Treatment

All forms of substance abuse and addiction are clouded with stigma. For alcohol specifically, many people assume that compulsive drinking is a lesser condition. It is important not to lose focus from the true issue of the behavior. It does not matter what the psychoactive agent is, the craving, withdrawal, and tolerance is what deteriorates health, relationships, and entire lives.

Unfortunately, relapse is common in recovery. The latest statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) show that rate of remission when dealing with drug addiction ranges between 40 and 60 percent. Due to this extensive problem, an ideology still featured in various substance treatment programs is that relapse is a natural part of the recovery process. Despite NIDA’s data, the underlying cause of relapse is actually preventable.

The World Wide Web is an irreplaceable resource in the modern age, but it can also be an added source of unrest. This dichotomy especially applies to individuals undergoing recovery. Although online forums and psychoeducational texts can be accessed instantly through computers and cellphones, the Internet itself can easily become an additional, addictive element in people’s lives.

When addictions become too severe and ingrained within people’s lives, professionals often have to wean patients off their dependencies through the use of clinical medication. A number of different treatments are utilized depending on the type of substance use disorder. While some like Suboxone have been criticized for their regulation and potential for abuse, others like naloxone have saved countless lives from overdose.

With movies, phrases, and common misconceptions, mental illnesses often get a bad reputation. Many people see a major event or upsetting situation that involves a mental illness and they believe that all people with that mental illness act a certain way or they develop negative views of a certain mental illness – causing an unbalance in societal views and perpetuating negativity. Stigmas often lead people to believe that mental illnesses are dangerous, unpredictable, that a person is responsible for their mental illness, or that a person is generally incompetent, and these views promote discrimination. For those of us who suffer from a mental illness, stigmas surrounding our disorder can be debilitating and can perpetuate the negative symptoms of the illness itself. If we can gain a better understanding of how stigmas impact people, we can change the conversation of mental illness to a more hopeful, positive, and realistic one – that each person, circumstance, and disorder is different and should be treated as such. Stigmas surrounding mental illnesses often exclude people from job opportunities, social events, educational opportunities, can cause people to be excluded from receiving patient-focused treatment and care, and even causes internalization. When a person experiences internalization, they believe the negative thoughts of others and think of themselves as unable to recover, undeserving of love and care, dangerous, unpredictable, and responsible for their illness. A 2015 review conducted by Clement and colleagues seen in Cambridge University Press found that of 90,189 participants identified in numerous studies, internalization and treatment stigma were most associated with reduced help-seeking. Disclosure concerns were the most prevalent reason for why people didn’t want to seek treatment. These are perpetuated by stigma and cause us to feel badly about ourselves or others. Stigmas perpetuate fear, and in turn cause people to be treated poorly for no reason. Author Samantha Gluck from Healthy Place identified in 2015 that prejudice, mistrust, and violence on those with mental disorders as mechanisms that further damage us as a society. They cause people to turn from their loved ones, create distance, and delay seeking help when it’s truly needed. On a basic level, stigmas provide no benefit to anyone because they are based on assumptions without knowing the facts. To reduce stigmas surrounding mental illness, we need to share our stories. Telling others about the reality of our symptoms will show that each person is different. Continue researching and providing facts to others. If we hear someone making an incorrect assumption about mental illness, and it is safe to do so, we should stand up for those who suffer from that mental illness and gently correct our loved ones. We should begin conversations surrounding mental illness to educate and inform others. Joining organizations that support mental illnesses is a fantastic way to get involved and to meet others who also suffer. Lastly, we should continue believing in ourselves and embracing who we are, no matter what anyone says.

Making the decision to attend a treatment center is the best decision you could have made. You already know that you want optimal care and a supportive healthcare team to help you achieve your goals. With so many treatment facilities available, it can seem daunting to select the right fit. Depending on whether you have decided to partake in an intensive outpatient program, inpatient program or a residential treatment program, there may be several factors you want to consider. The following is a universal list of questions and concerns that you can utilize to ensure your treatment facility is the best fit for you:

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a tool most often used to help people change their negative thought patterns and develop newer, healthier mind scripts. CBT has been proven to be an extremely effective way of training emotion regulation skills. A 2013 meta-analysis conducted by researchers from Boston University found that CBT has been most used to treat substance use disorder, schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders, depression and dysthymia, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, eating disorders, insomnia, personality disorders, anger and aggression, criminal behaviors, general stress, and so much more.  If you are currently in therapy and are learning about cognitive behavioral therapy, or you are researching this on your own, there are some necessities of CBT that can be challenging but are worth it, and you need to be prepared for these to be most successful:

Many people search for outlets to feel their emotions and work through their struggles – some outlets are healthy, such as an adequate amount of exercise, taking on a new hobby, or jotting down thoughts can be effective ways of coping. Music is another great avenue, as music allows us to express ourselves creatively and connect with another person’s life experiences through their lyrics or musical instrument. If used effectively, music can be a wonderful stress management tool. Music provides a soothing, relaxing atmosphere where you can release your stress and overcome negative thoughts.

