Updated with DSM-5 Information
Part I and II each award 7.5 CE credit hours. Students need to sign up for both Part I and II to fulfill the 15 hour requirement for the California BBS and BOP. This workshop does not award academic units.
Treating Alcohol and Drug Problems in Psychotherapy Practice, Doing What Works, Arnold Washton and Joan Zweben, Guilford Press, 2006 -- is required reading for this course.
Joan Zweben, PhD is a clinical psychologist with over 30 years of experience treating addictions and training practitioners. She has an unusually broad background in both alcoholism and drug dependence, as well both out patient and residential modalities. This class is full of her hard-earned wisdom.
Part I of the course presents historical and contemporary perspectives on alcohol and drug abuse, offering participants an understanding of the social context in which decisions about addiction treatment take place. Also presented are basic principles of diagnosis and assessment, with emphasis on detecting manifestations of alcohol and drug problems in patients who appear for help in a variety of systems, including private practice.
Participants will come to understand the numerous possible relationships between addictive behavior and psychopathology, the basic principles of selecting appropriate treatment, how to recognize the serious health and life threatening medical complications of alcohol and drug use (e.g., hazards of withdrawal) and also how to address them appropriately.
Part II of this class enhances and expands on participants’ understanding of addictive disorders, emphasizing principles of effective treatment, recovery-oriented approaches, and strategies and dilemmas of working with alcohol and drug using patients to integrate these into their current treatment.
The discussion integrates the most recently accepted and potentially useful pharmacological treatment information and the most recent research findings with respect to the effects of popularly abused psychoactive substances.
Motivational enhancement strategies are also presented, including how and when to utilize them and how to formulate and implement an appropriate treatment contract.
Prerequisite for Part II: Participants must have covered the material in Understanding and Treating Addictive Disorders: Part I, via formal coursework or experience in professional practice. Participants will also have to attend two self-help group meetings and must post a brief write-up of these meetings in the online discussion forum.
In addition to providing continuing education credit for licensed psychologists, MFTs and LCSWs, this course, Parts I and II, is designed to fulfill and expand on the state board licensing prerequisite for education in alcohol and drug abuse assessment and treatment.
