What a wonderful opportunity it is to hear another person's story and be change from it. In Lessons from the Mental Hospital, Glennon Doyle Melton shares her story of overcoming bulimia, alcoholism and drug addictions; and teaches us the lessons of the strength of being vulnerable, sensitive and our true selves. She teaches us that ‘the sunrise is a daily invitation of hope’, ‘a daily invitation to change’ and ‘a daily invitation to be present’. Let’s all take that invitation and not be afraid to share our story.
Innovators, like Johann Hari, help us understand better those who struggle with addiction and helps us challenge our preconceived ideas on the criminalization of drug use. He helps us ask the hard questions. What is addiction? How does addiction happen? How can we help those who struggle from addiction to achieve recovery? And he gives us surprising solutions as he makes striking statements like, "the opposite of addiction is connection".
Is hope what is lacking in mental health facilities? Do patients in recovery centers, hospitals, treatment centers have hope that they will be better? Are we as mental health professionals helping our patients feel a hope that they can recover? How do you cultivate hope in a treatment center?
Hope is essential to any person dealing with a mental illness or addiction; hope that they can recover, have a job, create healthy relationships and be able to bounce back from hardships and suffering in life. Therefore it is necessary that our treatment centers have an atmosphere of hope and a belief that every patient can have a better life.
The first thing we can do to bring ‘Hope’ back into mental health is to…
- Create a philosophy of having ‘Positive Goals’ as opposed to ‘Avoiding Negative Outcomes’.
Having positive goals and giving them the tools to fight off negative outcomes creates a more positive path for patients to follow. Instead of telling patients all the things they shouldn’t do or avoid focus on the positive outcomes that recovery has to offer.
- Use Hopeful Language Explicitly and Implicitly
The most damaging statement that could be made to patients undergoing treatment and recovery is to hear that they will never be able to have a normal functional life with jobs, family, relationships, etc. This brings about hopelessness which in turn leads to negative outcomes.
Our language as mental health professionals should exude hope explicitly by telling them all the wonderful things they can accomplish, and implicitly using positive words when talking about treatment plans and goals. We must be careful to avoid definitive statements about their future and focus on tools and resources that can help them accomplish what they want out of life.
- Bring Hope even in Relapse
No matter the downfalls, the temptations, the obstacles or the difficulties you don’t know what will finally help a patient recover. Patients need help knowing that there is someone out there that won’t give up on them.
We can’t have patients believe that we are ‘just doing our jobs’ or that we ‘don’t believe that they can change’. Through our efforts of teaching our patients to face despair and deal with their defeats, we can then focus on hope and learning from their victories.
For people looking to choose the right treatment for them, here's an article to help you find the right drug addiction treatment for them. But it's also incredibly important for us, as providers, to know the treatments that are best for patients so we can serve them better.
Early on in recovery, feelings of dysphoria and depression are common. These may manifest in a general inability to enjoy life, disinterest in hobbies and feeling distant from loved ones. These are symptoms of a syndrome called anhedonia, which is defined as a lack of ability to feel pleasure. Anhedonia in recovery is very common. To help with this, we came up with four steps on how to deal with anhedonia.
Many people recovering from substance use disorders find anhedonia to be one of their greatest hurdles in early recovery. Often times, they have reached between 30 and 90 days in sobriety when they graduate from their treatment center. Some of them have big plans to do things they haven’t tried in years- school, being involved with their families, employment.
And many times, those in recovery are disappointed when they find that the life they dreamt of- the life they’ve been promised would make them happier- is dull and boring and sad. A few of these individuals might even admit to someone around them that they aren’t understanding the benefits of sober life. They wonder what on earth all of the struggle is for.
How To Deal With Anhedonia
While anhedonia in recovery is a natural part of the process, there are important things that can be done to combat these symptoms. They are some of the most simple and common solutions in the book:
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Exercise.
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Meditation.
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Healthy diet.
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Adequate sleep.
As simple as these may seem, they are vital to individuals in recovery, particularly in the earliest stages. As time goes on and brain chemistry normalizes, anhedonia will become less intense and life will be fulfilling again. In the meantime, take good care of yourself. You’re on the road to recovery.
Read here for more information on the quality of life in recovery.
Also, if you're in the market for a new behavioral health EHR, fill out the form below and we'll give you a free demo.
Even in today's society, many people have misconceptions about recovery. Here are some common myths to be aware of:
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Addiction is a choice.
