Women With Substance Use Disorder

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Canvas Assignment 5

Part I

1. Name one concept, theory, topic, or research finding that you learned from this week's reading material. You are to provide the page number and reference from which you retrieved this information.

The topic I learned about from this week's chapter is co-occurring disorders. Butler-Moroko & Grant discuss this topic in Feminist Perspective on Social Work Practice on pages 183-184. This is an important topic given that many women with substance use disorders (SUDs) have higher rates of other mental health difficulties that could affect treatment outcomes and approaches (2018).

2. Provide a background of the concept, topic, or research, and the importance of this information to social work practice with children and adolescents.

Co-occurring disorders are described as disorders that happen simultaneously as the SUD but are not directly caused by the SUD (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). These disorders can be anxiety disorders, depression, mood disorders, and food-related disorders. Butler-Moroko & Grant stated that these disorders show a prevalence of up to 30% higher in people with SUDs (2018). This concept is essential when working with children and adolescents when looking at SUD predicting factors and possible support that may be needed by a professional, but also when looking at intervention options for children. Children exposed to trauma like abuse or maltreatment are at higher risk for SUDs and other mental health disorders (National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare, 2021). If a social worker can give proper support and intervention, there is a chance that their risk decreases, and interventions can be more effective. This idea is also why it is imperative to consider the client as a whole. Biopsychosocial factors of childhood can have an immense impact on the adult individual and their life.

3. You are expected to expand, challenge, or answer questions raised in a posting of at least two peers. You are to read at least two initial posts completed by your classmates and react to their posts in no less than 50 words.

Part II

Select and read an academic peer-reviewed journal article on women and substance use disorders. You can also select a specific topic from module five readings and provide a journal article on that topic. Provide a summary of the article to your peers, emphasizing what you learned and what your "takeaway" was from this article. How will the information from this article benefit you when working with children and/or adolescents? You must provide the article as a file attachment to your post.

Kahl et al. describe their research findings. They found that women with a history of abuse and neglect in childhood can have differing psychopathology, including post-traumatic stress disorder with a co-occurring SUD. They found that one possible way to treat these co-occurring disorders would be focusing on the mechanisms of emotional regulation as a form of coping with these disorders in the hopes that it will reduce negative symptoms (2020). My primary takeaway from this article is the importance of looking at the client as a whole. This complicated and unique being deserves to be heard when speaking about more than just the issues in the current moment. Although the client may be exhibiting a SUD or other disorder, talking about their childhood trauma and feelings can significantly affect the picture the social workers see. Without empathy and a client-centered practice, a social worker might not help them with their current issues because they are not willing to delve into the client's past. This idea is essential when working with children and adolescents because the social worker can listen to perhaps what other professionals would deem as "irrelevant material" to understand what the child is going through. This empathy would allow the social worker to develop better an intervention suited to the young client and help identify where intervention might help.

**Attach link to article here**

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