 focuses directly on reducing or stopping
the addict's illicit drug use. It also addresses related areas of impaired
functioning such as employment status, illegal activity, family/social
relationsÑas well as the content and structure of the patient's recovery
program. Through its emphasis on short-term behavioral goals, individualized
drug counseling helps the patient develop coping strategies and tools for
abstaining from drug use and then maintaining abstinence. The addiction
counselor encourages 12-step participation and makes referrals for needed
supplemental medical, psychiatric, employment, and other services. Individuals
are encouraged to attend sessions one or two times per week.
In a study that compared opiate addicts receiving only
methadone to those receiving methadone coupled with counseling, individuals who
received only methadone showed minimal improvement in reducing opiate use. The
addition of counseling produced significantly more improvement. The addition of
onsite medical/psychiatric, employment, and family services further improved
outcomes.
In another study with cocaine addicts, individualized drug
counseling, together with group drug counseling, was quite effective in
reducing cocaine use. Thus, it appears that this approach has great utility
with both heroin and cocaine addicts in outpatient treatment. |
