The nature of and responsibility for alcohol and drug problems: views among treatment staff

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to show how staff in the Stockholm County treatment system view the responsibility of the individual in connection to alcohol and drug dependency and the nature of alcohol and drug problems, shown in a self-administered questionnaire. The empirical data is analysed with the help of the theoretical model developed by Brickman et al. (1982) and the analysis is also a test of this theoretical model.The results show that staff view the clients as partially responsible for becoming alcohol or drug dependent and fully responsible for resolving the problem -a somewhat moral view. Staff also comply with the disease concept and the idea of alcohol and drug problems as mainly social problems. They do not agree to the same extent to their clients being weak-willed. Support can be found both for a moral, medical and social view among staff.

Neuroscience exposure and perceptions of client responsibility among addictions counselors

“…Based on Brickman's (Brickman et al, 1982) model and consistent with the work of Palm (2004), counselors in this study were asked to rate individuals' responsibility for developing an addiction and their responsibility for resolving an addiction. A 7-point Likert-type response scale was used for the two responsibility questions to allow for finer distinctions between therapists' views, relative to the 3-point scale used by Palm (2004). Respondents were also asked to report on a ratio scale the number of years that they had been treating addictions, whether they had been addicted and, if applicable, the number of years they had been in recovery.…”

“…In a 2004 survey, Palm (2004) observed that-among 344 addiction treatment professionals employed by the Swedish health system and 574 Swedish social services employees-most of the respondents viewed clients as partially responsible for becoming dependent on alcohol (66%) and other drugs (64%) and fully responsible for recovering from their dependency on alcohol (69%) and other drugs (66%). In addition, as mentioned above, Russell et al (2011) found that addiction treatment providers in the United States more strongly believed that addiction was a disease rather than a choice.…”

The risks of cannabis and other illicit drugs: Views among French and Finnish addiction treatment providers

“…Cunningham et al (2012) also show with population surveys that Finns and the Swedes are more worried about cannabis than are Canadians. This difference could be due to the long Nordic tradition of regarding alcohol and drug abuse as social problems (Palm, 2004).…”

The biomedicalisation of smoking cessation: a mixed methods study of lay perspectives on nicotine addiction

“…Most agreed that addicted individuals had responsibility for the development of their addiction, and for resolving it, but many also agreed that addiction was a disease, particularly addiction to alcohol. Importantly, Palm (2004) notes that a major limitation of their research is that it is not clear how the respondents interpret the word West and Power (1995) also found that the oft-cited "helping-coping" model of addiction, where beliefs about responsibility for addiction are related to beliefs about the need for treatment, was too simplistic to account for their research findings with addicted individuals.…”

“…Even those who work in the medical arena do not solely explain addiction as an individual, medical problem. For example, Palm (2004) found that drug and alcohol clinicians supported a mixture of moral, disease and sociological models of addiction. Most agreed that addicted individuals had responsibility for the development of their addiction, and for resolving it, but many also agreed that addiction was a disease, particularly addiction to alcohol.…”