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Introduction Training Practicum
 question 1 question 2 question 3 question 4 question 5

Patient A has been diagnosed with alcohol dependence or alcoholism. Alcoholism may be treated as a substance dependence disorder characterized by behavior patterns resulting from uncontrolled use of alcohol and continued, or even increased, use, often despite awareness that the substance is disrupting one's life.

Take a biological approach:

Question 1: What might be a potential cause of A's alcoholism?

 

a.

family history of alcoholism and a genetic predisposition to addiction

X

b.

repressed biological instincts

X

c.

behavior patterns learned from watching others drink

X

d.

a need to suppress feelings about A's own failures

 


Answer: A biological approach views family history of alcoholism and genetic predisposition as potential causes of alcoholism.

Question 2: What might you examine to better understand A's alcoholism?

X

a.

tactics A uses to hide drinking behaviors

X

b.

A's dreams and unconscious fantasies about drinking

X

c.

A's thoughts and thought processes that lead to drinking behaviors

 

d.

parts of A's brain that are involved in addiction

 


Answer: A biological approach might examine parts of A's brain involved in addiction.

Question 3: Which treatment would you prescribe for A?

X 

a.

individual psychotherapy that focuses on A's family history of alcoholism

X

b.

group therapy with other alcoholics

 

c.

psychotropic medication that curbs cravings

X

d.

individual therapy that rewards A for abstinence

 


Answer: A biological treatment approach might include psychotropic medications that help curb cravings.


Next, take a psychodynamic approach.





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