Addiction affects every aspect of one’s life – work duties, home responsibilities, parenting, romantic relationships, family matters, health, finances – it’s all impacted. Too often we see a loved one or friend with an addiction, and they maybe don’t discuss personal matters as much as they used to. They may keep to themselves, and may seem sad with their life overall. We wish that we could do something to help them, but they seem to perpetuate a negative cycle of loneliness and isolation. A question we may ask ourselves is this: why are doing this? When it comes to addiction, the answer may be simpler than you think. Addiction has a social component to it, and if a person already feels as though nobody cares about them or nobody can do anything to help them, the addiction is perpetuated. Thus, isolation can be a precursor for addiction in the future just as it can be a component of addiction that continues replenishing itself of drugs or substances. Isolation can be both a before and a during. The topic of isolation and social connections is warranted because many people utilize addiction to cope with the unwanted feelings of loneliness, lack of love, feelings of unworthiness, and more. In 1970, Vancouver professor Bruce Alexander conducted a revised version of his original study known as “Rat Park”. With this experiment, Bruce created a magnificent, beautiful rat park for rats to play in and socialize with one another. He provided levers that would dispense drugs such as heroin, morphine, amphetamine, cocaine, etc. He found that the rats had very little interest in the drugs, compared to his previous experiment where rats were provided with drug access and were isolated; they were excessively consuming drugs. This experiment raises an important hypothesis: isolation leads to more drug use were as connection leads to less drug use. In truth, addiction lends damaging effects to itself in all ways. People focus on addiction to cover up their unwanted feelings, and in turn, become even more entrenched in their unwanted feelings because addiction causes them to behave in ways that perpetuate those feelings. Many treatment centers place emphasis on group therapy and group support, because social connection is a basic human need.

As stated in a book titled: Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change, written by Jeffrey Foote, Carrie Wilkens, and Nicole Kosanke with Stephanie Higgs, “Recognizing that for most people change is more like learning to read than getting hit on the head with an apple, you’ll be less likely to blame a loved one for being ‘bad at it’ in the beginning or despair when he has bad days later on…. Change isn’t magic. It does not take a miracle. Change takes thought, planning, and work, and reasons to do something different. You can help make it worth it for your loved one, by helping to create an environment in which positive behavior is rewarded by your affection, presence, collaboration, and other forms of reinforcement, while negative behavior is shut out in the cold.” Living with someone who has an addiction can be challenging, especially if we do not know what to expect or how to handle the situation. Doing research and seeking help are important to do both before your loved one moves in and after they’ve moved in. Candance Plattor, registered clinical counselor who has recovered from addiction to opioids, marijuana, and alcohol, notes 5 key things that need to happen to love yourself and the person with the addiction:

Most of us know of someone with an addiction; some of us have been asked for money or other resources to help our friend or family member. When this happens, our loved one always seems to have an upsetting story or sad reason for why they need support, but they may never seek treatment. We want to help them and at first, we may even give them everything we are able to offer – but our loved one continues to ask for more and more, and eventually we become exhausted of our time, money, resources, mental and physical energy.   Setting limits is very important when living with someone who has an addiction. By setting boundaries, you are protecting yourself and your well-being while also ensuring your loved one facing the natural consequences of their own actions. For example, you may wish to inform your loved one that if they are using, you refuse to loan them money or pay their bills. If you feel that your loved one is not going to seek treatment on their own, you may wish to stage an intervention. Planning, gathering information, forming an intervention team, deciding on specific consequences, making notes on what to say, holding an intervention meeting, and following up are all important steps to reach out to your loved one. There are several reasons for why your loved one may not wish to seek treatment: 1) they don’t want everyone to know that “had to seek help” because of their addiction, 2) they believe treatment is too expensive, 3) they feel life is too hard being sober, 4) they believe they don’t really have a problem, and/or 5) they haven’t hit rock bottom yet. Educating yourself about addiction is one of the best ways you can prepare yourself to better understand your loved one and what they are going through. Educating yourself, setting limits, staging an intervention, and taking care of yourself are all steps needed when your loved one isn’t taking steps towards their treatment and recovery.

An excerpt from Tom Shachtman’s book titled, To Be or Not To Be Amish: Once the young ladies hit the cars, and the cars have pulled away from the homestead, appearances and behaviors begin to change. While riding along, each Amish girl performs at least one of many actions that have been forbidden to her throughout her childhood: lights up a cigarette, grabs a beer, switches on the rock and rap music on the car radio or CD player, converses loudly and in a flirtatious manner with members of the opposite sex. Leanne, a character from “Orange is the New Black”, grew up in an Amish community and started using meth during her Rumspringa. Outside of her character, this issue is a major concern in the United States today. According to Amish America, Rumspringa or “running around” is “a term used to describe the period of adolescence Amish experience starting at around age 16. Rumspringa seems to have caused an epidemic of addiction among the Amish community; last year, approximately 70 people – many of them youth – were arrested at an Amish party. Fox 59 reported more than 1000 people were expected to attend from Ohio and the Interstate before the party was shut down. Addiction does not discriminate. Individuals of the Amish community face the same demons the rest of us face, including addiction. According to NPR.org, Rumspringa is a time where adolescents of the Amish community can “test” out the modern world to determine if they would like to continue their path within the community. At age 16, the adolescents have not yet been baptized, so they are not officially considered members of the church yet. Many youths are encouraged to explore movie theatres, driving, malls and more – but some, with this feeling of freedom, take part in unhealthy behaviors that lead to addiction. Alcoholism, meth, heroin, and opioid addiction all impact the Amish community, just like any other community. The dangers are ever more real to Amish youth because, with this form of freedom, they are likely to take drastic action in a similar fashion people first entering college might take. At any age and in any community, addiction can occur.