1. Overview, Interpretation, and Reasoning
This writings about drug abuse counseling and the role of Twelve-Step Facilitation linked with (TSF) is originally created by Joseph Nowinski. Twelve Step Facilitation is a short, disciplined, and manually driven solution to promoting early rehabilitation from dependency and other opioid addictions. It is focused on mental, moral, and emotional values that shape the foundation of 12-step residencies such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. It is meant to be applied on a personal level in 12 to 15 stages. It is appropriate for heavy drinkers as well as other opioid consumers, as well as others who are addicted to alcohol or other drugs.
1.2 the Approach’s Priorities and Outcomes
Acceptance of the necessity for withdrawal from alcohol or other drugs and resignation, or the desire to engage voluntarily in 12-step residencies about drug abuse counseling as a way of maintaining sobriety, are two common aims that Twelve Step Facilitation attempts to promote in people with alcohol or other addiction issues. These priorities are further subdivided into a set of cognitive, mental, relationship, mental, social, and moral targets.
1.3 Theoretical Rationale or Action Mechanism
The theoretical rationale is founded on Alcoholics Anonymous 12 steps about drug abuse counseling, and it involves accepting that self-control alone is insufficient for long-term abstinence, that ego must be balanced by submission to the community consciousness, and that lengthy healing is a personal renewal project. Active commitment and a desire to recognize a greater authority as the source of transformation in one’s existence are the main mechanisms of intervention.
1.4 Change Agents
In the Twelve Step Facilitation therapy model about drug abuse counseling, the coordinator is more accurately defined as a change mediator than as a change agent. Thriving membership in 12-step residencies such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, as well as the values outlined in the 12 steps and 12 traditions that govern these fellowships, are the real agents of transformation, for example, lifelong abstinence.
1.5 Substance Addiction or Drug Abuse: Conceptualization and Direct Causal Factors
Alcohol abuse and other opioid addictions are diseases that damage people’s minds and bodies to the point where they can’t regulate their consumption of alcohol or other substances. As seen in this light, the idea of safe consumption of alcohol or other substances equates to ignorance of the primary issue, namely, lack of power. Acknowledgment of both the lack of power and the desire for abstinence, as well as a commitment to pursue the 12-step course related to Drug Abuse Counseling, are more important factors in rehabilitation than potential causative causes.
2. Comparison to Other Drug Abuse Counseling Methods
2.1 Consultation Methodologies that Are Most Comparable
Twelve Step Facilitation about drug abuse counseling is based on Daniel J. Anderson’s Minnesota Model, which is seen in the majority of Alcoholics Anonymous focused recovery services. Such models believe that dependency can be interrupted but not healed, adhere to the Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous ideology, which is based on a mix of faith and idealism, and promote peer intervention as the main method of maintaining long-term sobriety, as outlined in Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous literary works.
2.2 Consultation Methodologies Having the Most Distinctive Differences
In terms of basic care objectives, any policy that promotes supervised usage of alcohol or other substances as opposed to sobriety is radically different from Twelve-Step Facilitation. As it comes to the belief that peer intervention is essential to treatment, CBTs related to drug abuse counseling that is focused around the premise that excessive drinking as well as other substance usage are caused by a lack of anger control capabilities and seek to improve conflict management and relapse prevention vary from Twelve-Step Facilitation. Twelve Step Facilitation also believes that dependence and other opioid addictions are key diagnoses, rather than signs of another condition, for example, anxiety, lack of interest in social activities.
3. Presentation or Format
3.1 Treatment Methodologies
Twelve Step Facilitation about drug abuse counseling was created to be used in short-term person therapy, although it has been modified for use in a community setting. One component of Twelve Step Facilitation is designed to be applied in tandem with a considerable other.
3.2 the Perfect Treatment Setting
Twelve Step Facilitation has been chiefly utilized in the form of outpatient therapy to date. Still, it has been used for people who have never undergone rehabilitation before as well as others who have already had inpatient treatment which is also known as aftercare patients. The paradigm is adaptable enough to satisfy all of these customer classes since it includes both central and elective services. Twelve-Step Facilitation, on the other hand, will be less effective in an inpatient environment because it depends primarily on participant participation in society-based 12-step sessions. Twelve Step Facilitation is simple to incorporate into a general outpatient behavioral health clinic environment.
