What reasons can you think of that might lead this client to be resistant to treatment for alcohol abuse

Treating clients with co-occurring disorders can be very challenging. One of the challenges often encountered in a therapeutic setting is resistance. For a variety of reasons, a client may resist treatment. Even if they are seeing you for services, they may or may not acknowledge they need help for either mental health or substance use related issues.

For the purposes of this discussion, imagine that you have a client who is experiencing depression and who also needs treatment for excessive alcohol use. The client freely accepts that depression is an issue and is willing to take medication and engage in psychotherapy. However, the client fails to see that their drinking pattern is maladaptive and is not willing to address the drinking issue, only the depression.

Respond to the following prompts:

What reasons can you think of that might lead this client to be resistant to treatment for alcohol abuse?

Identify two reasons (utilize your text and/or other resources to assist you in identifying possible reasons; you may also review potential influences in areas of a person’s life including social, employment, family etc.).

What steps can you take to address this resistance? There are many models/theories to work with resistance.

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