Substance Abuse Programs: 4 Key Evaluation Techniques

by Carol Diaz Medical Practitioner, Addiction Experts

Illegal substances like drugs and alcohol are frequently used as a means to self-medicate and weed out the rapidly mounting pressures and stresses of everyday life.

Rather than addressing the superficial symptoms of substance abuse and mental health disorders, it’s imperative to delve deeper and take stock of the components that drive the self-protective actions that are not effective for the addicted person any more. All that’s needed is a cosy space with lots of nurturing and not much of fault-finding.

Developing sound and healthy behaviours and thought processes that encourage self-care, joy, integrity and honesty are the key touchstones that can make you gain enough ground in your path towards recovery.

Here we cast an eye on four screening and evaluation techniques that create the foundation to attain the primary substance abuse treatment plan goals and objectives.

1. Drug and alcohol screenings

The assessment of an addiction in a substance abuse treatment plan will primarily take in multiple laboratory tests to find out the types of the substances present in your system. These screenings are essentially blood, urine or sputum tests. They determine the level of blood alcohol content (BAC) and the manifestations of a fair amount of prescription drugs and illicit substances.

2. Mental health evaluation

Nearly 50% of the addicted people receiving treatments under substance abuse programs also suffer from co-occurring mental health disorders. Alcoholics are estimated to be affected by chronic depression four times more than those who don’t indulge in alcohol abuse. That’s the reason why it’s crucial to include a component assessing the mental health into a substance abuse treatment in Chicago.

Some of the standard and commonly applied mental health evaluation tools comprise of the following:

1) ‘Mini-Mental State Examination’ (MMSE)

2) ‘Millon Clinical Multiaxial Personality Inventory – III’ (MCMI-III)

3) ‘Mental Health Screening Form-III’

4) ‘Symptom Distress Scale’ (SDS)

Mental health and holistic practitioners also employ the techniques of ‘Fifth Edition’ (DSM-5) and ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’ to assess the merit of the warning signs of mental health maladies and ascertain the requirement of a diagnosis.

3. Physical assessment

On numerous occasions, physical examinations are an integral part of the evaluations carried out in the substance abuse programs. They normally include measurement and analysis of body weight, blood pressure and overall health. They may also cover blood tests and a urinalysis.

Doctors will most likely scrutinize the dental health which is expected to be inferior in people with substance abuse. Checking for abrasions and infections on the skin in instances of intravenous drug abuse is also a regular probing object.

4. Self-harm screening

The propensities of self-inflicted injuries and risks of committing suicide also need to be gauged and addressed. Specialized screening instruments include the likes of ‘ASI and Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN) LOCUS’ which appraises the seriousness and magnitude of self-harm risks and decides the type of the relevant treatment and ‘ASAM PPC-2R’ which determines the immediate proximity of the self-harming behaviours.