3.3 Treatment Timeframe
Twelve Step Facilitation is a time-limited, manually operated activity. It is planned to be completed in 12 to 15 sessions over the course of 12 weeks. Patients with non-alcohol opioid misuse can be seen two times a week during the first three weeks. The initial evaluation takes about an hour and a half, and subsequent sessions can last about an hour.
3.4 Compatibility of Some Medical Treatments
Twelve Step Facilitation about drug abuse counseling should be used in conjunction with compassionate pharmacotherapy in the treatment of alcoholism and other opioid addictions. Although Twelve Step Facilitation recognizes that most heavy drinkers and other opioid consumers have many coping issues (e.g., relationship strife, family dysfunction), it recommends prioritizing early treatment and delaying most other interventions if possible before the person has reached about 6 months of sobriety. A debilitating illness or other significant affective disorders, as well as psychotic disorders, will be the key exceptions to this recommendation and will take priority over Twelve-Step Facilitation. Treatments dependent on the concept of supervised usage are incompatible with Twelve-Step Facilitation.
3.5 Self-Help Programs: What Are They and How Do They Work?
Twelve Step Facilitation related to Drug Abuse Counseling places a premium on participation in self-help groups and is seen as the main driver of transformation. Attending 90 Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings in 90 days, obtaining and utilizing participants’ phone numbers, obtaining a patron, and taking on roles within a meeting are all specific Twelve Step Facilitation in relation with Drug Abuse Counseling goals.
4. Characteristics and Training of Counselors
4.1 Prerequisites for Education
Twelve Step Facilitation takes a significant professional ability to execute correctly, despite the fact that it is manual driven. The desire to remain centered, sustain structure throughout each session, and participate in positive conflict are all issues that need to be addressed through implementation. As a result, potential moderators should have a master’s degree (or equivalent) in a drug abuse counseling area and 1,000 hours of supervised drug abuse counseling practice as a minimum requirement for expertise in Twelve-Step Facilitation.
4.2 Experience, Qualifications, and Training
Professional prerequisites for administering Twelve Step Facilitation will include:
- A master’s degree in marital and family therapy.
- A master’s degree in social care.
- A doctoral degree in clinical psychology.
Although having a qualification as alcohol or other substance addiction specialist is advantageous, it cannot replace basic professional qualifications. In addition, moderators can handle a minimum of two full cases (each with a minimum of eight sessions) under observation before trying to administer Twelve Step Facilitation unsupervised.
4.3 the Recovery Status of The Counselor
Twelve Step Facilitation moderators should not have to be in recovery themselves. Every serious Twelve Step Facilitation moderator, on the other hand, may have studied all of the Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous material that patients would be required to read and should be at least acquainted with Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon meetings from personal experience (minimum of six meetings each). Furthermore, it is not advisable for apparent purposes that a moderator whose own views are incompatible with Twelve-Step Facilitation’s primary objectives (e.g., abstinence, constructive participation in 12-step fellowships) attempt to incorporate this model.
4.4 Counselor Personal Characteristics that Are Ideal
The strongest Twelve Step Facilitation moderators blend a solid working knowledge of 12-step theory and the practicalities of being involved in 12-step fellowships with excellent working knowledge of standard Rogerian nonspecific, patient-centered coping abilities, like unconditional positive regard and exceptional active listening abilities. The ideal Twelve Step Facilitation moderator will keep the session on track without straying too far from the original topic while still retaining rapport. The Twelve Step Facilitation moderator builds a working partnership with the customer and employs positive, nonpunitive conflict.
4.5 Counselors Are Expected to Behave in Such a Way
The Twelve Step Facilitation moderator would support the participant in the following ways:
- Evaluate his or her consumption of alcohol or other drugs and encourage abstinence.
- Describe the fundamentals of the 12-step program, for example, accept the conditions, greater power.
- Drug Abuse Counseling for newcomers to Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous and vigorously endorse and encourage their participation.
- Encourage participants to be involved, for example, getting a sponsorship.
- Suggestions and discussions of particular readings from the Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous literature are welcome.
