A 20-year-old female presents with an addiction to Xanax. She started taking the drug without a prescription about a year ago and has since overdosed multiple times, losing her job, car, and family support as a result. She denies having a problem and refuses treatment. Her behavior shows signs of depression, denial, and lack of communication skills. Treatment options discussed include detox, counseling to address underlying issues, and referrals to residential treatment programs along with additional family support services.

1. Drug Addicts
PRESENTING INFORMATION
Drug addicts are humans suffering from a chronic disease due to
environmental or developmental factors. 20-year-old Female
presents addiction to drug Xanax, drug classification
Benzodiazepine. She is taking it without a prescription and
finds the drug through friends. States she started with one pill
then progressed to 3-4 pills for a better effect to make her feel
happy and forget about everything.
Female adult has overdosed and had seizures that resulted in
hospital admissions. She claims to take different colors because
that determines how strong the effect is, her addiction has
caused her to lose her job, car, and herself. Her Xanax abuse
has also caused her to lose her family because they feel
helpless. 20-year-old female also presents depression and
attempted suicide.
PROBLEM
20-year-old Female presents active addiction and refuses to get
help. She confirms consumption of Xanax’s on a daily basis to
help her feel better. She indicated she refuses to admit herself
in a rehab center where she will be away from society. She is
also scared to be away and lose contact with family and friends.
She admits getting easily annoyed when anyone talks to her
about addiction and triggers her to consume more.
20-year-old female states she doesn’t need rehab and that she is
not addicted. She confirms that she can stop consuming xans
whenever she pleases. She has also confirmed the last time she
took a Xanax was 2 weeks ago, but then she contradicted herself
and blindly confessed the last time she took one was yesterday.
POSSIBLE AREAS OF CONCERN
20-year-old female presents to get triggered behavior and upset

2. when her family offers help or speaks about addiction. She
states she doesn’t sleep much or has an appetite. She has also
experience auditory hallucinations, slurred speech, and tends to
forget many things. She feels emotionally and physically
attacked by everyone.
20-year-old female states there are days she feels very nervous
& shaky. There are days where she can be happy and there are
other days where she will feel angry. 20-year-old female also
states when she is on Xanax, she tends to go unconscious for
about an hour or so, and hard to be woken up. She confirms not
to remember what happened.
THEORY
20-year-old female shows a pattern of negativism when family
or others try to help with her addiction, she avoids the subject
and get upset. She seems to be going through a stage of denial
during a life crisis, as a result she’s refusing treatment. Erikson
used the term psychosocial crises to refer to turning points, or
crucial moments, in a person’s development, which contain
within them the potential for abnormal development and the
failure to reach one’s development (Kelland, 2015)
20-year-old female presents with depression and feeling of
sadness. Possible cause could have originated from a traumatic
event or childhood trauma that was suppress. She tends to be
guarded and doesn’t like to discuss the situation that might be
too painful for her. According to McLead, Freud found that
some events and desires were often too frightening or painful
for his patients to acknowledge, and believed such information
was locked away in the unconscious mind. (McLeod, 2018)
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
20-year-old female can undergo detox, although she might
experience withdrawal that might elevate her symptoms.
Different approaches can be done in order to recognize and
become familiar with her feelings. For example, as a counselor
help can be provided on different ways to express her anger

3. when addiction is mentioned to her, in a safe way. Showing her
encouragement and understanding about her feelings.
It is important to be patient and understand they have a drug
problem. 20-year- old female shows lack of communication, she
might be struggling with effective communication skills,
coming up with an action plan to help her express her emotions
better and not avoid the problem.
POSSIBLE RESOURCES
20-year-old will be provided services to detox first. Referral for
inpatient detox program would be best. Once patient has
completed full detox, she will be referred to a Residential
treatment program where she can benefit of trained addiction
professionals. If 20-year-old refuses residential program
Intensive outpatient program will be referred where she can
attend at least 3 times a week and she can benefit of other adults
who are going through recovery as well.
20-year-old female will also be provided additional resources
for herself and family such as Al-Anon because of family
feeling helpless. This helps the family better understand
behavior, addiction, and recovery from a different point of
view. Referral will also be provided for a psychiatric
consultation.
Reference
Kelland, Mark. “Personality Theory in a Cultural
Context.” OpenStax CNX, 4 Nov. 2015,
cnx.org/contents/[email protected]:[email protected]/Introductio
n-to-Personality.
Mcleod, Saul. “Sigmund Freud's Theories.” Sigmund Freud's
Theories | Simply Psychology, 2018,
www.simplypsychology.org/Sigmund-Freud.html.
Treatment, Center for Substance Abuse. “Chapter 2 Impact of

4. Substance Abuse on Families.” Substance Abuse Treatment and
Family Therapy., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Jan.
1970, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64258/.