Treating Addicted Survivors of Trauma » (1st Edition)

Katie Evans, CADC II, NAC II, is the President and Treatment Coordinator of the Evans and Sullivan Clinic. Ms. Evans is a Board Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor at both state and national levels. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in psychology with an emphasis in addiction treatment, and maintains a clinical practice.
J. Michael Sullivan, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist in Oregon and Washington. Dr. Sullivan is the Clinical Director at Evans and Sullivan Clinic in Beaverton, Oregon. He also maintains an active clinical practice.
Katie Evans and J. Michael Sullivan's previous publications include Dual Diagnosis: Counseling The Mentally Ill Substance Abuser, as well as numerous client workbooks, booklets, and videos. Dr. Sullivan and Ms. Evans are recognized nationally as outstanding presenters of both mental health and chemical dependency related topics, specializing in dual diagnosis issues.

Adult and adolescent survivors of childhood abuse and other traumas often struggle with addictive disorders, yet most helping professionals are ill equipped to deal with dual problems. Providing the tools professionals need to help this population, this book systematically integrates mental health paradigms with disease models of addiction and combines psychotherapeutic techniques with 12-step recovery practices. The result is an easy-to-replicate model for the effective assessment and treatment of this often difficult-to-treat population.
In often transfixingly painful detail, this book uses the extended composite clinical examples to demonstrate how to treat a particularly challenging population--addicted survivors of trauma and abuse, usually endured during childhood.
Current surveys suggest that the experience of childhood abuse in this country is rampant, approaching rates of 1 in 4 for women and 1 in 7 for men in the general population. Substance abuse or dependence is an important part of the clinical picture for a substantial proportion of these survivors. As the authors caution, "unless treatment deals with the chemical abuse or addiction, treatment of the person's survivor issues will most likely be ineffective. Conversely, treating only the addiction of individuals with serious survivor symptoms is also likely to be unsuccessful."
Bringing a wealth of clinical experience and an equal measure of compassion to bear, Evans and Sullivan offer an innovative synthesis of mental health paradigms, disease models of addiction, psychotherapeutic techniques, and 12-step recovery practices. The end result: a replicable five-stage model for assessment and treatment that addresses "the synergism of addiction and trauma."
For each stage--crisis, building skills, education, integration, and maintenance--Evans and Sullivan have developed goals (ranging from maintaining immediate safety and health in the crisis stage to maintaining recovery and preventing relapse in the maintenance stage)...indicators...and an extensive repertoire of interventions (safety contracts, counseling and groups, help in boundary setting, managing negative feelings, recovery materials and workbooks, desensitization therapy, healing ceremonies, grief work, and many more). Throughout the often long and difficult journey, whether in individual or group work, the motto is always "safety first."
Recent year have seen a tremendous growth in our ability to treat the person with either a history of childhood abuse or a a problem with chemical dependency. But not both. Treating Addicted Survivors of Trauma effectively fills that gap.

Emily S. Bennett

This book represents a valuable new resource for the diagnosis and treatment of survivors of childhood trauma who are also chemically dependent. The purpose is to provide an understandable, practical, and well-integrated model for the treatment of adults and adolescents dually diagnosed as survivors of childhood trauma and chemically dependent. Both 12-step recovery program principles and proven psychotherapeutic strategies are used to treat the individual and family. The book meets its overall objective to address this important and needed topic area. Intended for mental health and substance abuse professionals, the book will be a useful aid in the development and implementation of effective therapeutic strategies for the complex issues involved in resolution of childhood trauma and chemical dependency. The authors are very solid and credible in this area. The book includes numerous tables and clinical examples that greatly contribute to the summary and clarification of principles and therapeutic strategies. The references are extensive and up-to-date. The appendixes are especially useful in providing dual diagnosis assessment tools and concrete, specific, symptom-driven treatment guidelines. This is a very useful book for the mental health and substance abuse professional about how to effectively work with clients who present coexisting issues of surviving childhood trauma and chemical dependency, and with their families. The authors bring together mental health and developmental paradigms and the disease model of addiction in a comprehensive effort to fill the need that has existed on how to simultaneously deal with both the issues surrounding childhood trauma and chemicaldependency. The book provides an easy-to-implement and persuasive treatment model combining proven psychotherapeutic techniques with 12-step recovery program principles and practices. This book represents a significant addition to the effective treatment of a difficult client population.