Identification of Issues in Lisa's Substance Abuse - Case Study

This case study explores the identification of issues that contributed to Lisa's substance abuse, including anxiety, insecurities, and lack of trust. It also discusses the chosen issue and Trauma-Informed Care Principles for her recovery.

Running head: LISA CASE STUDY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1LISA CASE STUDY
Identification of issues:
Considering the video, the three major issues that contributed to her substance abuse are
anxiety and helplessness, insecurities and paranoia, lack of trust.
Anxiety and helplessness:
It was observed that parents of Lisa were not supporting Lisa for moving in with her
boyfriend which is why she lived separately from her family. The support of family members is
crucial for individuals to recover from the drug addictions since family provides emotional
support (Moss et al., 2019). Lack of adequate family support left her anxious and helpless which
further contributed to her substance abuse.
Insecurity and paranoia:
Since her family was not supporting her for moving in his boyfriend, she lived alone. Her
mother used to supervise her medications routine and lack of family support left her insecure.
Moreover, Lisa stated that she was being watched by the camera which made her feel unsafe,
paranoid and these symptoms generally observed because of lack of medications (Moss et al.,
2019). Consequently, the constant feeling of paranoia and insecurity led to substance abuse.
Lack of trust:
The video highlighted that the reason behind substance use is also a lack of trust. Lisa
stated that she was hearing sounds at night, indicating auditory hallucinations. The auditory
hallucination is common side effects of lack of medications. Moreover, she had the delusional
belief that her boyfriend will kill her and she felt unsafe. She used to sleep with a knife under her
pillow in order to protect her. Therefore, the lack of trust led to her frequent substance use.

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Chosen issue and TICP:
Lack of family support:
According to the third principle of trauma-informed care, peer support and mutual self-
help are one of the crucial factors that contributed to the faster recovery of the patient
(SAMHSA., 2019). In this case, the lack of family support not only contributed to her
forgetfulness of consuming medications but also induces the feeling of insecurity and unsafe.
Therefore, as per the third principle, mental health nurses must provide peer and family-centered
care involving Lisa, her boyfriend, and her parents (Raja et al., 2015). Consequently, Lisa will
feel empowered, gain trust and reduce the feeling of paranoia.
Irregular medication consumption:
As per the second principle of trauma-centered care, trustworthiness and transparency,
these two factors are crucial players in faster recovery of mental health patient (SAMHSA.,
2019). In this situation , Lisa had trust issues because she had a false belief that her boyfriend
will kill her and she has to protect herself. These symptoms usually observed when prescribed
medication dose was not consumed by the patient resulted in the emergence of physiological and
psychological characteristics. This highlighted the lack of safety as per the first principle of TIC
(Raja et al., 2015). Therefore, nurses must provide care and design safety plan for Lisa for
restoring her trust and safety.
Lack of empowerment:
The fifth principle of TIC, empowerment voice and choice allow nurses to recognize the inner
strength and boost her self-esteem to bring the uniqueness of the individuals (SAMHSA., 2019).
In this situation, Lisa lacks empowerment and had auditory hallucinations. Therefore, mental

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health nurse must incorporate a person-centered approach for identifying her strength and help in
empowering her (Reeves, 2015).

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References:
Moss, K. M., Healy, K. L., Ziviani, J., Newcombe, P., Cobham, V. E., McCutcheon, H., ... &
Kenardy, J. (2019). Trauma-informed care in practice: Observed use of psychosocial care
practices with children and families in a large pediatric hospital. Psychological
services, 16(1), 16.
Raja, S., Hasnain, M., Hoersch, M., Gove-Yin, S., & Rajagopalan, C. (2015). Trauma informed
care in medicine. Family & community health, 38(3), 216-226.
Reeves, E. (2015). A synthesis of the literature on trauma-informed care. Issues in mental health
nursing, 36(9), 698-709.
SAMHSA. (2019). SAMHSA News - Guiding Principles of Trauma-Informed Care. Retrieved
from https://www.samhsa.gov/samhsaNewsLetter/Volume_22_Number_2/trauma_tip/
guiding_principles.html.