PROBLEM CHECKLIST

PROBLEM CHECKLIST


One of the main things that I teach newly recovering alcoholics/addicts to do, is to identify the roles that chemicals play in their lives. This is especially important since the chemical has occupied so many crucial roles or functions and that removing it from a person's life leaves big, gaping holes in their behavioral repertoire. When you identify the roles previously played by the chemical, you then identify possible healthy alternatives to replace the roles with. Early on, it is usually simple things like meetings, prayer, meditation, exercise, calling people for help, etc. Its pretty difficult to learn sophisticated living skills when you are hanging on by your fingernails. A little later in recovery, we are still working on replacing the roles with healthy alternatives, but we are focusing more on developing more in depth living skills, and working to solve the most pressing of problems.

Often, by the time that someone finds his way to recovery, he has focused so much on getting the next drug, using it, and getting over it, that they don't have a full grasp of the disarray that his life is truly in. The bills may be stacked up and unpaid. There may be impending court dates. Extended family members may not be speaking to him. He may be unemployed or underemployed. He may lack frustration tolerance, stress management, feelings expression skills, and inability to communicate and problem solve with others. The following problems list can help the recovering person begin to repair the damage caused in his life by addiction. To use this checklist, identify which problems you have, rank them from most pressing to least pressing, taking into account the items as short term and long term goals.

The Problems Checklist

Check the problems on this list that you have currently. Identify whether you look at these items as short term or long term goals. Rank the ones you identified in terms of most pressing to least pressing,

____ ____ Housing, or appropriate place to live
____ ____ Medical or dental problems or need for checkups
____ ____ Regaining custody of children or finding Appropriate childcare
____ ____ Legal and court problems
____ ____ Relationship issues
____ ____ Social network problems (i.e. drug using friends/acquaintances)
____ ____ Feeling management skills
____ ____ Education issues such as going back to school, GED, additional training, etc.
____ ____ Psychological


issues like anxiety, depression, mental confusion, mood swings, etc.
____ ____ Lack of structure and time management skills
____ ____ Lack of stress management skills
____ ____ Impatience, lack of frustration tolerance, demand for immediate gratification
____ ____ Lack of self-esteem, self-confidence, or positive identity
____ ____ Shame and guilt about hurting family or need to make amends
____ ____ Poor communication skills and/or poor conflict management skills
____ ____ Other obsessive compulsive behaviors
____ ____ Alienation, not feeling like you fit in, loneliness, isolation
____ ____ Lack of motivation or Procrastination
____ ____ Reliable Transportation
____ ____ Financial concerns or unpaid bills
____ ____ Job training or employment



BEGINNING LINE


The Children’s Problems Checklist is completed by the parent or guardian of children in the 5-12 age range. The checklist consists of 190 items which survey 11 problem areas: emotions, self-concept, peers/play, school, language-thinking, concentration-organization, activity level-motor control, behavior, values, habits, and health.

MIDDLE LINE


The ratings of 458 fourth- and fifth-grade boys were investigated to determine whether or not scores on the Behavior Problem Checklist vary systematically with teacher or student race. Analyses of the data for conduct problems, inadequacy-immaturity, and socialized delinquency indicated that white teachers demonstrate a strong tendency to rate black children as more deviant and white children as less deviant when contrasted with the ratings of black teachers. The ratings of black teachers were found not to vary with student race. No differences among any of the variables were found with regard to personality problems. Possible explanations for the results are discussed, along with implications for the use of the Behavior Problem Checklist in the field.

FINAL LINE


Most mothers and fathers have times when they disagree about how best to
raise their children. Some parents believe in being firm, others are happy
to let the child be. Some parents may share the workload, others might
not.
This checklist is for us to learn about parenting teamwork. A number of
problems are listed that cause parents problems by stopping them acting as
a team.
Read each item carefully. If it has been a problem for you and your
partner over the last month, check the item. For example, look at the
following item:
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Fighting in front of the children ...................[]
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If it has been a problem for you and your partner, check the box. If it
has not been a problem, just leave it blank and go to the next item.
Please turn over and complete all of the items.

PARENT PROBLEMS CHECKLIST
________________________________________________________________________
Check items that have been a problem for you and your spouse\partner over the last month.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
1. Disagreements about rules for children (eg. bedtime, play areas)......... []
2. Disagreements about type of discipline (eg. smacking children)........... []
3. Disagreements about who should discipline children............................ []
4. Fighting in front of children................................................................. []
5. Inconsistency between parents............................................................. []
6. Children preventing parents being alone............................................ []
7. Disagreements agree sharing childcare workloads............................ []

8. Cannot resolve arguments about child care....................................... []
9. Discussions about child care turning into arguments........................ []
10. Parents undermining each other (not backing each other up)........ []
11. Parents favouring one child over another....................................... []
12. Lack of discussions between parents about childcare.................... []
13. Lack of discussions about anything................................................ []
14. One parent is "soft", one parent is "tough" with children............ []
15. Children behave worse with one parent than another.................... []

16. Disagreements about what is naughty behavior................