Treatment Approaches for Addictions

Addiction is one of the major issues in today’s counseling practice that occurs in various forms and continues to affect many people. Kottler & Shepard (2015) define addiction as behavioral patterns that are not only applied to substances but to activities as well. This paper provides an addictions chart that provides different kinds of addictions that clients might seek services for and treatment approaches for the addictions.

Types of Addiction / Treatment Approach
Drug Addiction
When working with clients with drug addiction, a treatment approach that could be utilized is substance abuse prevention and mitigation program. Through such programs, the client receives mental health/psychological support to address the cognitive or psychological issues resulting in the drug addiction. Moreover, the client receives the necessary social support network for overcoming the addiction through group therapy.
An alternative treatment approach to drug addiction is medications that help manage withdrawal symptoms, treat co-occurring conditions, and prevent relapse. While this approach can help address this addiction, it can also generate severe long-term impacts on the client. The probable severe long-term effects can in turn hinder the effectiveness of the approach in treating the addiction.
Internet Addiction
The diagnostic criteria for Internet addiction is similar to that for drug/substance abuse (Kottler & Shepard, 2015). A treatment approach that can be utilized when working with clients with this kind of addiction is aversion therapy. This is a behavioral therapy that will entail lessening the frequency of the behavior (Internet access) through linking it to an unpleasant stimulus. The approach addresses the cognitive factors and external factors (Internet access) contributing to the addiction.
An alternative treatment approach is structured and closely monitored schedule with minimal or no access to devices connected to the Internet. This would help limit access to the Internet and help the individual overcome the addiction. However, the addiction is not suitable in the long-term since it does not address the root causes of the behavior. In this case, the approach only focuses on the external aspect of the behavior without addressing the internal (root cause) of the behavior. As a result, the individual is more likely to relapse if Internet access is improved.
Gambling Addiction
· When working with clients with gambling addiction, one of the treatment approaches that could be utilized is cognitive behavioral therapy. This will entail detecting cognitive distortions, wrong perceptions, and false expectations associated with the gambling activity. Once these factors are determined, behavioral management approaches are utilized to increase the level of difficulty to gamble and/or lessen access to limit.
· An alternative treatment approach that could be utilized for such clients is comprehensive treatment, which entails the use of medications and psychotherapy. In this regard, the client undergoes psychotherapy and takes medication to deal with the gambling addiction. However, this is not the best approach since the medication would end up being harmful to the client. Medications for behavioral/emotional issues have been found to have devastating long-term impacts though they could help relieve symptoms in the short-term.





Reference
Kottler, J.A. & Shepard, D.S. (2015). Introduction to counseling: voices from the field (8th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.