Motivation and maltreatment history among youth entering substance abuse treatment.

Abstract

Research has established that maltreatment experiences are common in the life histories of youth with substance abuse problems, and efforts are now moving in the direction of enhancing our understanding of the unique clinical presentations and treatment needs of this population. The current study endeavored to contribute to this body of research by examining associations between experiences of maltreatment and levels of motivation among youth entering outpatient substance abuse treatment. Upon admission, 188 youth (131 males, 57 females) completed a package of self-report questionnaires including measures of motivation to change, motivation for treatment, and history of maltreatment experiences. Results indicated that youth with histories of all forms of maltreatment examined tended to be more aware of the problematic aspects of their substance use, more ready to engage in treatment, more motivated by feelings of shame, and more motivated by external influences. Emotional abuse was the form of maltreatment that predicted level of motivation most strongly. Emotional abuse was particularly strongly associated with the form of motivation reflecting shame regarding substance use, predicting this form of motivation over and above other factors previously reported to be associated with motivation, such as severity of substance abuse and age. While clinicians are increasingly attending to exposure to traumatic events among youth entering substance abuse treatment, these findings suggest that attending to experiences of emotional abuse is also important. Such experiences appear to be related to treatment motivation and may be important to treatment processes and outcomes for these vulnerable youth.

Therapeutic Progression in Abused Women Following a Drug-Addiction Treatment Program

“…As a matter of fact, women with physical and/or sexual abuse presented with higher rates of treatment dropout. These results support those obtained in previous studies in which the history of abuse is related to treatment dropout (Claus & Kindleberger, 2002;Fernández-Montalvo et al, 2015) and contradict the results from studies of addicted youth who have suffered childhood abuse, who showed a greater adherence to therapy (Rosekranz, Henderson, Muller, & Goodman, 2011;Slesnick, Kang, & Aukward, 2008).…”

The association between shame and substance use in young people: a systematic review

“…Some research suggests that feelings of shame can arise as a consequence of using substances (Arentzen, 1978; Blume, 1990; Cook, 1987; Corrigan, Watson & Miller, 2006; Fossum & Mason, 1986; Luoma et al, 2007; O’Connor et al, 1994; Reed, 1987), and, of the papers reviewed here, one suggests that, amongst those who already use substances problematically, shame may have a positive impact by increasing motivation to seek treatment. In their study of 188 16–24 year-olds entering treatment for moderately-problematic substance use, Rosenkranz et al (2012) found that those individuals who reported greater shame-proneness were more likely to recognize their substance use as problematic and to seek treatment. Some research suggests that these individuals demonstrate superior treatment outcomes (Williams et al, 2008), but their data were subject to disclosure biases.…”

The association between shame and substance misuse in young people: A review of the literature

“…Some research suggests that feelings of shame can arise as a consequence of using substances (Arentzen, 1978;Blume, 1990;Cook, 1987;Corrigan et al, 2006;Fossum & Mason, 1986;Luoma et al, 2007;O'Connor et al, 1994;Reed, 1987), and , of the papers reviewed here, one suggests that, amongst those who already use substances problematically, shame may have a positive impact by increasing motivation to seek treatment. In their study of 188 16-24 year-olds entering treatment for moderately problematic substance abuse, Rosenkranz, Henderson, Muller, & Goodman (2012) found that those individuals who reported greater shameproneness were more likely to recognise their substance misuse and seek treatment.…”

“…However, the data were subject to disclosure biases, and Rosenkranz et al (2012) used a measure of treatment motivation which conflates proneness to shame with motivation to seek treatment, and which included items (e.g., If I remain in treatment it will probably be because I'll feel very bad about myself if I don't) open to being interpreted as either 'shame' or 'guilt' by participants.…”

“…Shame is associated with substance abuse, and substance abuse has a major impact on both society and the individual; as such, future research should try to identify salient risk factors and develop effective treatments. This review has not included studies which aim to treat substance misuse per se; although two studies did use participants engaged in treatment programmes (Edwall et al, 1989;Rosenkranz et al, 2012) and there is some indication that reducing shame is integral to positive treatment outcomes.…”