Working with Adolescents | Presentation

Problematic behaviors can cause disruptions to the
social and communication skills of an individual
which leads to the development of negative
emotions and attitudes causing detrimental effects
on the individual as well as their loved ones.
Lauren has been seen to portray an abnormal
behavior - anxiety and irritability- towards
everything recently. She has been observed to
develop an overall negative attitude towards life.
Due to her lack of interest, she has lost focus on
her studies. She has become unsocial, extremely
lethargic, mainly due to the loss of her best friends
who her parents deemed as good influence and
also due to her strained family relations. She has
thus, been seen to become more ignorant about
maintaining her health (Buratti & Allwood, 2018).
She used to love attending her physical education
classes, but recently she has lost interest and has
stopped attending them. She has been seen to
frequently forget her asthma medications. These
signs and symptoms of lethargy, irritability,
anxiety, can all be linked to her excessive alcohol
consumption during the weekends Connor, Haber &
Hall, 2016). This makes her wake up late on most
Sundays for her part time job at the bakery. These
incidences along with her not being able to accept
her step-father, has also added to the tensions
within her and her family.
Studies have shown that adolescents are more
prone to abuse alcohol, drugs and tobacco. The
given case subject has been seen to have a severe
case of alcoholism, and has been found to be in
denial of her being an addict. Studies have shown
that alcohol is a mood mediator, as excessive
intake of alcohol results in the reduction of
serotonin level in the brain, leading to heightening
of negative emotions like nervousness and anxiety
(Godlaski & Giancola, 2009).Problematic behaviors can cause disruptions to the
social and communication skills of an individual
which leads to the development of negative
emotions and attitudes causing detrimental effects
on the individual as well as their loved ones.
Lauren has been seen to portray an abnormal
behavior - anxiety and irritability- towards
everything recently. She has been observed to
develop an overall negative attitude towards life.
Due to her lack of interest, she has lost focus on
her studies. She has become unsocial, extremely
lethargic, mainly due to the loss of her best friends
who her parents deemed as good influence and
also due to her strained family relations. She has
thus, been seen to become more ignorant about
maintaining her health (Buratti & Allwood, 2018).
She used to love attending her physical education
classes, but recently she has lost interest and has
stopped attending them. She has been seen to
frequently forget her asthma medications. These
signs and symptoms of lethargy, irritability,
anxiety, can all be linked to her excessive alcohol
consumption during the weekends Connor, Haber &
Hall, 2016). This makes her wake up late on most
Sundays for her part time job at the bakery. These
incidences along with her not being able to accept
her step-father, has also added to the tensions
within her and her family.
Studies have shown that adolescents are more
prone to abuse alcohol, drugs and tobacco. The
given case subject has been seen to have a severe
case of alcoholism, and has been found to be in
denial of her being an addict. Studies have shown
that alcohol is a mood mediator, as excessive
intake of alcohol results in the reduction of
serotonin level in the brain, leading to heightening
of negative emotions like nervousness and anxiety
(Godlaski & Giancola, 2009).Cognitive Behavioural Therapy :
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is one of the
most significant therapy techniques used in
drug rehabilitation. This process aims to
educate the abuser on the detrimental effects
of the addictive substance, to help decrease
the problematic behaviours associated with
substance abuse (De Castella et al., 2014). The
process helps in highlighting the various risk
factors and probable situations in order to
apply various coping strategies to reduce the
relapse of the abuser (Magill et al., 2016). With
the information that Rob has gathered from his
sessions with Lauren, he can easily implement
this technique in his treatment procedure. This
will help Rob take a holistic approach to the
problem and reduce Lauren’s probability to
relapse (Wilson, H Spence & J. Kavanagh,
2018).
Motivational Enhancement Therapy :
This is the second-most common therapy used
for treating substance abuse. The theory helps
in motivating the abusers to go through the
entire detoxifying process and helps them cope
with their withdrawal symptoms, thus
preventing them to revert back to abusing
substances (NIDA, 2018). The process
incorporates the system of providing rewards
and incentives for sobriety. Lauren is a
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy :
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is one of the
most significant therapy techniques used in
drug rehabilitation. This process aims to
educate the abuser on the detrimental effects
of the addictive substance, to help decrease
the problematic behaviours associated with
substance abuse (De Castella et al., 2014). The
process helps in highlighting the various risk
factors and probable situations in order to
apply various coping strategies to reduce the
relapse of the abuser (Magill et al., 2016). With
the information that Rob has gathered from his
sessions with Lauren, he can easily implement
this technique in his treatment procedure. This
will help Rob take a holistic approach to the
problem and reduce Lauren’s probability to
relapse (Wilson, H Spence & J. Kavanagh,
2018).
Motivational Enhancement Therapy :
This is the second-most common therapy used
for treating substance abuse. The theory helps
in motivating the abusers to go through the
entire detoxifying process and helps them cope
with their withdrawal symptoms, thus
preventing them to revert back to abusing
substances (NIDA, 2018). The process
incorporates the system of providing rewards
and incentives for sobriety. Lauren is a
teenager and thus this technique combined
Name:
Student ID:
Phone No.:
Email ID:
Working with AdolescentsRob’s Helpful Actions For
Lauren
Rob’s Helpful Actions For
LaurenLauren’s Problematic Behaviours
Lauren’s Problematic BehavioursModels
ModelsModifications
ModificationsRob’s Unhelpful Actions For
Lauren
Rob’s Unhelpful Actions For
Lauren
Rob could have incorporated a better way
to educate Lauren about the detrimental
effects of alcohol and the significance of
exercising to maintain one’s health, than
by just handing out brochures, even after
it was evident that this technique was not
working on Lauren.
