Society talks about the drug epidemic, or the drug problem. Providers share how to pick the right treatment, or what constitutes good treatment. What is ever discussed about what constitutes good recovery?
I got into a discussion with some clients the other day about medication-assisted treatment (MAT). I am not a purist, there is a place for MAT, but putting a 21 year old on 24mg of Suboxone because they were craving at 16mg is not my idea of a solution.
Here is why – Suboxone is still filling the opiate receptor sites with chemical. Two of the major foundations of addiction and recovery are triggers and coping skills. It is my belief that if you are filling the receptor sites in the brain with an opiate (albeit, suboxone), then you are not able to properly identify with your client what their triggers and coping skills are, or help them develop new ones.
Unite To End The Drug Epidemic
Unfortunately, MAT is where the medical profession and therapists need to unite. I say “unfortunately” because I don’t see it happening often enough. If a client is craving at 16mg, then let’s all come together and figure out what is happening in the client’s life to cause them to crave. Then we can help them develop new coping skills in order to hopefully look at decreasing their dose, not increasing it. Recovery is multi-faceted. We have physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.
Compassionate Interventions can help you or your loved one work on finding balance with those four areas. We do more than just intervene and get an addict into treatment. We help people develop good addiction intervention programs. 503-901-1836.