Deconstructing My Idea Of Addiction

It's very easy to victimise a person who experiences some form of addiction. In movies and plays, they're often the antagonist in a hero's journey. In my personal life, my cousin was the dysfunctional member of our larger family, someone that I was told to stay away. As part of my counselling training, I was able to study addiction intervention. And it has been an empowering opportunity that has allowed me to reflect upon my existing perceptions and challenge it against the knowledge I've gained in understanding the addictive disorder and its various intervention strategies.

Studying addiction changed my perception of what it means to become an addict. It has given me a new way to empathise with people and empowered my belief in applying internal resilience and strengths-based practices to therapeutic work.

To support this, I will examine several aspects of my learning journey, which include the role of motivational interviewing, applying a strengths-based perspective in understanding individuals, and the module's impact in shifting my personal history with an addicted family member.

Through a Strengths-based Lens

Learning about the strength-based approach to addiction assessment and intervention shifted my perception of addiction and its impact on facilitating intervention and therapeutic success.

As an individual, my perception towards an individual experiencing addictive disorders skewed towards their incapacity to manage their addictive behaviour. The perception is attributed to stories that I've consumed in popular culture, as well as my family's limited understanding of addiction. And it is this very perception that I carried with me as I began my module in addictive therapy.

But my perception was further challenged as I learnt more about strength-based practices for addiction assessment and treatment. Strength-based practice is a foundation principle that looks on facilitating the discovery, exploration and use of clients' strength in the service of achieving their therapeutic goal (Saleeby, 2000). In the context of addiction therapy, it aims at focusing less on the individual's deficit and more on empowering clients to take charge of their own goals and deciding how to achieve them (Rapp & Lane, 2009). The strengths-based approach continues to be applied as part of the addiction therapy process, from the assessment of their stories to their intervention. By highlighting their internal resources and recovery capital, individuals who experience addictive behaviours have more opportunity to reframe their journey into an empowering and long-lasting experience.

Strengths-based practice changed how I looked at addiction. By contrasting the knowledge against my skewed perception, I was able to recognise the limitations of perceiving addiction from a deficit lens. Focusing on their incapability and what addicts are not able to do will only limit the possibility and personal exploration of understanding their motivations and efficacy for treatment success. This was a core learning that I experienced during my addiction therapy module, and it fully reaffirms my belief that in the pursuit of counselling and help, empowering the individual can have a more significant impact than simply recognising their difficulties and faults.

Empowerment with
Motivational Interviewing

Motivational Interviewing resonated with my belief in strengths-based practices and informed my approach to potentially supporting clients with addiction issues.

Motivational Interviewing applies the strengths-based practice by strengthening a person's own motivation and commitment to change through a collaborative conversation (Miller & Rollnick, 2013) . This is done by providing a safe and non-confrontational environment between the client and counsellor to elicit hope and promote the client's readiness for positive change. Through the conversation, a client experiencing addictive behaviour can mitigate their ambivalence to change and feel strengthened by their intrinsic motivations.

As a counsellor in training, Motivational interviewing aligns with my belief that individuals can leverage their internal resources to navigate through their emotional and mental adversity. It's an immediate complement to my view in strengths-based practices, and further highlights the value of empowering clients through their capability rather than their deficits. Motivational Interview is also similar to other forms of therapy such as Gestalt and Person-Centred Therapy, as both are guided by the same foundations of client autonomy, emotional congruence and empowerment (Wormer & Davis, 2018).

Motivational Interviewing would also be a form of treatment that I would personally use if I were to work with clients having addiction issues in the future. This is because Motivational Interview is in line with my values of empowerment and internal resources. As my counselling orientation continues to skew towards empowerment, I believe that Motivational Interviewing will allow me to support my clients whilst at the same time, remain congruent with my personal preference and approach. I also have a strong belief in the power of internal resources, which is attributed to my journey experiencing adversity alone. Internal resources are an essential part of recovery capital, and being able to acknowledge and leverage the resource might be crucial for individuals who lack the most significant external support system (Best & Laudet, 2010). Because of this, I believe Motivational Interviewing helps provide clients with the skills to recognise their internal resources, on top of being able to navigate through their addictive behaviour.

Finding a new way to Empathise

On a personal level, studying addiction was an opportunity for me to empathise towards individuals who experience addictive behaviours, shifting my perception for a family member that has historically been seen as a burden and disappointment to the group.

Studying addiction has given me the tools to understand and acknowledge the difficulty of managing his addictive behaviours. My late cousin probably did not receive the support he needed to navigate through his addiction to substance and alcohol. Interventions probably took place between him and his parents, but only done to rectify his addiction, and not go more in-depth on his motivation and the underlying root cause behind it. And based on my knowledge of my family, it can be assumed that they applied a deficit approach to intervention, focusing primarily on his incapacity and negative judgement rather than his potential ability to change.

Learning more about addiction treatment and the strengths-based approach to counselling has allowed me to empathise with individuals experiencing addictive behaviour, and that includes my late cousin. It is a shame that I was only able to truly empathise and acknowledge my late cousin's experience fourteen years after his death. But the learning experience has become a gift, allowing me to understand people differently, and expanding my ability to empathise and understand different individuals. And while I might not be able to save my cousin's life, it's clear that such empowerment is possible to save others who experience similar difficulties with addiction.

It is still very easy to victimise a person who experiences some form of addiction. But after studying the addiction therapy module, I personally and professionally feel more capable in understanding and empowering people who experience addictive disorders.

There is more to understand and empathise beyond the behaviours and dysfunction that individuals with addictive behaviours present. It has allowed me to change my views on behavioural addiction, empower my existing beliefs in strengths-based practices, and rekindled my personal experience with my late cousin. And as I continue my training to become a counsellor, I hope I will be able to share the same change in perception, and give individuals experiencing addictive behaviours, the internal motivation for positive change.

Bibliography

Best, D., & Laudet, A. (2010). The Potential of Recovery Capital. London. RSA Projects.

Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2013). Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People to Change Addictive Behavior. Guilford Press.

Rapp, R., & Lane, D. (2009). Implementation of brief strengths-based case management: An evidence-based intervention for improving linkage with care. The strengths perspective in social work practice.

Saleeby, D. (2000). Power in The People: Strengths and Hope. Advances in Social Work.

Wormer, K., & Davis, D. R. (2018). Addiction Treatment: A Strengths Perspective (4th ed.). Cengage Learning.