He could have showed her videos on these
topics or could have verbally informed her
about them.
Rob should not have let Lauren monitor
her own activities, given her negative and
dismissive attitude towards everything.
He should have either made home visits
for collecting the data or could have told
her mother to document it, to maintain
the accuracy of the observations.
Rob, during the session with her parents,
ignored the importance of patient-client
confidentiality, which might in future
make it even difficult for Rob to make
Lauren open up about her issues, as the
trust is lost.
He should have maintained the patient-
client confidentiality or could have told
her parents in another session, without
the knowledge of Lauren.
Rob suggested her parents to restrict her
from seeing her new friends, despite
Lauren mentioning that they were her
only friends. This can make her feel even
more unsocial and lonely.
He could, however, have provided this
advice to Lauren during their one on one
sessions.
Attentive listener Rob is an active listener
to Lauren’s view points
and her assumptions
about her health issues.
Wants to educate
Lauren by providing
Brochures
He has been seen to
provide Lauren with
brochures on the
importance of physical
activities, regular
exercising, as well as on
the detrimental effects of
alcohol on one’s body.
Encouraging her to take
Asthma medications
Rob observed that due to
her excessive alcohol
abuse, she has become
very forgetful and has
been forgetting to take her
asthma medications daily.
Activities and exercises Rob, during his sessions
with Lauren, has been seen
to actively promote the
benefits of exercising and
physical activities.
Helps Lauren reveal her
issues and makes her
realize them properly.
Rob has been seen to keep
an open mind and create a
safe space to ask Lauren
questions about different
aspects of her life, which
might have caused her to
behave in such a manner.
This process has helped
Lauren point out the
reasons herself and helped
her identify them properly.
Suggests support
groups
Rob has been seen to
suggest Lauren to attend
support groups for people
who have alcoholic
relatives or family
members.
This would help her cope
with some undetected and
unresolved childhood
experiences or traumas.
Provides achievable
solutions to her
problems
Rob has been seen to set
achievable goals for all the
different issues that he
observed and identified to
cause her to behave this
way.
Holistic approach
In his sessions with Lauren,
he has been seen to try
and help Lauren
understand the issues or
factors in her life that is
causing her to feel
negatively and the reason
why she is abusing alcohol.
De Castella, K., Goldin, P., Jazaieri, H., Heimberg, R., Dweck, C., &
Gross, J. (2014). Emotion Beliefs and Cognitive Behavioural
Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder.
Cognitive Behaviour
Therapy,
44(2), 128-141. doi:10.1080/16506073.2014.974665
Buratti, S., & Allwood, C. (2018). The effect of knowledge and
ignorance assessments on perceived risk.
Journal of Risk
Research,
22(6), 735-748. doi:10.1080/13669877.2018.1459795
Connor, J., Haber, P., & Hall, W. (2016). Alcohol use disorders.
The
Lancet,
387(10022), 988-998. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(15)00122-
1
Godlaski, A., & Giancola, P. (2009). Executive functioning,
irritability, and alcohol-related aggression.
Psychology of
Addictive Behaviors,
23(3), 391-403. doi:10.1037/a0016582
Magill, M., Walthers, J., Mastroleo, N., Gaume, J., Longabaugh, R.,
& Apodaca, T. (2016). Therapist and client discussions of drinking
and coping: a sequential analysis of therapy dialogues in three
evidence-based alcohol use disorder treatments. Addiction,
111(6), 1011-1020. doi:10.1111/add.13313
NIDA. (2018, January 17). Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment:
A Research-Based Guide (Third Edition). Retrieved from
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-
addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition on 2019,
August 8
Tripodi, S., Bender, K., Litschge, C., & Vaughn, M. (2010).
Interventions for Reducing Adolescent Alcohol Abuse. Archives of
Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 164(1).
doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2009.235
Wilson, P., H Spence, S., & J. Kavanagh, D. (2018). Cognitive
Behavioural Interviewing for Adult Disorders. Cognitive
Behavioural Interviewing for Adult Disorders: A Practical
Handbook. doi:10.4324/9780429450730Rob’s Helpful and Unhelpful Actions
For
Rob’s Helpful and Unhelpful Actions
For
Brochure Rob could have incorporated a
better way to educate Lauren
about the detrimental effects
of alcohol and the significance
of exercising to maintain one’s
health, than by just handing
out brochures, even after it
was evident that this technique
was not working on Lauren.
Made
Lauren
monitor
her own
activities
Rob should not have made Lauren
monitor her own activities and
should have done it himself in
order to get better accuracy about
the different reasons behind
Lauren’s behavior.
Broke
patient-
client
confidenti
ality
Rob should have maintained
patient-client confidentiality, which
in turn would have made Lauren
feel respected and encouraged
enough to seek guidance form Rob,
from time to time, regarding her
health and behavioural concerns
Suggeste
d to
restrict
Lauren
from
seeing
her new
friends
Rob suggested her parents to
restrict her from seeing her new
friends, despite Lauren mentioning
that they were her only friends.
This can make her feel even more
unsocial and lonely.
He could, however, have provided
this advice to Lauren during their
one on one sessions.
Lack of
effectiven
ess in his
methods
Even after many sessions he has
not been able to effectively reduce
Lauren’s alcohol addiction.
Withdraw
al
behaviour
Rob’s ignorance towards Lauren’s
disinterest can be seen during his
sessions with her.
Use of
judgemen
tal
language
Rob’s choice of words during his
session with Lauren seemed a bit
judgemental and might prevent
Lauren to open up about her
problems.