Question

there is a difference between a mood disorder that a person is self treating by abusing substances versus mood disorder symptoms that are caused by the abuse of substance how might you distinguish between the two? some therapists will not treat a person who is abusing substances until he or she stops using the substances, while others believe you have to address the other issue to get the substance abuse to stop. if you are faced with a client who has a mood disorder and abuses alcohol, which issue do you think should be addressed first? why?

Answer 1

Mood disorder that a person is self treating by abusing substances	Mood disorder symptoms that are caused by the abuse of substance
a) Change in the behavior of a person who has a mood disorder and he uses abusing substances as a coping mechanism or to feel better	a) Change in the behavior of a person when he starts or stops taking a particular drug.
b) Mood disorder is the root cause of the situation here.	b) Abuse of substance is the root cause of situation here.

If I am faced with a client who has a mood disorder and abuses alcohol, I would first treat the patient’s mood disorder. This will lower the craving of the person for alcohol and will increase the overall outcome. The reason for doing this is because the person is using alcohol as a mechanism to cope up with his moods. The root cause here is not abusing alcohol but the mood disorder. If we deal with the root cause it will help the patient to get treated effectively.