Screening and Assessment Techniques

Screening and Assessment Methods Drug or substance abuse and other addictive disorders have become a major issue in the United States given their prevalence among adult members across various occupations and workforce. Actually, recent statistics and trends have indicated that working adults account for a huge portion of illicit drug users. Notably, the substance abuse and other addictive disorders not only involve the use of illicit drugs but also entail misuse of prescription drugs like stimulants, tranquilizers, sedatives, and analgesics (Hersch, McPherson & Cook, 2002, p.1332).

As drug abuse has increased tremendously, the negative impacts of addictive behaviors have become prevalent in the society such as increased health care costs and high rates of accidents. Consequently, several measures have been developed in an attempt to deal with these disorders including cognitive behavioral therapies. The use of the various measures and therapies usually involves assessing and diagnosing clients for drug abuse and other addictive disorders.

This process entails the use of several screening and assessment methods in order to ensure proper assessment and diagnosis of the client's condition and the most effective approach for dealing with the drug abuse or addictive disorder. Some of the available screening and assessment methods for assessment and diagnosis of clients include self-report, urinalysis, biological samples, and Radio-immunoassay (RIA) and GS/MS confirmations.

Self-reports provide the most suitable opportunity to gather significant information on drug abuse frequencies, attitudes, patterns, and consequences whereas urinalysis is used to provide a single isolated datum on whether an individual has used drugs in the recent past. In contrast, biological samples utilize hair analysis to detect substance abuse or addictive disorders while Radio-immunoassay (RIA) and GS/MS confirmations of human hair are utilized to identify and ascertain the presence of some types of drugs.

Given the variance in screening and assessment methods, it is important to make certain considerations when selecting a suitable tool to address the clients' condition. These considerations are made based on the extent of cognitive dysfunction relating to the specific substance abuse or addictive disorder. These considerations in selecting screening and assessment methods include the client's readiness to change, insight, the client's potential ability for self-efficacy, treatment attendance, and coping skills, and aftercare attendance (Copersino et. al., 2012, p.246).

The considerations play an important role in the treatment process since they have a direct link to the effectiveness of the process. Actually, the considerations are not only crucial in determining screening and assessment methods but are also helpful in determining and guiding the treatment or therapy process. The screening and assessment methods for substance related disorders differ from those relating to process addictions. Process addictions are basically defined as compulsive behaviors relating to repetitive habit to an activity or process like gambling or sex.

Given the nature of these addictions, their screening and assessment techniques differ from those of substance related disorders. While both these conditions entail psychiatric management, they have varying screening and assessment methods. The techniques used in process addictions largely focus on the therapeutic relationship while substance related ones are based on the client's wiliness and readiness to change. The basis for screening and assessment of process addictions in mainly dependent on the creation and maintenance of substance related disorders, which.