Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals

Alcoholism is an addiction/disease that may start out just by drinking with friends on the weekends socially. The general alcoholic is one whom starts drinking socially and then recognizes that they are unable to stop like some of their friends. Eventually they begin to develop a tolerance and have to actually drink more to feel the same feelings the felt before. Once they realize they are becoming an alcoholic is when they actually start drinking alone or think that they have to drink just to study for tests. The disease/addiction is telling them they have to study under the influence because the definitely don't make better grades by studying. Most of the time these alcoholics are in denial and it takes something “bad” happening before they realize they have a problem. The Biopsychosocial model uses biological, psychological, and social aspects to understanding the cause of alcoholism. It is the most widely used model by treatment researchers because it is the best model to explain the nature of addiction by understanding the causes of all aspects that may have led someone to become an alcoholic. When trying to treat an alcoholic, it is vital that we understand the actual cause that led them to become an alcoholic. There are many underlying factors that must be examined because if we don't understand the cause that one particular person is an alcoholic than how are we able to treat them. There are many pathways that can lead a person to becoming an alcoholic. Some examples are; genetic predisposition, emotional or psychological factors, alcoholism in the family, and repeated exposure to people who socially drink. It is crucial to understanding the main cause of what lead a person to becoming an alcoholic so that we are able to better treat the person to get off alcohol completely. If we don't know the underlying cause how in the world can we treat them? The first factor in determining the cause of how they became an alcoholic would be, for the