Benny's Drug Addiction

Abstract

My client Benny has a drug and depression problem. He recently, lost his job and his girlfriend because of his behavior. I will be using the Cognitive Behavior Theory, which is a theory to develop more positive qualities, that has to do with positive psychology, happiness, altruism, and resilience. This will help Benny get through with his depression and substance abuse. By, using the theory CBT, I will help him come up with more positive thoughts and live a better lifestyle through the three phases.

Cognitive Therapy is based on empirical research, created by Aaron Beck. This allows the therapist to link assessment, conceptualization and treatment strategies. CT is an evidence-based therapy for depression, and it is developed for many disorders such as panic disorder, depression, social anxiety, phobias, posttraumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, etc. Beck had depression research that revealed that depressed clients have a negative bias in their interpretation of some life events, which resulted from active processes of cognitive distortion. He then thought of making therapy to help the depressed clients and become aware of and change their negative thinking could be helpful. Depression can come from negative thinking, genetics, neurobiological or environmental changes. Beck used negative cognitive triad which the client holds negative views of themselves, they are hopelessness to the future, and they always have negative experiences. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy came from Cognitive therapy and Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). As for the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy created by Donald Meichenbaum, the therapist should focus on the client’s issues, the client must notice how they think, feel and behave and the impact they have on others. The therapist and the client collaborate to experiment with new behaviors to see if they have achieved their desired goals. A depressed client that is learning to become more active to boost their moods will have an easier time engaging in activities that are a hobby than participating in activities that they have little interest in. Practitioners ask clients to describe their positive and negative experiences through imagery and metaphors because it captures and integrates the emotional, cognitive, physiological and behavioral aspects. He has three applications to this therapy which are, clients learning how to self observe themselves, clients need to learn a new guide to behavior, lastly learning new skills and learning new practical coping skills. I will be using CBT on my client Benny, so he will be able to learn new skills, new ways of thinking, and acquiring more effective ways of coping with problems.

My client Benny may have had psychological problems in his childhood, and they get reinforced by present ways of thinking. The primary cause of disorders is a person’s belief system and the way they think. The client focuses on looking at the faulty assumptions and misconceptions on replacing with these useful beliefs. With this therapy, I am going to make Benny’s unconscious mind conscious. I will be working with Benny to help him get through his mental health problems, depression, suicidal thoughts, and substance use disorders. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy will help Benny change his behavior and perceptions about substance abuse so that he can live a healthier life. This will help him identify and understand and change dysfunctional behaviors to his problems. Benny needs to learn skills to improve his quality of life. This form of therapy that I will be working with him will help him identify his triggers for addiction, manage cravings and recognize high- risk situations. It will focus on present problems rather than in the past. Benny will be learning how to relax, social and communication techniques and participate in this form of therapy. The relationship between the therapist and the client is significant. This will help Benny because of the positive interaction between us two; it will replace his dysfunctional thoughts with people who will promote his well being. Together we will be creating a plan to help my client Benny overcome his problematic behaviors. This psychotherapy will make him more involved in his recovery because he could be reading about substance abuse, completing his assignments related to therapy. At the end of each session, Benny will become a much better person who has overcome his substance abuse and will get his life back on track. Everyone has a downfall in life, but they need someone who can get them back on track.

My client Benny has been depressed for the last two months. He lost his job in construction because he had missed too many days of work because he was too busy getting drunk and high. Benny had a positive urine screen for cocaine at work, and he then got fired. After, all that happened he gave up on trying to find another job or doing anything with his life at all. Benny began to drink more heavily and doing more crack cocaine, he thought it made his depression better at first, but after each morning, it would get worse and worse. He is just laying around in his apartment doing nothing, but he can’t even concentrate on watching a full video. Every night, he got drunk and high and also tried to kill himself from time to time. Benny always thought about death most of the times. A month later his girlfriend left him, which made him more lonely and even more depressed. That led Benny to drink and doing drugs, to make himself feel better. That just made him more depressed, and he has a hard time sleeping at night, so he begins to drink until he passes out. Benny wakes up every morning early, no matter the time he passed out, and he feels exhausted. He feels very worthless because he is doing nothing with his life and he feels guilty because of his horrible behavior, it drove his girlfriend away. The past two months he lost his appetite for food, and he barely ate which led him to lose twenty pounds. After each unfortunate event happening to Benny, his life is going downhill, I will be helping him get his life back together using CBT. By using cognitive behavior therapy I will be able to him help get up on his feet, start looking for a job and quit doing all these drugs that are just making him more depressed. Benny is feeling very vulnerable, especially after his girlfriend left him and that is not a good sign at all.

One goal that Benny has will be having positive thoughts. Instead of having negative or false thoughts he will be replacing them with healthier and more realistic

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