Date
12-19-2023
Department
School of Behavioral Sciences
Degree
Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)
Chair
Gary Probst
Keywords
Opiate use disorder, Shame, Therapeutic Alliance, Working alliance, Treatment outcomes
Disciplines
Counseling
Recommended Citation
McClure, Cameron Davis, "The Impact of Shame on Medication-Assisted Therapy Treatment Outcomes for Individuals with a Severe Opiate Use Disorder" (2023). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 5118.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5118
Abstract
Shame has a significant impact on various psychopathologies including depression (Pinto et al., 2012), anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (Bryan et al., 2013). The gap in this research is the quantitative impact of shame on the relapse cycle in individuals with a severe opioid use disorder. This research study will demonstrate the impact of shame on the expression of addictive behavior in patients that have a diagnosed opiate use disorder and are currently actively enrolled in a medication-assisted therapy treatment program. This research study will illustrate how the presence of increased therapeutic alliance strength can result in the reduction of addictive behavior and shame. This proposal seeks to establish shame as a predictor of addictive behavior. Showing how, even when the biological use cycle is considered with the use of well-established pharmaceutical therapies, the impact of shame is so great that addictive behaviors increase. This study will explore research surrounding the impact of shame on opiate use disorders, the development of therapeutic/working alliances, and the role that this relationship has on shame reduction and the reduction of addictive behaviors.