- If the customer has a SO, schedule two correlational appointments.
- Assist the individual in how to turn to Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous for help in times of need, as well as to encourage and celebrate their sobriety.
- Assist the consumer in developing an initial interpretation of more complex principles such as ethical inventory management if time permits.
- Have a termination consultation with the participant to help him or her objectively evaluate his or her success in the program.
4.6 Counselor Behaviours Are Prohibited
The Twelve Step Facilitation moderator should not: Lead meetings with a customer who is inebriated.
- Assist the customer in attending Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous sessions.
- Assume the position of a supporter.
- Threaten retaliation if they do not comply.
- Encourage people to drink in moderation or consume other substances in moderation.
- Allow drug abuse counseling to stray too far into unrelated topics, such as marriage or organizational dispute.
4.7 Suggestions for Supervision
Since Twelve Step Facilitation necessitates a high degree of professional competence and the ability to retain concentration, it is advised that the moderator regularly engages in continuous collegial monitoring, which involves evaluation of audio recorded or filmed meetings, in addition to the specific clinical training cited earlier.
The objectives of such surveillance, in general, should be to:
- Assist the moderator as far as possible.
- Determine the goals and content of the procedure, for example, central vs. particularly selected topics.
- Assist the moderator in reducing the amount of time he or she spends drift
Superintendents should have at least two years of supervision experience in general drug abuse counseling, be acquainted with Twelve Step Facilitation and Alcoholics Anonymous theory in general, have previously performed Twelve Step Facilitation and other manually-guided interventions, and be thoroughly familiar with all facets of the model.
5. the Relationship Between the Patient and The Counselor
5.1 What Is the Role of The Counselor?
In Twelve Step Facilitation about drug abuse counseling, the moderator’s position encompasses education and activism, encouragement and advice, empathy and inspiration, among other things. Any of these general targets are further broken down into a set of concrete rules or objectives. Monitoring patient participation in Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous, for example, urging patients to volunteer for essential service work, finding suitable social activities for the patient to attend, discovering appropriate gatherings, and clarifying the position of a sponsor are all examples of encouragement and help.
5.2 Who Had the Most Conversations?
In a successful Twelve Step Facilitation session, both patients and moderators chat about the same stuff. Since Twelve Step Facilitation is an active activity, moderators who are inactive can struggle to sustain concentration or achieve simple objectives. Simultaneously, Twelve Step Facilitation performance is contingent on tracking patient behavior and responses, which necessitates active patient participation in sessions.
5.3 What Is the Counselor’s Degree of Directiveness?
Twelve Step Facilitation is oriented, comparable to many cognitive-behavioral therapies, and allows the moderator to be equally directive while retaining good rapport. The moderator of the Twelve Step Facilitation is commanding in the following ways:
The aim of drug abuse counseling is to help you get back on your feet as soon as possible. Even if other topics (such as relationship or job problems) are essential, the moderator does not enable the emphasis to shift to them. Other questions are validated, and the moderator assists the individual in developing a comprehensive recovery strategy to address them while keeping Twelve Step Facilitation in view. The responses of patients to tasks and sessions are highly valued. Twelve Step Facilitation requires the coordinator to ask the patient for detailed input.
Each Twelve Step Facilitation session focuses on a particular subject (core, elective, or conjoint) and follows a specific agenda. Since a given subject will need more than one session to discuss, and although the moderator must be somewhat pragmatic with his or her objectives, the moderator must still be in possession of the material and rhythm of the meetings. Each Twelve Step Facilitation meeting meets a predetermined structure, which the moderator is responsible for adhering to. Once more, there is some leeway, but the moderator should not simply obey the patient’s instructions. At the conclusion of each Twelve Step Facilitation session, the moderator makes clear recommendations to the participant rehabilitation tasks. Furthermore, the moderator is required to give clear recommendations during care (for example, which sessions to attend, how to apply for a sponsor).
