Theory and Practice of Addiction Counseling

This book is intended to be a review of existing theories of addiction which then helps counselors connect those theories to practice. There are very few pure theory books related to addiction on the market today. To date, most of the textbooks for this area are more survey oriented. That is, they provide a brief overview of typically four or five broad theoretical categories, such as psychological, sociological, and medical models, and only briefly mention different aspects of those theories in the chapter. They do not connect theory of addiction to practice. These books then go on to provide an overview of assessment issues, family issues, 12-step approaches, with one or two chapters on different treatment approaches/issues. By contrast, when examining theory textbooks for the general counseling field, you find that these texts are typically focused only on the theories. For addictions courses, what has been lacking is a book that presents addiction theory as a focal point, similar to counseling theory texts. Currently, professors teaching a theory course must put together a collection of textbooks, book chapters, journal articles, and such to create a working group of readings for students. This proposed book will provide all the information for an addiction theories course in one location.
 
Pamela Lassiter and John Culbreth take an approach similar to that used in counseling theories courses. It will present two multicultural cases studies and will apply each theory to the case throughout the text. Each chapter will present an overview of the theory discussed, a description of treatment applications, review its strengths and weaknesses, and provide an overview of the empirical research. Finally, each chapter will contain a section that applies the approach to the cases and sidebars with discussion questions and critical thinking. Theories covered in the text will include motivational interviewing, moral theory, developmental theory, cognitive behavioral theories, attachment theory, sociological theory, stages of change theory, family systems and harm reduction. A final chapter will discuss approaches to relapse prevention.