Thursday 10 July 2014

How Counsellors Perform An Alcohol Assessment

By Rosella Campbell


The cases of alcoholism in Minneapolis, MN has been increasing a little bit since the last year. Now since the numbers have gone up, alcoholic counsellors have been more diligent when it comes to trying to treat the patients. Of course in order to do this, they have to give the patients an alcohol assessment.

Now there are three ways that counsellors would actually assess the alcoholism level of a person. Now these three methods are known as the Michigan Alcohol Screen Test or MAST, the cut down, annoyance, guilt, and eye opener test or CAGE test, and of course the tolerance, worried, eye openers, amnesia and cut down or TWEAK test. Counsellors may use any of these tests to know whether a person has a drinking problem or not.

The MAST, or the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test, is actually one of the oldest tests in the world and was create sometime during the very early twenties. Now this test is to allow the patient to assess himself whether he does have a drinking condition or not. Now the questions that would be asked would be about whether one would have problems with his personal life and how drinks play a factor.

Another method that can be used for evaluation would be the CAGE method which would stand for cut down, annoyance, guilt, and eye openers. The question would be about whether others have asked him to lessen drinking. The next one would ask whether one has been irritated when others would critic on his alcoholism. The next question would determine whether one is guilty when he drinks too much.

After that, there is also the TWEAK method which was built after the CAGE method so it is a bit more updated. Now the TWEAK method, just like the CAGE method, are a series of questions that would try to see as to how much the patient is suffering from his problem. Now this method would consist of just five questions that would give a proper assessment.

The T would first determine just how much alcohol one can consume before he cannot take it anymore. The W would determine if he knows whether there are others who are concerned about him. The E would determine whether the patient would have drinks first thing in the morning. The A would determine whether one would be having blackouts or amnesia. Lastly, the K would determine whether the patient has already had some thoughts of stopping.

Of course once the counsellor has already determined that the patient does have a problem, the counsellor will first refer him to a medical doctor to get a physical examination. It is best to find out first if there are any urgent health issue. That way, treatment can be given right away.

Of course while medical treatment is given, mental treatment is also given. The first thing one has to do is undergo detoxification and also some withdrawal effects because of it. Now after the process, one has to go back for regular psychotherapy so that his problem will not come back anymore.




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