5.4 Therapeutic Partnership
The moderator of Twelve Step Facilitation is regarded as a specialist in interpersonal therapy methods as well as an expert in the values and practices of 12-step residencies. On the other hand, the coordinator is not used as the primary agent of transformation in Twelve-Step Facilitation; nevertheless, the 12-step community (Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous) is seen as the prominent inspirational leader. As a result, the Twelve Step Facilitation moderator should think about therapy as the result of a joint approach. He or she should take accountability for doing everything possible to build that mutual understanding. The moderator’s aim, though, is not to break down the patient’s resistance, to offer all necessary resources to remain sober, to drive the patients to sessions, or to do something else. The functions and duties of the moderator are minimal in the Twelve Step Facilitation model, except in emergencies. As a result, the term “moderator” was preferred over “therapist” or “counselor” because it seems to represent the position best.
6. Populations to Be Attracted
6.1 Patients that Will Benefit Most
Twelve Step Facilitation has been used in randomized outcome trials of alcoholics and alcoholics, as well as people who misuse and rely on both alcohol and cocaine. It has been seen by patients from a broad spectrum of social, educational, and cultural contexts, as well as others with a variety of maladjustment issues.
6.2 Patients Who Aren’t Good Candidates
Individuals with extreme cocaine or opiate withdrawal problems, who are unemployed, and who have no spousal or other family resources seem to have the worse prognosis. It isn’t to suggest that alternative therapies haven’t worked for people in that situation. Sessions can be arranged twice a week for the first three weeks of treatment if you have a cocaine problem.
7. Evaluation
Twelve-Step Facilitation’s appraisal session about drug abuse counseling lasts for an hour and a half.
The objectives are as follows:
- Establish a positive relationship between the patient and the moderator.
- Assess the prevalence of alcohol and other substance misuse in a group environment (history).
- Examine the patient’s previous attempts to reduce or exclude their use.
- Discuss the adverse effects of using.
- Share the diagnosis with the customer and try to reach an agreement together.
- Describe the Twelve Step Facilitation software in detail.
- Make an effort to get the customer to agree to pursue Twelve Step Facilitation and Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous and to have an open mind.
- Under the Twelve Step Facilitation paradigm, assessment has both an informative and a motivational purpose.
Recurring alcohol checks are prescribed, whether performed at random or whether the mediator believes the person has been intoxicated or utilizing.
No patient is exempt from therapy as a result of consuming or utilizing, in keeping with the 12-step theory, but it could become necessary to discuss inpatient care with certain patients. patients who are considered to be (or confess to being) intoxicated or high have their sessions ended, and plans are made to transport them home comfortably.
8. Material and Design of The Session
8.1 Standard Meeting’s Format
Twelve Step Facilitation meetings about drug abuse counseling are held on a regular basis and adopt the structure outlined below. The design of the evaluation and closure meetings, as well as the first correlational session, is subtly different.
8.2 Examine the Situation
The coordinator spends about ten minutes talking about the patient’s “recovery week,” including any drinking or utilizing that happened, any attempts to drink or use that the patient had, responses to recovery activities, and other relevant recommendations made at the conclusion of the previous session, responses to meetings participated, and general success in being involved in Alcoholics Anonymous or NA.
8.3 New Material
Each meeting’s subject is tentatively determined ahead of time. It can involve a key discussion such as adoption or submission, as well as an optional discussion such as genograms or spiritual stocks. The introduction of new content also meets reading recommendations and contains both didactic materials and questioning dialogue to guarantee that the patient comprehends concepts fully.
8.4 Duties for Review and Rehabilitation
The moderator advises the participant to explain what he or she learned in each session and then offers some practical recommendations (recovery tasks) such as studying or paying attention to tape-recorded texts, holding conferences, participating in meetings, and maintaining a diary.
8.5 A Few Popular Sessions Discussions or Concepts
The appraisal, as well as recognition, surrender, and being involved, are also important issues to consider. Acceptance is about talking about and explaining Step 1 of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, which is about acknowledging (rather than denying) one’s lack of influence over alcohol or other substance usage. Examples of lack of influence in common, and then in the patient’s experiences in specific, are explored in-depth, as well as the natural human responses to it. The Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous perspective on powerlessness is explored, as well as the principle of rejection and the various forms it can take. The participant is challenged to agree with rejection and to explain his or her own responses to the idea of powerlessness as well as specific encounters of accepting limitations.
