Any tips, hints, or publications on this matter would be welcome.
Best,
Bert
Dear Bert,
Some sources
Am J Community Psychol. 2013 Mar; 51(0): 91–102.
doi: 10.1007/s10464-012-9499-5
Factors of Empowerment for Women in Recovery from Substance Use
Bronwyn A. Hunter, Leonard A. Jason, and Christopher B. Keys
Journal of Drug Education; Vol 28, 1 / 1998, Pages: 1 - 17
Toward a New Paradigm in Substance Abuse and Other Problem Behavior Prevention for Youth: Youth Development and Empowerment Approach
Sehwan Kim et al.
http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/11958/1/Correlation_empowerment.pdf
Empowerment and Self - Organisations of Drug Users
Experiences and lessons learnt;
Georg Bröring & Eberhard Schatz (2008)
http://www.gjcpp.org/en/article.php?issue=4&article=17
Dear Bert,
You have received some good general references on the use of empowerment within the field of addictions. I would like to slightly "reword" your original question --- as a rhetorical question for you!!
IF you are dealing with adult substance abusers, who have normal intelligence and are not incarcerated, how can you NOT use empowerment???? It has been my experience in over 40 years in the field of addictions, as both an academic and clinician with an excellent record of successful therapeutic interventions, that ALL lasting improvement/change for the addicted individual comes from within. That said, they need to be empowered in order to not only achieve success (i.e., sobriety), which is relatively easy, but -- most importantly -- to maintain it for the long term, which is significantly more difficult. The "trick" for the therapist is in determining which therapeutic approach works best for both you and your client/patient in order to achieve empowerment and the therapeutic success that comes with it.
I hope that this slightly different perspective is of some interest/use . . .
Sincerely,
Lou
Dear Bert,
Thanks for your very interesting question. I appreciated Beatrice's helpful resources and Lou's insightful comments.
In the United States, the disease model on drug abuse together with Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and their programs of the 12 Steps, Sponsor, Big Book (of testimonies) and AA/NA meetings have reportedly been successful in dealing with drug use, although they are quite confrontational.
In recent decades, William Miller's motivational interviewing (MI) and Prochaska and DiClemente's Stages of Change (SOC) for drug addiction have been less confrontational, but more empowering in the therapeutic process.
I've found Solution-focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) to be very helpful as one engages the person with drug abuse in an empowering conversation via the miracle questions and exception-finding, scaling, and relationship questions together with indirect compliments. The miracle question with its associated questions and interventions would provide much room for the person to envision his/her future without the problem and are therefore empowering and hope-instilling. Please see the attached for more details.
Best,
Stephen
Stephen could you enlighten me on the term 'Miracle Questions'? Is there a book or pdf file I can find that explains the SFBT system in a trustworthy and practical manner?
Best
Bert,
Thanks for your question. Please refer to the attached book chapter to my original answer posted about a week or so ago. Also check Berg and Reuss' (1998) Solutions step by step: A substance abuse treatment manual at the link below.
Drug addiction is quite intractable. Albeit an effective brief therapy model for many problems (Cheung, 2009; De Jong & Berg, 2012), SFBT might not be a panacea for drug abuse.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393702510/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687462&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0393701344&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=15AHDKZYY94520GSW4Y3
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