Substance Abuse Case Study

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T.D. is a 63-year-old Caucasian male patient who voluntarily admitted himself into HCPC for substance abuse and depression. Axis I: Depression and Substance Abuse, Axis II: N/A, Axis III: N/A Axis IV: unemployment and family conflict, and Axis V: 50. It was my second day at HCPC when I met T.D. and I was unsure of how to approach a client. However, T.D. seemed willing to give me insight into his life struggles and family history. He started by telling me that substance abuse was hereditary in his family. His mother was addicted to prescription pills, his older brother had died of cirrhosis caused by alcohol abuse, and his younger brother also suffered from substance abuse. Towards the middle of our conversation it was clear to me that the client was struggling with effective coping skills that were causing him to seek alternative relief methods. His priority nursing diagnosis was identified to be ineffective coping related to substance abuse and depression. The interventions implemented were verbalization of feelings and fears, exploring alternative coping strategies, and assessing suicidal thoughts. Throughout, the behavioral health course we learned that the first step in recovering from substance abuse is recognizing the client has a problem. In this case, T.D. came to that realization through an intervention organized by his family and friends. T.D. is currently in the chronic phase of …show more content…

He was hoping the social worker could set him up with government assistant and rehab. That way he could get his life together. He was ready to change because he wanted to be a father to his 16-year -old son. However, he seemed not to have so much hope in the system, because he had heard of how the system has failed so many others. I reassured him that the social worker and everybody in charge of his care would do the best they could to help

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