Understanding of Individual Treatment in Group Process

Understanding of Individual Treatment in Group Process

Lizette Arceo

CSNL/561

Dean Sanner

June 25, 2012

Allison is a 26 year old woman who has been battling drug addiction which began at the age of 13 when her father gave her first line of cocaine. Since then she has moved on to other drugs and has been addicted to methamphetamine for about four years. She has been sober for about 14 months because she was incarcerated for possession of meth and drug paraphernalia for a year and was assigned to therapy to work on obtaining custody of her 6 year old son. This has been the longest Allison has been sober and she plans to continue on this road for the sake of her child and her life. Allison has been court appointed to attend twice a week individual therapy sessions for year and will be re-evaluated in one year.

During the individual therapy sessions Allison has mostly discussed how she fears confrontation and does not know how to handle criticism from others regardless if it is constructive. She believes the people that are criticizing her do not understand her situation or have never been in a similar situation as hers. Allison has asked about different therapy options because she believes that people she has daily contact with, family and coworkers, do not understand her circumstances and what has brought her to this point in her life. The people that do understand or are in the same situation as her are addicts themselves but are not in therapy and she no longer wants to associate herself with that crowd. During Allison’s recent individual therapy sessions the discussions have been about how her drug dependency has affected every aspect of her life, which led to the reconciliation with her mother, whom cut her off financially when she was incarcerated and who has full custody of her child. Allison has been working on her relationship with her mother by being completely honest with her and began to build trust. It has been recommended that Allison...