Return to counseling basics

The first speaker at a major conference on addiction says newer treatment approaches often aren't better for patients.

Counselors need to get back to basics to help people stop abusing drugs and alcohol, according to an expert who spoke today to kick off a national conference on addiction.

While studies have shown programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous work, some therapists look to newer approaches such as acupuncture, boot camps and long individual talk sessions, said Delbert Boone, a New York-based consultant who also is a recovering addict.

"It's amazing how complicated we've made things," Boone said. "Here we are hunting, trying to hunt something new."

Between that, coddling abusers too much, ignoring the role of drugs and alcohol in many social problems and bickering over what services are most important, he added, "We do so many things to handcuff ourselves, it's incredible."

More than 900 counselors from programs across the country are at the College of William and Mary this week for the 2006 Virginia Summer Institute for Addiction Studies. The annual conference, in its fifth year, is organized and sponsored by a number of state and private organizations that work with addicts.

This year's featured topics are methamphetamine abuse, the growth of gangs, drug use by teenagers and the challenges of re-entering society after getting sober.

"The Commonwealth and the whole country need cutting-edge skills and techniques in the substance abuse treatment field," said Ron Pritchard, head of addiction medicine at Portsmouth Naval Hospital and faculty chairman for this year's conference. "It's too big and important a problem not to develop those."

Locally, heroin, cocaine and marijuana remain the three most commonly abused drugs, Pritchard said. But use of methamphetamine - a highly addictive stimulant made in illegal laboratories - prescription drugs and over-the-counter cough syrups and herbal supplements is growing, he said. So is recognition that the best treatment plans involve all members of a family, not just the addict.

That was one point made by Boone, the president of a consulting and training firm that works with jails, schools and law enforcement staff nationwide. He has been sober for more than 20 years, after using alcohol, cocaine and heroin and serving four prison terms.

Boone said his counselors were successful because they didn't pity him or let him say no to their treatment plans. That approach goes against the idea of waiting for people to be "ready" to help themselves. Today's programs also tend to stress individual counseling sessions that play into addicts' ability to explain away their problems, he said.

"We nowadays try to talk a dope fiend into getting well," he said. "We're working ourselves harder than the client."

Some of his tips:

Combine proven group programs - which include plenty of listening, reading assignments and homework for participants - with detoxification, rehabilitation and outpatient therapy.

Be more aware of how often alcohol or drug abuse is to blame for tragedies such as car crashes, violent crimes, suicide and child abuse.

Don't assume that the best counselors are recovering addicts themselves. Once learned, the symptoms of a problem are easy to spot.

Look for positive traits in patients. The best counselors know how to build people up after breaking them down.

Daily Press