This question is for substance abuse counselors & therapists.?

How do you think your beliefs about the various users of certain drugs like Meth, Cocaine, Marijuana and Alcohol affect the treatment outcome of these individuals?

Beliefs about those suffering from addictive conditions could gravely impact treatment outcome. In fact, one of the best predictors of treatment success involves the THERAPIST'S prediction (rather than the specific disorder, severity, treatment modality, etc).

If a therapist believes, for example, that those with addictive disorders are generally weak, invited the illness into their lives, and are helpless to do anything about it - he/she will conduct therapy in like manner. They will not truly believe that real, second-order change is possible for these clients.

In many subtle and not-so-subtle ways, this will be communicated to the client - who then accepts his/her "fate" (as perceived by the "expert"). Treatment fails when the therapist believes it is doomed to fail (for whatever reason).

On the other hand, if a therapist is firmly convinced that those with addictive disorders are treatable, he/she will behave in like manner. He/she will communicate his/her positive expectations to the client (thus instilling hope).

Countertransference could come into play in both of the above mentioned scenarios. Consider, for example, a therapist who grew up with an alcoholic father. The father of therapist 1 was treated successfully. The father of therapist 2, however, wreaked great havoc on the familiy when he/she engaged in multiple treatment programs which resulted in multiple treatment failures.

The perspectives of therapists 1 and 2 might be very different concerning the likelihood of treatment success with clients who have addictive illnesses. Whereas therapist 1 may see "dad" in his/her client, and expect his/her client to show similar success in his/her treatment; therapist 2 may see "dad" in his/her client and anticipate treatment failure.

~M~

i have no idea why u are asking this question, but just in case u need help and might be wondering what people think of u-
# one of the 'sacred' words for us is- 'unconditional positive regard' which means whatever happens, we have only positive emotions for the client.
# in specific to substance use, i have learnt from experience that- sometimes the most unmotivated clients make very good recovery, and the ones who we think will come out of it will relapse soon. so, i always remind myself that i am not God to predict how a person will be, so give him the best that u can.
# substance use is a problem where there are no immediate solutions, the road to recovery is long and hard, and people relapse often. but my responsibility is not to judge them when they relapse, but to offer them solutions so that it doesnt happen again...
so, to answer ur question, i try all i can not to be biased by my own views while treating others.....it is not fair to the client to do so...