Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Alcohol and Drug Use

From Dual Diagnosis to Well-Being

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Mental Health and Social Work

Part of the book series: Social Work ((SOWO))

  • 162 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter explores the interconnectivity of experiences of mental health and alcohol and other drug use. It initially sets out those critical starting points that contextualize this relationship. The chapter then explores these overlapping experiences through some examples of specific populations: adolescents and young persons, adulthood, and older people. It then introduces a framework for understanding these interconnectivities through the concept of well-being. This is then applied to three areas of understanding and proactiveness: promoting well-being, responding to crisis, and ongoing support. The chapter concludes with an exploration of some wider cultural, political, and social contexts, before identifying a number of key messages. These include considering that traditional models of treatment are better integrated by social workers into understandings of well-being, that alcohol and drug use is often a response to as much as a cause of other problems, and that people can and do change, frequently sustaining long-term recovery. The chapter espouses the legitimacy and effectiveness of social work in this area of practice.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Alcohol Learning Centre (2017) Identification tools. Public Health England, London. https://www.alcohollearningcentre.org.uk/Topics/Browse/BriefAdvice/SIPS/IdentificationTools/

    Google Scholar 

  • Alexander B (2010) The globalisation of addiction: a study in poverty of the spirit. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Babor TF, Higgins-Biddle JC, Saunders JB, Monteiro MG (2001) AUDIT, the alcohol use disorders identification test. World Health Organization, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Bancroft A (2009) Drugs, intoxication and society. Polity Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Beddoes D, Sheikh S, Khanna M, Prlat R (2010) The impact of drugs on different minority groups: a review of the UK literature. Part 1 ethnic groups. The UK Drugs Policy Commission, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentall RP (2009) Doctoring the mind: why psychiatric treatments fail. Allen Lane, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Christo G, Spurrell S, Alcorn R (2000) Validation of the Christo inventory for substance-misuse services (CISS): a simple outcome evaluation tool. Drug Alcohol Depend 59(2):189–197

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Copello A, Templeton L, Velleman R (2006a) Family interventions for drug and alcohol misuse: is there a best practice? Curr Opin Psychiatry 19(3):271–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Copello A, Williamson E, Orford J, Day E (2006b) Implementing and evaluating social behaviour and network therapy in drug treatment practice in the UK: a feasibility study. Addict Behav 31(5):802–810

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies J (2013) Cracked: why psychiatry is doing more harm than good. Icon, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of Health and Human Services (2017) The US opioid epidemic. Washington Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/index.html

  • DiClemente C (2006) Addiction and change: how addictions develop and addicted people recover. Guilford Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Garbare D (2015) Dual diagnosis: a report on prevalence, policy and management. Alcohol Forum, Letterkenny

    Google Scholar 

  • Gossop M (2013) Living with drugs, 7th edn. Ashgate, Farnham

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurcombe R, Bayley M, Goodman A (2010) Ethnicity and alcohol: a review of the literature. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York

    Google Scholar 

  • Independent Expert Working Group (2017) Drug misuse and dependence: UK guidelines on clinical management. Clinical guidelines on drug misuse and dependence update 2017. Department of Health, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Intuitive Recovery (2018) Homepage. https://www.intuitivethinkingskills.co.uk/intuitive-recovery

  • Keene J (2010) Understanding drug misuse, models of care and control. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lavoie D (2010) Alcohol identification and brief advice in England: a major plank in alcohol harm reduction policy. Drug Alcohol Rev 29(6):608–611

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leamy M, Bird V, Le Boutillier C, Williams J, Slade M (2011) Conceptual framework for personal recovery in mental health: systematic review and narrative synthesis. Br J Psychiatry 199(6): 445–452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindert J, Bain PA, Kubzansky LD, Stein C (2015) Well-being measurement and the WHO health policy Health 2010: systematic review of measurement scales. Eur J Public Health 25:731–740. First published online: 22 January 2015

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Livingston W (2013) ‘Not from a book’ – the acquisition of knowledge and its use in practice by social workers, with particular regard to alcohol. PhD thesis, Bangor University, Bangor

    Google Scholar 

  • Livingston W (2017) Death, grief and bereavement: relationships with alcohol and other drug use. In: Thompson N, Cox GR (eds) Handbook of the sociology of death, grief and bereavement: a guide to theory and practice. Routledge, New York, pp 224–236

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Livingston W, Galvani S (2014) Using evidence to inform working with people who misuse substances. In: Webber M (ed) Applying research evidence in social work practice. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, pp 156–169

