The present case discussion focuses on Xavier’s struggles with opioid addiction, coping methods, and possible interventions to improve his adaptation. The client is a divorced thirty-two-year-old part-time landscaper exhibiting various biological, psychological, and social features worth consideration during the intervention. The following is a summary of his biopsychosocial features as captured in the embedded diagram.
Biological Features
Xavier has a broken family involving a wife, son, and daughter. He entered into the marriage significantly early in life, before twenty-three years. Having a family early pushed Xavier to engage in multiple jobs, leading to his chronic back injury. A friend introduced Percocet to Xavier as a remedy for chronic back pain. The victim also has supportive parents willing to help him overcome substance addiction and dependence. Moreover, Xavier reported and depicted several biological issues during the evaluation period. Such problems included a diarrhea spell, enlarged pupils, sweating, and piloerection, signs of opioid withdrawal (Hasin & Larson, 2021). The patient was also irritable and unhappy, while his legs and arms twitched frequently. Xavier’s family never exhibits a history of substance addiction, according to his report.
Psychological Traits
Xavier leads an isolated life due to a lack of a family and a stable home. He often sleeps in his car or sequestered establishments because he cannot afford rent. The victim is also a loner who stays mostly unhappy because of his situation. Xavier further lives with back pain that requires drugs to go away, pushing him to take more and more doses of opioids. He also tried cocaine at some point to suppress the pain and realize a ‘high’ before getting back to heroin. Stress from his broken family and parents’ pressure also exposes him to substantial psychological duress. Xavier struggles with managing his finances as he spends the little that he gets from the part-time job to buy drugs. The lack of a stable job also causes real pressure on Xavier, who engages in stealing and coning to get money for drugs. Other psychological issues that the victim faces include pressure from the employer to quit drugs and the possible alcohol abuse on missing the opioids.
Social Aspects
Xavier has a part-time landscaping boss with NA experience and can benefit significantly from him. The patient further appears unkempt mostly but is generally cooperative. He also denies suicidality, homicidality, and psychotic indications. Xavier fears jail and is happy to be in custody. However, he is disturbed that community members hate him, pushing him to be friends mainly with drug addicts. Being disconnected with wife and children, failing to comply with the NA principles, and the lack of a permanent home also add to the key social issues troubling Xavier. Nonetheless, the victim misses being a better employee and a real father to his children.
Competence
Several aspects depict significant hope that Xavier can overcome the addiction problem through proper intervention. For example, the patient exhibits high hopes for a sober life and is motivated for the counseling aid. Moreover, Xavier is hardworking and talented, as shown by his ability to do multiple jobs to support his family before the injury. Continuing part-time jobs despite chronic back pain and addiction, together with the use of withdrawal drugs, also depict intervention optimism. Lastly, Xavier is hopeful that the present counseling intervention will work despite the several failed intermediations in the past.
Assessment
The assessment diagnoses Xavier with severe opioid use disorder based on the collected symptoms. Signs such as craving, tolerance, and withdrawal struggles show the patient’s full spectrum of compulsive opioid abuse (McCabe et al., 2017). Addiction to opioids costs the patient his family, job, finances, independence, and freedom. His past trials to seek rehabilitation services did not help end the problem. According to him, maintaining a job and becoming a real father are his two primary goals, which he says are achievable by availing Suboxone to him.
References
Hasin, D. S., & Larson, F. R. (2021). Substance use disorder diagnoses in DSM-5. The American Psychiatric Association Publishing Textbook of Substance Use Disorder Treatment, 47. Web.
McCabe, S. E., West, B. T., Jutkiewicz, E. M., & Boyd, C. J. (2017). Multiple DSM‐5 substance use disorders: A national study of US adults. Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental, 32(5), e2625. Web.