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Drug Avoidance Skills
In order to stop abusing cocaine or any drug,
patients need to learn which people, places, and things stimulate the
desire for cocaine and how to either avoid or cope with them. CRA +
Vouchers teaches patients three interrelated ways to accomplish this:
Functional Analysis
All patients are trained in functional analysis in
the early stages of treatment. Its purpose is to help them understand
their drug use so they can effectively problem solve for ways to reduce
the probability of cocaine use. The approach described here is based on
the work of Miller and Munoz (1982) and McCrady (1985). Functional
analysis is used throughout treatment as needed. For example, if cocaine
use occurs, therapists should encourage patients to analyze these events
to determine how to avoid using in similar situations in the future.
Therapists should instruct patients on the concepts
and procedures concerning functional analysis.
"We are going to focus on what is called a
functional analysis of your cocaine habit. It is the first step in
developing control over out-of-control behavior. Your cocaine use is
triggered by certain events, situations, and feelings, and maintained
by short- and long-term consequences. Therefore, it is important that
you begin by analyzing your pattern of cocaine use. Once you have
learned to analyze your use, you will know how to rearrange your
environment - the triggers and consequences - and how to engage in
positive alternatives to cocaine or other drug use so that you can
achieve total abstinence from cocaine. When you have completed this
process, you will have taken a large step toward beating your cocaine
problem."
"There are four important points to keep in mind as
you learn how to do a functional analysis of your cocaine use."
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Other people with drug problems like yours have
been able to learn ways to stop using cocaine.
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It is important to begin thinking of your cocaine
use as something that you have learned to do. Understanding exactly
how your cocaine problem got started is not always necessary for
learning how to stop using. Blaming other persons or events for the
problem also does not help. What is important is that you begin to
view your cocaine abuse as a problem that you can do something about.
In other words, you are responsible for your own behavior.
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The goal of this treatment program is to help you
learn how to stop using cocaine and how to live a drug-free lifestyle.
You will get the most benefit from our program if we can help you stop
your cocaine use early so we can focus on helping you make other
lifestyle changes that will promote long-term abstinence from cocaine.
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However, if you use cocaine during treatment, it is
important that you do not view it as a failure. It is common for
persons trying to stop their cocaine use to have slips. We will use
these instances to help you understand more about your cocaine use so
you can more effectively learn to stop using completely. In other
words, you want to figure out what happened in that situation and how
you can prevent it from happening again in similar situations.
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It will be important for you to work on these new
skills between sessions. Learning and practicing new skills and
behaviors is necessary; talking about making changes is not enough to
deal effectively with such a difficult problem as cocaine dependence."
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