    Google Scholar 

  • Livingston W, Thompson N (2016) Promoting well-being: crisis, loss and alcohol. Illness Crisis Loss 27:87. https://doi.org/10.1177/1054137316668640. Published Online 20 Sep 2016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Livingston W, Baker M, Atkins B, Jobber S (2011) A tale of the spontaneous emergence of a recovery group and the characteristics that are making it thrive: exploring the politics and knowledge of recovery. J Groups Addict Recover 6(1):176–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lorains FK, Cowlishaw S, Thomas SA (2011) Prevalence of comorbid disorders in problem and pathological gambling: systematic review and meta-analysis of population surveys. Addiction 106:490–498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lundahl BW, Kunz C, Brownell C, Tollefson D, Burke BL (2010) A meta-analysis of motivational interviewing: twenty-five years of empirical studies. Res Soc Work Pract 20(2):137–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Medley G, Lipari R, Bose J, Cribb D, Kroutil L, McHenry G (2016) Sexual orientation and estimates of adult substance use and mental health: results from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. NSDUH Data Review. https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/NSDUH-SexualOrientation-2015/NSDUH-SexualOrientation-2015/NSDUH-SexualOrientation-2015.htm

  • Megnin-Viggars O, Brown M, Marcus, M, Stockton S, Pilling S (2016) Coexisting severe mental illness and substance misuse: community health and social care services. Review 1: the epidemiology, and current configuration of health and social care community services, for people in the UK with a severe mental illness who also misuse substances. A systematic review. National Institute for Clinical Excellence, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller W, Rollnick S (2012) Motivational interviewing: helping people change, 3rd edn. Guilford Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Moselhy HF (2009) Co-morbid post-traumatic stress disorder and opioid dependence syndrome. J Dual Diagn 5(1):30–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2016) Coexisting severe mental illness and substance misuse: community health and social care services – National Guideline 58. NICE, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Neale J (2002) Drug users in society. Palgrave, Basingstoke

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • O’Donnell A, Anderson P, Newbury-Birch D, Schulte B, Schmidt C, Reimer J, Kaner E (2013) The impact of brief alcohol interventions in primary healthcare: a systematic review of reviews. Alcohol Alcohol 49(1):66–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orford J, Velleman R, Natera G, Templeton L, Copello A (2013) Addiction in the family is a major but neglected contributor to the global burden of adult ill-health. Soc Sci Med 78:70–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raistrick D, Heather N, Godfrey C (2006) Review of the effectiveness of treatment for alcohol problems, London, National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulte SJ, Meier PS, Stirling J (2011) Dual diagnosis clients’ treatment satisfaction – a systematic review. BMC Psychiatry 11:64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart T, Reilly R, Ward J (2018) Community-based interventions to address alcohol and drug use in indigenous populations in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. JBI Database Syst Rev Implement Rep 16(7):1485–1489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thorley A (1982) The effects of alcohol. In: Plant M (ed) Drinking and problem drinking. Junction Books, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Timpson H, Eckley L, Sumnall H, Pendlebury M, Hay G (2016) Once you’ve been there, you’re always recovering: exploring experiences, outcomes, and benefits of substance misuse recovery. Drugs Alcohol Today 16(1):29–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UK SMART Recovery (2018) Homepage. https://www.smartrecovery.org.uk/

  • Wadd S, Papadopoulos C (2014) Drinking behaviour and alcohol-related harm amongst older adults: analysis of existing UK datasets. BMC Res Notes 7:741. https://doi.org/10.1186/1756-0500-7-741

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wardle I (2009) Recovery and the UK drug treatment system: key dimensions of change. Lifeline Project Limited, Manchester

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler J, Hogg V (2011) Signs of safety and the child protection movement. In: Franklin C, Trepper T, McCollum E, Gingerich W (eds) Solution-focused brief therapy: a handbook of evidence-based practice. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • White WL (2009) The mobilization of community resources to support long-term addiction recovery. J Subst Abus Treat 36(2):146–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White WL (2014) The boundaries of recovery. http://www.williamwhitepapers.com/blog/2014/11/the-boundaries-of-recovery.html

  • Williams R (2014) Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and society. Fourth Estate, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu L-T, Blazer DG, Gersing KR, Burchet B, Swartz MS, Mannelli P (2013) Comorbid substance use disorders with other Axis I and II mental disorders among treatment-seeking Asian Americans, native Hawaiians/Pacific islanders, and mixed-race people. J Psychiatr Res 47(12):1940–1948

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zinberg N (1986) Drug, set and setting: the basis for controlled intoxicant use. Yale University Press, New Haven

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Reader in Social Sciences, Glyndwr University, Plas Coch Campus, Mold Road, Wrexham LL11 2 AW Wales, UK

    Wulf Livingston

Authors
  1. Wulf Livingston
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wulf Livingston .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapur, Singapore

    Rosaleen Ow

  2. University New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Abner Weng Cheong Poon

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Livingston, W. (2020). Alcohol and Drug Use. In: Ow, R., Poon, A. (eds) Mental Health and Social Work. Social Work. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0440-8_12-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0440-8_12-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-0440-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-0440-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation