Uses of Coercion in Addiction Treatment: Clinical Aspects, Essay Example

The article entitled “Uses of Coercion in Addiction Treatment: Clinical Aspects” provides an explanation of the use of coercion or involuntary treatment therapies for addiction. The article offers fundamental insights into the way addiction disorders can be treated through coercive tactics. It is clear that this type of treatment can be challenging because it raises a various legal, ethical, philosophical, political, as well and clinical issues. For example, in the United States, employing coercive treatments on patients with addiction disorders are carried out by clinicians under very specific, circumscribed circumstances. The authors recommend that there is currency in applying coercive care if done effectively, so health care experts must acknowledge the techniques, indications, benefits, as well as liabilities, that are intrinsically linked to vital clinical modalities. The authors further contend that coercive treatment has hitherto not received the attention it needs, and it lacks the necessary support due to the fact that society perceives substance abuse as a form of weakness of will or illness and this attaches pejorative stigma to substance abusers (Sullivan et al., 2008). Extant literature confirms that coercive treatment has the potential to be a highly efficient treatment methodologies for persons suffering from addiction disorders in addition a need for medical personnel to embrace and undertake further more conclusive research. Clinicians have the duty to compassionate and very careful when administering this type of therapy to high-risk patients.

As a scholarly article, there are several aspects that render it a sound component and contribution to extant literature on treating substance abusers. First, it cogent outlines avenues for future research on coercive treatment for addiction disorders, thereby acknowledging the limitations in this study. The authors made a concerted effort to base the proffered arguments on available literature and studies rather than on conjecture, which is significant because researchers can use this study as a foundation for exploring this clinical aspect in a nuanced manner. In addition, this article also uses previous studies and scholarly research that provide ample information with regards to the treatment methods for substance abuse. It bases is conclusions using scientific evidence in order to offer a clear understanding on the topic (Sullivan et al., 2008). Furthermore, the article uses various case studies that support the various hypotheses that the authors postulate in a clear manner. Thirdly, the article is cogently organized into sections that present different sub-topics, which makes it easy to understand and envision the flow of ideas introduced by the authors. However, as with all scholarly articles in evolving fields of inquiry, the article contains some drawbacks.  It does not contain studies that fully support the main arguments, which detracts from the currency of the authors’ work. The study should have used past studies on the topic to support the topic. Second, the article does not offer compelling statistics to underscore the facts by the authors.

In my opinion, I believe that the use of coercion treatment among the addicted persons has not received the needed support because the development of sound policies, as well as treatment practices, has been hindered by several limitations of the research that have been conducted to date. If there was adequate research finding the treatment could have received support in the clinicians. Also, there are numerous legal, political, social, and ethical issues that surround the treatment method that need to be addressed by all the stakeholders. I believe that there is the need to incorporate client views on coercion along with the implications for applying and interpreting the available research results. Collaborative efforts are necessary in order for the efficacy of this type of treatment to manifest. Therefore, the synthesis of the existing studies on compulsive treatment among the addicted persons remains greatly unclear on what degree that it may have unfavorable effects to the treatment process and victims. Thus, I agree that comprehensive research must be undertaken in this area to eliminate the uncertainties that surround the treatment method. Coercive treatment can be used through legal means to enable drug addicts to undergo counseling. Doing so would motivate a substance abusers to accept counseling practices.

References

Levine, S. (2010). What you should know before you LLC. Business Insider. Retrieved October 12, 2015 from