Case Studies
Seven Case Studies of People with Substance Abuse Problems

ABOUT THE CASE STUDIES:
These case studies are a collaborative effort. The Josiah Macy Foundation in New York City published the original studies. John DeDomenico, Head Counselor of the Haight-Ashbury Detox Clinic edited the studies and created questions to make the studies more pertinent for our readers.

We are presenting case studies in this web site so students may become more familiar with case histories. Case histories are designed to help counselors test their ability to think their way through situations involving drug abusers and addicts. This allows them to make tentative assessments of the patients and eventually to make responsible suggestions for treatment plans and goals. It is a way to see if the knowledge and skills the student has learned in school and from reading the chapters in this textbook can now be applied in a hypothetical case setting. The cases themselves are composites of actual client cases or events.

Even if you are not in a counseling program, it is still valuable to examine the case studies and try to answer the questions. This can give an appreciation of the complexity of assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.

All the names of the actual cases have been changed and only first names are used. Any relations to actual people or events are purely coincidental.

PDF File: Case Studies.pdf