Essay Sample on Use of Medication to Treat Alcohol Dependence

Introduction

Medication together with psychosocial therapy may enhance the treatment outcomes in individuals with alcohol dependence. However, drugs are not primarily used in the community-based treatment centers for addiction. Treatment for alcohol dependence that is medication-assisted involves the use of medications together with therapy with the aim of assisting a person end alcohol use disorder. People attribute medication-assisted treatment for alcohol as being available and useful. However, medication alone has been rendered as being ineffective during addressing alcohol addiction. When medicine is used together with therapy the treatment process of alcohol dependence becomes successful. This paper will discuss the impact of the assumptions that clients and professionals have regarding the intervention of use of medication to treat alcohol dependence.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Many clients have developed the attitude that there is a need to have an understanding of alcohol and substance dependence. It is essential to understand that alcohol dependence is not the same thing as alcohol addiction. Therefore, knowledge of alcohol dependence and addiction is critical to the recognition of ways in which the use of medication to treat alcohol dependence works. Many people have an attitude that alcohol dependence is a form of physical reliance on alcohol use.

Many healthcare professionals in the community-based treatment centers have the assumption that individuals who are suffering from alcohol dependence are already aware that there exist medications that assist in the ending of alcohol dependence. However, this assumption by healthcare professionals is wrong as many individuals are less aware that their condition for alcohol dependence may be ended following medication-assisted treatment for alcohol dependence intervention. The treatment professions do not embrace the value of implementing adjunctive medications which result in having more alcohol-dependent people becoming less informed regarding this treatment alternative. This assumption by the treatment professionals does not benefit many individuals as they do not add the medication to their psychological treatments. Even though there exists significant empirical support for the efficacy of the treatment process for alcohol-dependence, only few treatment professionals inform their patients regarding the availability of the adjunctive medications used for alcohol treatment.

One of the attitudes that an individual suffering from the condition of alcohol-dependence is that clients view the treatment professionals as lacking adequate knowledge regarding the drugs used during the use of medication to treat alcohol dependence. This assumption by the clients has a negative impact on their treatment outcomes as most of them lose confidence that the treatment professionals understand well the drugs that they chose to use to treat for alcohol-dependence. Many clients assume that years of experience have a casual relationship with the positive opinions concerning pharmacotherapy carried out in the community-based centers for alcohol treatment which they perceive to occur naturally. According to Johnson et al., (2003) there is the need of carrying out deliberate efforts in the attempt to assist both the inexperienced and experienced treatment professionals in appreciating of the value that adjunctive pharmacotherapy may afford to the clients that are experiencing the problem of alcohol dependence.

Additionally, clients have an assumption that the standards applied in psychosocial interventions during treating alcohol dependence have different outcomes on individuals being treated and diagnosed with alcohol dependence. The standard psychosocial interventions which are commonly used during the use of medication to treat alcohol dependence include; reducing f denial, developing of refusal skills for drinking, and identifying of causes for drinking (Petry, Martin, Cooney, & Kranzler, 2000). Many clients consider these standards as being important especially during referring to a client to obtain medication that assists in controlling the urges for drinking. These assumptions are vital as they suggest that the educational efforts do not necessarily require overcoming the barriers of negative opinions which exist concerning adjunctive pharmacotherapy (Marlatt & Donovan, 2005). The assumptions affect the use of medication for treatment of alcohol dependence in that it implies that the educational activities promoting the intervention must concentrate on conveying of empirical and accurate information (Krystal, Cramer, Krol, Kirk, & Rosenheck, 2001).

Clients have developed an assumption that medications to end alcohol dependence usually take a lot of time to change the alcohol-dependence behavior successfully. This assumption has an impact on the intervention that involves medication-assisted treatment for alcohol dependence in that many people fear to undergo the process of therapy believing that it will take an extended period to achieve a positive outcome. Clients develop this assumption through considering of the fact that the risk that is associated with relapse to the alcohol dependence is usually very high during the initial months following begin of abstinence process which gradually reduces over many years (Anton et al., 2006). As a result, it is recommended that an individual should take an initial period of at least six months of the pharmacotherapy treatment process. Even though the treatment duration that is optimal for ending alcohol-dependence has not yet been established, the treatment process may continue up to 1-2 years given that the patient responds to the prescribed medication at this period (Hingson, Heeren, & Winter, 2006). This assumption triggers the development of fear to undergo the medical treatment process which also makes some clients decide to discontinue their medications. The assumption prevents the following of the drug more closely, and the pharmacotherapy may become reinstated when relapse occurs.

The treatment professionals have developed the assumption that if one given medication for treating alcohol-dependence has failed, then it is advisable that they offer a second type of drug. This assumption has a positive impact on the medication-assisted treatment of alcohol-dependence in that it ensures that there is effective ending of alcohol dependence among the clients following the use of the best medication that can effectively result in a positive response by the clients. The assumption of the use of a second medication after the first used medication has failed showing a positive respond creates a sequential approach which generally appears as a common clinical practice. Most of the clients who have undergone the sequential approach have realized the effectiveness of this strategy in the medication of treating alcohol dependence (Dutra et al., 2008). The assumption by treatment professionals of providing a second medication after the first one has failed is promoted by the professionals given that there lacks sufficient evidence that can be used to recommend a particular ordering of the medicines that should be followed.

Another central assumption by the clients that have an impact on the medication-assisted treatment of alcohol dependence is that clients believe that they should receive their medications along with obtaining specialized alcohol counseling. Provision f a full range of useful therapies may result in maximizing of the patient outcome and choice following the idea that there exists no specific approach that is considered globally successful or being appealing to the clients. Medications are not primarily used in the community-based treatment centers for addiction. Treatment for alcohol dependence that is medication-assisted involves the use of drugs together with therapy with the aim of assisting a person end alcohol use disorder (Nunes & Levin, 2004). People attribute medication-assisted treatment for alcohol as being available and useful. The clients make this assumption as a result of understanding that the medications used for the treatment of alcohol dependence, mutual assistance groups, and professionals counseling include a part of a treatment approach that is comprehensive. These different approaches usually share a similar goal during the time of addressing of the psychological, social aspects, and neurobiological conditions associated with alcohol dependence (Carmen, Angeles, Ana, & Maria, 2004). Clients believe that the medications provided usually are not prone to be abused hence they are thought to be not posing any given conflict with the counseling process or any other program that is abstinence-based.

The assumption by clients is that the practice of using the medication in treating clients does not interrupt counseling programs. This assumption impacts the medication-assisted treatment for alcohol dependence as it suggests that the intervention of use of medication to treat alcohol dependence should include some counseling. It should, therefore, be concluded that all the clients taking the medication intervention must at least obtain a brief of medical advice.

Conclusion

To conclude, the kind of medication to use to treat alcohol dependence usually relies on the clinical judgment of treatment professionals and the preference of the clients. Every drug is believed to have a different mechanism of action that should be used, and some of the clients respond better to a particular type of medication than another. The assumptions usually impact the medication-associated treatment of alcohol dependence that clients and professionals have regarding the intervention. The medication use in the treatment of alcohol dependence has proven to be useful as it significantly reduces the risk of craving for alcohol and having clients experiencing a relapse.