Elective themes involve things like genograms that are used in Twelve Step Facilitation to show how drinking and dependence are sometimes family diseases that affect many generations of people. The participant is driven into the process of creating concise alcohol- and other-substance-oriented genogram, which is accompanied by a description of dependency as a disease. The objectives are to increase acceptance while decreasing stigma.
8.6 Structure of The Meeting
Twelve Step Facilitation is a manually-guided therapy that is relatively formal, as previously stated. The emphasis of sessions is primarily determined by the moderator, who offers practical guidance based on a consistent philosophical context (i.e., the 12-step approach). In addition, the moderator must elicit patient input, delegate rehabilitation activities that are specific to the particular patient, and prevent the therapy emphasis from wandering.
8.7 Serious Clinical Issues: Techniques for Addressing Them
Each subject in the Twelve Step Facilitation therapy about drug abuse counseling manual contains a segment on diagnostics, which assists the moderator in anticipating and planning for common issues like lateness, showing up to sessions when inebriated, and patient aversion to new content. Much of the time, these methods fall in line with the Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous theory, and they allow the individual to get help from 12-step assistantships. For example, as a patient arrives intoxicated or high, he or she is informed if he or she plans to “not drink/abuse again for the remainder of lately.” Because it is understood that lack of function is at the heart of their disease, patients are never fined, refused, or scolded for consuming or utilizing within the Twelve Step Facilitation model. If the customer is drunk or intoxicated, though, the appointment will be cut short. He or she would be highly advised to contact an Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous hotline or a recovered peer as soon as possible to attend a meeting. Denial is used to cope with persistent delays or closings.
In some instances, the Twelve Step Facilitation moderator leaves the person in control of his or her own treatment. The moderator serves as a reference and a means of assistance, but successful participation in one or more 12-step assistantships is often viewed as the road to healing. When faced with opposition in Twelve-Step Facilitation, one typical tactic is to ask the patient to have an open mind or to just offer it a fair shot. Regardless of the patient’s opposition, the moderator retains an attitude of unconditional suitable regard and recognition of the disease.
8.8 Coping with Rejection, Opposition, or Low Motivation Strategies
Under the Twelve Step Facilitation framework about drug abuse counseling, all approaches for coping with opposition start with the presumption that the person has an illness marked by a loss of control over drinking or another substance usage, which causes him or her to stop recognizing the lack of control. While abstinence from both alcohol and other substance usage is the only achievable recovery target from a Twelve Step Facilitation and 12-step standpoint, it is assumed that the person will have a tough time embracing this restriction, as everyone would. Resistance is seen as a regular aspect of the early stages of regeneration as seen in this way. In reality, if there isn’t any opposition, the Twelve Step Facilitation moderator should be cautious.
Via constructive dialogue and a method of influencing the patient’s actions and emotions, the Twelve Step Facilitation moderator attempts to work with the opposition. Consistent affirmation of success, recognition of opposition, rephrasing of 12-step principles (which are not dogmatically set), and consensus are some of the techniques used to shape this conduct. The patient is always instructed to have an open mind, listen attentively, and strive to identify with one or more of the people they encounter at meetings. This is then addressed during each Twelve Step Facilitation session’s analysis segment. The participant is repeatedly advised that he or she should embrace or deny aspects of the 12-step philosophy and that the fellowship can also be a valuable source of early recovery assistance.
8.9 Dealing with Crises: Techniques
Twelve Step Facilitation has detailed guidance for coping with situations ranging from suicidal ideation to espouse violence to divorce from the moderator. Twelve Step Facilitation is usually only suspended in the event of psychiatric emergencies, extreme intoxication, or overdose. In the absence of that, crises are evaluated and prioritized. In some instances, the moderator will refer the individual to the services of 12-step fellowships (including Al-Anon and Alateen for patients’ spouses and children) as a way of dealing with acute stressors. Patients are advised to learn how popular their own struggles are for individuals who have alcohol or other addiction problems, as well as how those concerns are often discussed at meetings. Indeed, the moderator can be less helpful in this way than the assistance of those people in recovery, all of whom have worked with or are now grappling with similar issues. The Twelve Step Facilitation manual provides detailed moderator instructions in case an emergency session is considered appropriate.