We must remember that each individual in recovery or suffering from addiction starts consuming drugs or pills for different reasons. Some even start taking them for legitimate medical conditions prescribed by a doctor. After a continuation of the consumptions of pills or drugs, their agency decreases and their need for the substance increases. Soon they will use the substance just to feel ‘normal’.
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I put down my cigarettes one day and never picked them up again, so my loved one should be able to do the same with the drugs.
Wouldn’t that be nice to so easily put away something your body and mind crave? I can’t put down my carton of ice cream and neither can some addicts put down a mind-altering addictive drug. The minority of those who consume drugs, alcohol and cigarettes can easily stop and never touch them again. The minority.
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Drug addicts are selfish people that care only about themselves.
Nothing could be farther from the truth because those individuals have no intention of hurting others. Drug use creates damages and alterations to the brain ‘that disrupt the normal production and activity of neurotransmitters in the brain and in some cases will change the structure of the brain and the thought processes.’
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Sobriety and recovery are reached after graduating from a treatment center.
Graduation from treatment doesn’t mean a full recovery. Not only do addicts have to worry about staying sober, but they must completely change their lifestyle and learn new things. They still have to fight their addiction every day and that is a longer road than just six to twelve weeks.
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Once an addict creates a normal life with a family and a job they will no longer need to use drugs.
We need to remember that using drugs is a constant battle for an addict; one in which they need to avoid in many different situations. Access to money, stress, certain people, etc. can become triggers to those who are addicted to drugs. Whether freshly sober or ten years later this battle rages on in varying degrees.
Avoiding misconceptions about recovery can help those in recovery as well as the people around them to respond with love and compassion. Knowledge can help us to recovery and heal.
Historically, addiction has been a quiet, hidden tormentor. It silently took its victims into their graves without ever bearing a burden of responsibility. Why? Because of the stigma of addiction.
Because no husband wants to tell the world that the mother of his children was a “junkie”. No mother wants to reveal to the tennis club and the PTA that her son overdosed on heroin. Nobody wants to “dishonor” the memory of the deceased by tainting their legacy with words like “opioid,” “overdose,” or “heroin.”
However, brave families are starting to be frank in the obituaries they write. Not to dishonor their deceased loved ones, but to sound the alarm, to call others to action, to open peoples’ eyes.
The parents of a young man in New Jersey published the following in the obituary of their son: “our beautiful son, Andrew, died from an overdose of heroin. He was 23 years old. We want to share his story in the hope that lives may be saved and his death will not be in vain.”
Hundreds of other families are following suit, sharing the stories of relapses, treatment centers, overdoses, heartache, that created years of struggle for their lost loved ones. Together, they are shattering the stigma of addiction.
Obituaries of opioid epidemic victims have become cautionary tales that have the potential to save lives. These families are ushering in a new era, when people’s obituaries will begin with, “After a brave battle with addiction,” just as they would with cancer, heart disease, or any other chronic illness.
Read here to learn more about overcoming misconceptions about addiction.
Also, if you're looking to for a new substance abuse treatment EHR, fill out the form below to get a free demo.
Addiction recovery and mental health go hand in hand. In the United States, 20.2 million adults are experiencing a substance use disorder. Of those, 10.2 million have a co-occurring mental illness. This means that conditions like depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, bipolar, OCD and others are strongly associated with addiction. The purpose of Mental Health Month is to raise awareness and reduce stigma with regard to mental illnesses. This year, the focus of Mental Health Month is “Risky Business.” Mental Health America explains, “We believe it's important to educate people about habits and behaviors that increase the risk of developing or exacerbating mental illnesses or could be signs of mental health problems themselves. These include risk factors such as risky sex, prescription drug misuse, internet addiction, excessive spending, marijuana use, and troublesome exercise patterns1.”
Governmental institutions, social media platforms, non-profits, and individuals have joined together to reach people through screenings, events, and education.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness has published the following facts to help raise awareness during Mental Health Month:
NAMI-Taking-Charge-of-Your-Mental-HealthGeneralMHFacts (1)
NAMI-Taking-Charge-of-Your-Mental-Health
Here’s what YOU can do:
- Take NAMI’s “StigmaFree” pledge by committing to avoid labels and speak respectfully about mental illness.
- Become educated about the prevalence of mental illnesses in the United States and even in your specific demographic. Be aware that 1 in 5 U.S. adults have mental illnesses.
- Familiarize yourself with the resources available online as well as in your community.
- Learn about “Risky Business” and conditions that are commonly co-occurring with mental illness, like eating disorders and substance use disorders.
- Talk to friends and family about the things that you learn and encourage them to participate in Mental Health Month
We cannot underestimate the power of words in recovery. The two main views of addiction are 1) that it is a moral failings and 2) that it is a disease. Although modern science proves the latter to be true, the words and phrases we use may be supporting the former view.
