Case Study: The Addiction Severity Index

Completing a full history of the client helps the clinician to understand when and how the problem derives. Often a clinician completes a biopsychosocial exam within the first session with the client (Masiak, 2013). The biopsychosocial is used to learn more about the client as a generalization tool and does not focus on the problem area (McLaren, 2009). In Alexia’s case, she suffers with multiple addictions. The social worker at the Chattard Center for Addictive Disorders decides to use other assessments to farther determine the severity of her problem. The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) is used to assesses the severity of problems. It reviews the person’s life history as well as the last thirty days in seven problem areas: medical, employment/support, alcohol use, drug use, illegal activity, family relations, and psychiatric condition (Shah et. Al, 2015). ASI has been the most common used tool in a substance abuse setting since its development in 1980 …show more content…
In Alexia’s case, an additional assessment must be done because researcher found that “ASI is not a useful predictor of treatment, specifically in samples of cocaine-dependent individuals” (Shah et. Al, 2015). To further identify the severity of Alexia’s addiction to cocaine (crack), the social worker at the Chattard Center for Addictive Disorders uses the Cocaine Selective Severity Assessment (CSSA). CSSA evaluate the withdraw symptoms that can occur among cocaine dependence (de los Cobos, 2014). The results of a 12-week clinical trial showed that “treatment with sertraline delays relapse in cocaine use in cocaine-dependent patients presenting with depression symptoms” (Oliveto et al., 2012). This is very important in Alexia case because reports having mild depression. An overview of Alexia Biopsychosocial exam can be found below and a copy can be found in appendix two. The ASI and CSSA can also be found in the appendix three and