8.10 Slips and Relapses and The Counselor’s Reaction
Slips and relapses, as well as repeated attempts to drink or use, are both deemed ordinary and often anticipated aspects of early recovery. Addiction, according to the 12-step philosophy, is a disease marked by compulsion that outweighs human motivation. And for the most significant possible motives, it is expected that the person will struggle to maintain sobriety until he or she is firmly attached to a 12-step fellowship. The main goal of the Twelve Step Facilitation session’s analysis section is to determine the patient’s healing week and impulses and slips, as well as how the patient dealt with them. This content serves as an important framework in which the moderator eventually forms greater Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous participation. In some instances, a trend may be discerned in drops. For example, it’s not uncommon for a patient to remain clean and sober for one to two days after a meeting before slipping. The value of active participation in Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous may be reinforced by recognizing this trend (often with the assistance of a calendar). For some instances, the moderator will prescribe inpatient care where there is a history of repeated slips despite participation at meetings.
9. Importance of Significant Others in The Treatment
When a patient is in a partnership with a SO, Twelve Step Facilitation about drug abuse counseling has a two-session conjoint program that can be included as far as possible. The conjoint meetings, like all other facets of Twelve-Step Facilitation, are oriented and seek to achieve particular objectives. While one goal of these sessions is to help the pair determine the effect of substance addiction on the family, they are not meant to be utilized as a quick marriage or relationship counseling session. The moderator proposes deferring comprehensive marital counseling (along with other treatments such as family therapy or behavioral therapy) at least before the participant has finished Twelve Step Facilitation and, hopefully, 6 months of sobriety.
Encouraging and separating are the topics of discussion in the two combined meetings. Both of these ideas come from Al-Anon, a 12-step initiative comparable to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous but aimed at those who have been impacted by addiction rather than those who are addicted.
The Twelve Step Facilitation conjoint program’s main purpose is to support and momentarily promote the partner’s usage of Al-Anon as a tool for dealing with being in a partnership with an alcoholic, as well as for repairing personal wounds that sometimes result from that type of partnership. Another aim is to consider the partner’s consumption of alcohol or other substances at first and, if possible, provide an effective referral. Ultimately, the Twelve Step Facilitation and 12-step initiatives’ aims and priorities are presented. Twelve Step Facilitation contains instructions for dealing with patient emergency calls. Help and attempts to make Al-Anon usage more accessible for the companion are emphasized in this strategy.
These 12 steps can help the victim to come out of the dark phase of his life and allows him to start it again and is very harmful and dangerous not for his/herself f but the people around him/her(like friends/family). So, through large masses, we can gather the best practical consequences. So, that the patients will not feel reluctance while attending the sessions regularly. While studying intensely their behaviours personally or at their workplace, the Twelve Step Facilitation realizes that a specific type of anger and hopelessness found in their minds due to this addiction is the best and optimistic sign that a victim himself wants to re-build his disordered personality.
A constant determination is uncompromising to gain victims, but Twelve Step Facilitation helps him stay connected with this program. Such required experience is demanded to ensure that the gathered team Twelve Step Facilitation must be very trained to deal with such sensitive cases. Such instances will help to understand the training program better and to know the adverse effects of drugs on his health; so, the patient’s interest will also remain constant throughout the sessions. Those mandatory advice must to do things that the patient will have to follow.
The more he gets closer to the patient emotionally, the better he can deliver his techniques. Recovering from such a type of illness has never been an easy task, but constant try and support can make things better and favorable. With the help of those guidelines, the patient can get back to the path. and helps him to get back his self-confidence in the way of therapy because he has been stuck in such a challenging condition for a very long time. Through this idea, Twelve Step Facilitation can get a better understanding of the individuals’ reports. That he will start loving the things he does. To evaluate the problems on an individual basis, to let them know the adverse effect of drugs and such substances on their bounding. Therefore, our twelve steps facilitation is instrumental for your health care, and our drug abuse counseling.
Ben Lesser is one of the most sought-after experts in health, fitness and medicine. His articles impress with unique research work as well as field-tested skills. He is a freelance medical writer specializing in creating content to improve public awareness of health topics. We are honored to have Ben writing exclusively for Dualdiagnosis.org.