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Recovery in the News
Addiction isn't just about Substance Abuse: Getting to the root of the problem means treating the whole person
Angie Hutschreider
Jeffereson City News-Tribune
September 29, 2009
Each person who seeks the help of a mental health professional has unique circumstances, a unique situation and requires individual treatment.
Helping people with substance abuse problems requires careful attention, work and networking on the part of the mental health professional helping the addict.
It also may require many different steps and processes that go above and beyond a typical counseling session.
"I had been in therapy before," said Jasmine, a recent drug court graduate who wished to remain anonymous. "Then I came into drug court and had to go to see a counselor. Going to see them this time was a totally different ball game. We went into things I never thought had any connection with my drug use."
Lisa Spath, drug court coordinator with Pathways Behavioral Healthcare Inc., works with participants of Cole County Drug Court and said counseling former addicts or those seeking recovery takes a variety of resources and steps.
"A lot of variables come into play," she said. "The demons they may have, the reasons they began using, the reasons they stopped using, what their drug of choice was and what affects their drug(s) of choice has had on them."
Although the answers to some of the questions come easily, there are deeper reasons and issues in many cases. Some may have turned to drugs or alcohol to help deal with the pain of a traumatic event in their life, others to cope with day-to-day stress, and some have a dual diagnosis of a mental illness of some kind and addiction.
"I never understood that things that happened to me as a child really played a role in the things I was doing as an adult," Jasmine said. "Once I could accept and deal with the things others did to me when I was little, I could start to work on the things I was doing to myself as an adult."
"You have to treat the whole person, you cannot just try to help them quit using if you do not get to the root of the problem," Spath said.
Many with addictions also battle mental illness.
According to reports published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), about 50 percent of people with severe mental disorders are affected by substance abuse.
Thirty-seven percent of alcohol abusers and 53 percent of drug abusers also have at least one serious mental illness.
Of all people diagnosed as mentally ill, 29 percent abuse either alcohol or drugs.
Dual diagnosis services are treatments for people who suffer from co-occurring disorders - mental illness and substance abuse. Research has shown that to recover fully, a person facing both mental illness and substance abuse needs treatment for both problems. Focusing on one does not ensure the other will go away.
Dual diagnosis services combine treat- ment for both conditions, helping people recover from both in one setting, at the same time.
While Spath has mandated guidelines to follow with paper work and helping find support resources, she said that should be the first step for any counselor helping addicts.
"The most important thing is to help the addicts set up a network of people, a 12-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, support groups - they are going to need a network," she said.
Although addicts do crave the high they get from using their substance of choice, they typically do not use just for the high.
"They are covering up something, suppressing some feeling or event. Most do not use just because they like the feeling," Spath said.
Although the affects of the high keep the addict using, it is also the affect of their high that may lead to their entering treatment.
"A lot of the time they are coming to terms with the consequences of what they have been doing," she said. "They may like the high but they also face jail or other punishments. They are missing their children's lives, their families."
Jasmine said if she had not gotten charged with possession and various other drugrelated felonies, she most likely would have stayed on the path she was on.
"When I thought I was going to jail and would not even be able to see my children, that scared me," she said. "But when my family took my children even before I went to court for the charges, I knew I had to stop. I knew it was time for me to get clean and stay clean."
Once the addict has entered treatment, the family must join together to support them.
"Sometimes the people we as society would think or expect to be the most supportive can be the most damaging, can pull them back into their addiction," Spath said.
Jasmine stood in front of peers saying how she was okay to be standing there, graduating after two tumultuous years in the program with no one in the crowd to support her.
"I am okay with it," she said. "I had to learn that it was even some of my friends and family that I had to say 'no' to. Just because I love them does not mean they are good for me or my sobriety."
For some though, it is also about helping them make connections.
"It is not because they are a bad person," Spath said. "Sometimes I just have to help them understand that their spouse left, they lost their job, kids and house because of the addiction and not because they are inherently bad."
That lesson was a hard one for Jasmine.
"I thought I was a bad parent and thought I always would be," she said. "You have to be pretty bad to have your kids taken away."
Over time, she realized the qualities most said detracted from her character were things she did not even remember doing or saying while high or drunk.
"I am a loving and caring person, but people were saying how mean I was and how little I cared for anyone, especially myself and my kids," Jasmine said. "That was not me and I know it. It was how the drugs made me act. I am sorry for it - I really am - but I know and accept that was not the real me."
Treatment is all about developing coping skills that are most effective for them.
"Some people understand they need to change how they deal with things, other people just make the changes immediately."
However, like addiction is a disease that progresses, treatment is, too.
"Addiction and recovery are both progressive processes that take time," Spath said. "Like some people make the transition from recreational users into daily users very fast, some go from being addicts into a strongly committed recovery program in days."
Addiction is a disease that requires life-long treatment.
"Some people think they can just stop using and be fine," Spath said. "Sure they might be for a while, but many of them become what we call a 'dry drunk.'
"They stay clean but don't change their behaviors. They are not growing."
Finding support services, like support groups or programs, is key as addicts enter into a treatment plan and services they will rely on throughout their life.
"You never know when a demon will surface or something will trigger the urge to use again, or trigger a relapse," Spath said. "It is about having the tools and coping skills in place to get and stay sober, one day at a time."
Jasmine recalls the internal battle she felt between choosing sobriety or using and the way she felt when she could announce she was sober and actively working her treatment plan.
"Going into recovery is not about your life ending," said Jasmine. "I thought if I quit using, then my life would be over. What I have realized is that I was not living before. I just existed."
Copyright 2009 News Tribune Co. All rights reserved