The Assignment
In a 2- to 3-page paper, address the following:

After watching Episode 1, describe:
What is Mr. Levy’s perception of the problem?
What is Mrs. Levy’s perception of the problem?
What can be some of the implications of the problem on the family as a whole?
After watching Episode 2, describe:
What did you think of Mr. Levy’s social worker’s ideas?
What were your thoughts of her supervisor’s questions about her suggested therapies and his advice to Mr. Levy’s supervisor?
After watching Episode 3, discuss the following:
What were your thoughts about the way Mr. Levy’s therapist responded to what Mr. Levy had to say?
What were your impressions of how the therapist worked with Mr. Levy? What did you think about the therapy session as a whole?
Informed by your knowledge of pathophysiology, explain the physiology of deep breathing (a common technique that we use in helping clients to manage anxiety). Explain how changing breathing mechanics can alter blood chemistry.
Describe the therapeutic approach his therapist selected. Would you use exposure therapy with Mr. Levy? Why or why not? What evidence exists to support the use of exposure therapy (or the therapeutic approach you would consider if you disagree with exposure therapy)?
In Episode 4, Mr. Levy tells a very difficult story about Kurt, his platoon officer.
Discuss how you would have responded to this revelation.
Describe how this information would inform your therapeutic approach. What would you say/do next?
In Episode 5, Mr. Levy’s therapist is having issues with his story.
Imagine that you were providing supervision to this therapist, how would you respond to her concerns?
Support your approach with evidence-based literature.

Review this week’s Learning Resources and consider the insights they provide.
Review the Levy Family video Episodes 1 through 5.
The Levy family – Assessing Clients With Addictive Disorders Assignment  Date Assessing Clients with Addictive Disorders Essay Paper

In a 2- to 3-page paper, address the following:

After watching Episode 1, describe:
What is Mr. Levy’s perception of the problem?
What is Mrs. Levy’s perception of the problem?
What can be some of the implications of the problem on the family as a whole?
After watching Episode 2, describe:
What did you think of Mr. Levy’s social worker’s ideas?
What were your thoughts of her supervisor’s questions about her suggested therapies and his advice to Mr. Levy’s supervisor?
After watching Episode 3, discuss the following:
What were your thoughts about the way Mr. Levy’s therapist responded to what Mr. Levy had to say?
What were your impressions of how the therapist worked with Mr. Levy? What did you think about the therapy session as a whole?
Informed by your knowledge of pathophysiology, explain the physiology of deep breathing (a common technique that we use in helping clients to manage anxiety). Explain how changing breathing mechanics can alter blood chemistry.
Describe the therapeutic approach his therapist selected. Would you use exposure therapy with Mr. Levy? Why or why not? What evidence exists to support the use of exposure therapy (or the therapeutic approach you would consider if you disagree with exposure therapy)?
In Episode 4, Mr. Levy tells a very difficult story about Kurt, his platoon officer.
Discuss how you would have responded to this revelation.
Describe how this information would inform your therapeutic approach. What would you say/do next?
In Episode 5, Mr. Levy’s therapist is having issues with his story.
Imagine that you were providing supervision to this therapist, how would you respond to her concerns?
Support your approach with evidence-based literature.

 Date Assessing Clients with Addictive Disorders

Episode 1

Mr. Levy seems to be unaware of or in denial about his addiction problem. According to the transcript, he thinks that his failure to attend work is due to illness and not alcohol addiction. The denial may be a coping mechanism to avoid admitting the existence of his addiction. Pickard (2016) explains that in denial people refuse to accept the reality to avoid the distress that the reality brings. Mr. Levy is thus using denial to protect himself against the psychological distress accompanying the reality that he has an addiction problem. Date Assessing Clients with Addictive Disorders Essay Paper

On the other hand, Mrs. Levy is aware that Levy has an addiction problem but she is not aware of the fact that alcohol addiction is a clinical condition. The lack of awareness regarding the severity of alcohol addiction is what is making her unsupportive and harsh. Alcohol addiction can affect family dynamics in different ways. For example, addiction can affect family interactions and relationships, as well as affect the financial status of the family (Ólafsdóttir et al., 2018). An example of an adverse impact on family interactions is where Mr. Levy is already arguing with the wife. Similarly, Mr. Levy may spend a lot of finances buying alcohol and this could adversely affect the financial aspect of the family.

