Addiction as A ‘Soul Sickness’: The Influence of Client and Therapist Beliefs

The aim of this research was to carry out a small scale intensive study, describing the progress of clients through a Minnesota treatment programme. It is intended to give an insight into the process of treatment, change and maintenance of change, and to provide an understanding of individual and interpersonal processes taking place at the Centre. The ethnographic data gathered from Centre staff and forty clients as they passed through the treatment process allowed the examination of possible variables influencing different outcomes, giving an indication of why particular individuals ‘succeeded’ in treatment while others ‘failed’.This study has shown a relationship between the beliefs and theories of client and therapist on the one hand and successful outcome on the other. It is suggested that different theoretical components that both inform and partly constitute experiences of treatment should be evaluated in terms of their usefulness as therapeutic tools or ideologies. This has implications for effecti...