to substance use may experience detrimental consequences. These people may lose control and continue using drugs despite the negative impact it has on their bodies. These conditions can however be treated.
There are difference models that relates to addiction and substance use disorders. Counsellors may utilize individual counselling, group counselling, family counselling or outside interventions. Other models include temperance model which views abstinence as the only hope of overcoming addiction and substance use disorders, moral model which asserts that …show more content…

Ethical issues are the dilemmas that counsellors experience in their practice. They include confidentiality, competence, cultural issues, informed consent, counselor-client relationship, responsibilities to clients and multicultural issues. When under the influence of addiction and substance use, clients may not be able to think appropriately hence bringing the issue of informed consent. As a counsellor, it is crucial to make thorough explanation to the clients regarding the issues, confidentiality limits, check their understanding and enable clients make choices regarding responsibility for the outcomes. When it comes to multicultural differences, counsellors needs to understand racial and religious differences, social class, economic status and education so that they can be able to establish a therapeutic

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