An Alternative Counseling Model for Alcohol Abuse in College: A Case Study

Abstract

Abstinence education remains a prevailing approach for addressing college student alcohol abuse. This case study illustrates an alternative method of intervening that combines motivational interviewing, harm reduction, and a brief solution-focused model. The counseling approach illustrated emphasizes reduction in, rather than abstinence from, drinking behaviors and therefore may be especially useful on campuses where cultural context rejects abstinence and where many student constituents resist engaging in traditional abstinence approaches.

Psychological Well-Being of Drug Addicts in Predicting Treatment Outcomes

“…In reviewing treatment outcomes in substance abuse treatment, previous studies have investigated many variables that interact with treatment to predict outcomes in substance abuse that include drug of choice (Nazar et al, 2009), client motivation (McCollum et al, 2003;Hayes et al, 2010), prior treatment history (Wright & Devine, 2015), and severity of psychiatric symptoms (Compton, Cottler, Jacobs, Ben-Abdallah, &Spitznagel, 2003).…”

“…Psychological well-being in the drug addiction field is considered as a critical variable that interacts with treatment to predict outcomes in substance abuse. This goes along with other variables such as client motivation (Hayes et al, 2010), client satisfaction Ghani, Brown, Khan, Wickersham, Lim, Dhaliwal, Kamarulzaman, & Altice (2015), and severity of psychiatric symptoms (Compton et al, 2003). Addressing psychiatric symptoms (i.e., mood disorder and mental illness) in drug addicts became the attention of previous studies when discussing the addicts' psychological well-being.…”

Motivational Interviewing as Substance Treatment for College Students

“…MI is a treatment approach with empirical support on its effectiveness as a therapy model for substance users. [3][4][5][6][7] It is a therapeutic approach developed through research and clinical practice with addiction.…”