1. People do not have to “hit bottom” in order to be motivated to start treatment and become abstinent. Many people that seek treatment still have intact jobs, families, and finances. They seek help before things become really bad.
2. It is not true that everyone with addiction has some sort of past trauma or psychiatric diagnosis that needs to be addressed or treated.
3. If present, it is essential to address and treat psychiatric diagnoses and symptoms in order to give patients the best chance of becoming abstinent.
4. Addiction has both a biological component, as well as a behavioral component. Medications can be used to treat the biological part, counseling and therapy are used to treat the behavioral aspect. This can be said of other medical illnesses. For example, diabetes can be treated with medications, along with lifestyle modifications such as weight loss by starting a healthy diet and exercise.
5. Using medications such as Suboxone to treat opioid (painkiller) addiction is not substituting one addiction for another. Addiction can be defined, in part, in terms of inability to stop drinking and using despite negative consequences and dysfunction in one’s life. Suboxone treats the biological part of addiction. It allows for the stable use of an opioid at a steady dose that is not intoxicating, and reverses dysfunction in one’s life – the exact opposite of addiction.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ADDICTION TREATMENT
People become abstinent in different ways:
1. Some do it on their own without any treatment – they just stop drinking or using.
2. Others become abstinent with free self-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous or SMART Recovery. Paid outpatient group treatment is also another avenue for treatment.
3. One-on-one medical treatment with a physician who specializes in addictions is another way that people achieve abstinence. Medical treatment in my practice involves outpatient detoxification (medically supervised withdrawal) if needed, the use of medications to help maintain abstinence (medication assisted treatment), along with addiction counseling and psychosocial support.
4. Some people initially require more intensive treatment. This would involve going away to a rehabilitation center for a month or longer. Sometimes it is necessary to remove someone from their drug using environment and lifestyle in order to allow them to start any type of treatment. Being immersed in treatment 24/7 is one of the benefits of being in a rehabilitation center.
5. The sad fact is that some people never become abstinent despite all different types of treatment. Just like other diseases, not everyone recovers