By using terms that emphasize people rather than symptoms, we can help reduce the stigma of addiction and recovery. Dr. John F. Kelly of Harvard Medical School explains, "This change goes beyond mere political correctness. Whether we are consciously aware of it or not, the language we use actually makes a profound difference in our attitudes and, thus, how we may approach our nation’s number one public health problem.”
Using people focused language empowers patients and gives them the same dignity and respect that we give to those suffering with cancer and other chronic diseases.
Shatterproof, “a national nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the devastation that addiction causes families,” created the following list of stigma reducing language:
Click here to learn more about how the words we use can impact recovery.
Patrick Bordnick, associate professor at the University of Houston and recent TEDx speaker, has begun a unique study on addiction recovery involving the University’s Virtual Reality Clinical Lab. Computer-generated, VR (virtual reality) simulates a 'near-reality' experience in which a user interacts in a seemingly real or physical way by use of special electronic equipment, such as VR headset. Virtual reality for recovery has the potential to be a life-saving development in the field of addiction recovery.
The university's lab features a series of "virtual drug caves," in which addicts navigate different life-like scenarios. While in VR, they learn to identify and resist different triggers. Bordnick believes that the VR learning experience will transfer to reality, reasoning that taking addicts out of the traditional "therapist office" and putting them into a VR environment will help them get a clearer picture and improve interventions. He hopes to show that decreasing one's cravings in the VR lab will lead to a similar decrease in the real world.
Click here to learn about technological developments that are changing the way we treat addiction.
In 1971, President Nixon declared a war on drugs. Estimates on the cost of this war range from $1-2.5 trillion in the last 46 years. Despite this, drug use disorders have lured people into jail cells and caskets at an ever increasing rate. After nearly five decades, it is difficult to ignore the fact that the “war on drugs” has been a complete failure.
Additionally, the war on drugs has made it impossible for the United States to fund needle-exchange programs on a federal level. As early as 1998, the Department of Health and Human Services conclusively stated that needle-sharing programs are associated with decreased incidence of HIV and hepatitis C that is attributable to IV drug use.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and the National Institutes of Health likewise endorsed this intervention in the 1990s, followed by the American Medical Association in 2000. We lag miserably behind countries like Canada, Brazil, and the UK in this regard, meanwhile, our rates of HIV and Hepatitis C continue to climb.
The drug enforcement approach to substance abuse has exacerbated the issue in several ways. Addiction in jail is like bacteria in Petri dishes- the conditions are ideal for the proliferation of the disease.
The Journal of Addiction Science and Clinical Practice Criminalized reported in 2012 that "in prisoners released in Washington State, overdose mortality rates were 12-fold higher than what would be expected in similar demographic groups in the general population.” Similar statistics can be sited across the board. Addicts finish their sentences with more connections in the drug world, dismal opportunities for employment, and a label and often don’t know where else to turn.
Research shows that shame is one of the primary psychosocial contributors to addiction. It’s sobering to think of the shame distributed by the war on drugs. Policies intended to eradicate drug use in the United States have instead created a war on addicts. The stigma of addiction is beginning to dissolve, but it’s going to take more than billboards to reverse five decades of government endorsed alienation.
With all of these issues glaringly obvious, the American Public Health Association (APHA) has called for a new approach to the substance use epidemic: a health approach. Some key elements of this approach include:
- Critical reviews of drug policies by experts in social work, public health, medicine, drug treatment, law enforcement and even former and current drug users. APHA urges that policies by altered in such a way that drug treatment and harm reduction programs can be expanded.
- Increased federal funding for effective treatment modalities that are currently in place.
- Deprioritizing funding of drug enforcement entities that are non-health related, such that individuals are cared for by health interventions rather than criminal justice.
- Encouraging resources of the Affordable Care act to be redirected to include addiction rehabilitation.
- Eliminating federal and state criminal penalties for personal drug use and possession, barring circumstances that endanger the lives of others.
These changes in policy would cause a dramatic shift in our response to drug use and abuse on a governmental, cultural, and even on an interpersonal level.
Often, policies and statistics can make us forget the narratives that make up the story of the addiction epidemic. Beneath the surface of the court rulings and census reports are lives ruined and lives lost. There are tears, failure, relapse, funerals, and broken families. By encouraging changes in policy, we can turn a war on addicts into a war on addiction.
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Copyright 2019 - Alleva Corp. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2019 - Alleva Corp. All Rights Reserved.