How is substance abuse counseling different from other types of therapy?
Substance Abuse Counseling is a specialized type of treatment with a focus on assisting individuals who have problems related to their use of alcohol or drugs. SA counseling uses the same established methods of counseling used in other types of treatment. SA counseling providers must follow strict standards of confidentiality and ethics. SA counselors consider chemical dependency to be a primary problem that needs to be addressed directly rather than just as a symptom of another problem. Individuals who are addicted to substances often have many other life problems. A significant percentage of addicted people also have anxiety, depression or another psychiatric illness. All types of problems are addressed in SA counseling and treatment goals are made with the active involvement of the client. When additional help is needed, appropriate referrals are made to other helping professionals such as psychiatrists or vocational counselors. SA counseling starts with an assessment of the biologi
Self-help programs like AA preceded professional intervention. Therefore, many of the counseling who provide substance abuse counseling are actually recovering addicts rather than trained counselors.
Substance abuse was defined as an illness during the 1970s. Treatment or intervention is now provided by trained counselors and is covered by health insurance.