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Episode 2

The social worker should not develop the treatment plan before meeting the client (Levy). The treatment plan should be developed after assessing the client and decoding the aspects and issues that should be included in the treatment plan to ensure that the addiction problem for Levy is addressed holistically. Moreover, the therapist should first seek informed consent before formulating the client’s treatment plan. Thus, the supervisor was correct because involving the client in their treatment leads to personalized treatment and improves the therapeutic relationship; these factors contribute to better health outcomes (Bombard et al., 2018).

Episode 3

The response of the therapist was calm and at the beginning, the therapist attempted to distract Levy from talking regarding the traumatic war experience in Iraq since it appeared to overwhelm him emotionally. Evidence emphasizes the importance of protecting clients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from re-traumatization (Reisman, 2016). Additionally, the therapist was empathic towards Levy and showed compassion when explaining PTSD symptoms. The therapist directed Levy on how to perform breathing exercises to calm and relax him during anxiety.

The mechanism of breathing exercises is by decreasing the frequency of respiration and elevating the amount of blood gases. This balances an individual’s emotional status because the stress responses are reversed; this relieves symptoms of anxiety and stress.Date Assessing Clients with Addictive Disorders Essay Paper

Exposure therapy was recommended to Levy by the therapist and he agreed to it. Exposure therapy reduces the symptoms of PTSD by enabling the client to experience the feared and traumatic stimulus; as a result, the client assimilates the curate information to reduce both the anxiety and the fear which eliminates the symptoms of PTSD (Lancaster et al, 2016).

Episode 4

I would respond to the client calmly, compassionately, and empathically but without showing Levy that I am overwhelmed emotionally by his narration. As Van Minnen et al (2018) provide, therapists should be able to tolerate and persevere the negative impact of clients’ experience. This enables the therapist to provide the required support to the client and to formulate an effective treatment plan. Moreover, being compassionate and empathic towards clients makes them feel they are understood and this improves their willingness to participate in treatment. I would also ask Levy questions not related to the trauma using relaxation techniques and calming voice in order to anchor him to the present.

The information that Levy reveals would be important during the formulation of his personalized treatment plan (Bombard et al., 2018). The information would also help to choose the most suitable treatment approach for him. My next action would involve helping Levy to relax after relieving the traumatic experience.

Episode 5

The therapist is experiencing compassionate fatigue (Bao, 2015). As a supervisor for a therapist who is getting overwhelmed by the traumatic experience of a client, it is important to try to assist the therapist to cope and manage the compassionate fatigue. To achieve this, the supervisor should support the therapist by advising and seeking support from a professional team. The supervisor needs to make sure that the therapist works with other team members and not in isolation, to reduce the risk of developing compassionate fatigue. The supervisor should advise the therapist to ensure she sets boundaries when working with clients. It is also important for the therapist to constantly update herself with the current literature and participate in educational forums to gain more understanding about traumas and how to handle clients who once experienced traumatic events (Bao, 2015).

References

Bao S. (2015). Compassion fatigue and psychological capital in nurses working in acute care settings. Int J Hum Care. 1(192), 35-40.

Bombard, Y., Baker, G. R., Orlando, E., Fancott, C., Bhatia, P., Casalino, S., Onate, K., Denis, J. L., & Pomey, M. P. (2018). Engaging patients to improve quality of care: a systematic review. Implementation science: IS, 13(1), 98. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-018-0784-z

Lancaster C, Teeters J, Gros D & Back S. (2016). Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Overview of Evidence-Based Assessment and Treatment. J Clin Med, 5(11), 105.

Ólafsdóttir, J., Hrafnsdóttir, S., & Orjasniemi, T. (2018). Depression, anxiety, and stress from substance-use disorder among family members in Iceland. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 35(3), 165-178.

Pickard H. (2016). Denial in Addiction. Mind & Language, 31(2, 277–299.

Reisman M. (2016). PTSD Treatment for Veterans: What’s Working, What’s New, and What’s Next. P & T: a peer-reviewed journal for formulary management, 41(10), 623–634.

Van Minnen, A., Hendriks, L., Kleine, R., Hendriks, G. J., Verhagen, M., & De Jongh, A. (2018). Therapist rotation: a novel approach for implementation of trauma-focused treatment in post-traumatic stress disorder. European journal of psychotraumatology, 9(1), 1492836. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2018.1492836

Date Assessing Clients with Addictive Disorders Essay Paper