Come As You Are: Acceptance, Alliance and Limits in Harm Reduction Psychotherapy with Substance Users

Milet, R.C.M. (Rene)¹, Leibowitz, A. (Amy)², López-Castro, T. (Teresa)³, McGirr, K. (Kevin)⁴, Vakharia, Ph.D., LMSW, SPV Dr. (Sheila)^5
1Boston, MA, Verenigde Staten
²Oakland, CA, Verenigde Staten
³The City College of New York, CUNY, New York, NY, Verenigde Staten
⁴University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA, Verenigde Staten
⁵Long Island University, New York, NY, Verenigde Staten

 

Submission type

Oral only

Scheduled

Parallel Session V: Derkinderen kamer, 09-06-2018, 09:00 - 10:30

Kernwoorden

Substance use, therapeutic alliance

Onderzoeksgebied

Novel (therapeutic) approaches

Introductie

The purpose of this study was to characterize the core components or active ingredients of harm reduction psychotherapy as expressed by its chief pioneers and proponents.

Materiaal en methodes

The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with eight pioneering practitioners of HRT, selected by snowball sampling. Using a grounded theory approach to analysis, transcripts were coded with the aid of Atlas.ti qualitative data analysis software to generate sensitizing concepts, noting both convergence and divergence. Theoretical memos complemented the process of coding, and team members elaborated further in the course of twice-monthly meetings by web.

Resultaten

Harm reduction psychotherapy pioneers have developed ways of working with patients to discover how the patient’s complex relationship to substances may serve as a tool for leveraging agency, change, and flourishing. The therapeutic alliance permits the staging of a theater within which transference, care, and even the therapist’s fears can be constructively enacted.

Conclusie

Harm reduction psychotherapists, working on the supposition that substance use itself may already represent a form (however problematic) of self-care, have found ways to establish alliances spacious enough for deep inquiry, pragmatic coaching, and exploration of conflict. These methods may be of broad applicability to the vast spectrum of problematic and compulsive human behaviors.

Auteurs