What is addiction?
Addiction is a chronic, relapsing illness. It is defined as a compulsive physiological and psychological need for a habit-forming substance.
Who does addiction affect?
Addiction affects people of all ages, religions, cultures and levels of education and income. Dependency and addiction can touch any individual, any family.
Stigma of Addiction
A person who suffers from addiction is often perceived by others as different and as having a weakness or character flaw. Discrimination against people with addictions restricts their access to education, housing, employment, financial assistance and health care.
The stigma associated with an addiction makes it less likely for addicts to talk about their disease and seek treatment. Insite counteracts this stigma by providing a safe, open environment for addicts to interact with the health system.
Stigmatization of people with addiction is real. A recent Ipsos Reid survey commissioned by the Canadian Medical Association reported that only one in five people would socialize with someone struggling with substance abuse.
Myths & Facts
Myth: Addiction is self-inflicted.
Fact: Addiction is an illness. Just as a person doesn’t choose to have asthma or cancer, neither does a person choose to have an addiction.
Myth: People can stop using drugs if they really want to.
Fact: It is hard for injection drug users to stop using drugs without help. Drug use can change a person’s brain function making it very difficult to quit without effective treatment.
Myth: The same treatment works for all injection drug users.
Fact: People have different addictions and they respond to treatment differently even when they’re abusing the same drug. In order to increase the likelihood of success, people with an addiction require a range of treatments and services tailored to their unique needs.
Myth: Once an individual completes treatment he or she is cured.
Fact: Completing a treatment program is just one step on the road to recovery. Returning to substance abuse after treatment is common. Most people require repeated treatment and long-term support throughout their lives.
Myth: Relapse equals failure.
Fact: Addiction is a chronic illness and occasional relapses do not mean failure. For instance, a 33 year follow-up of heroin users found that a minimum of five years of abstinence considerably reduced the likelihood of future relapse, but a quarter still relapsed even after 15 years of abstinence.
Source: Vancouver Coastal Health, “The Facts about Addiction”
BWiles
sunnyhoshingchan
changmai
mattbaril
I think the biggest challenge would be the stigma of addiction that makes drug users less willing to openly discuss their struggles and agony, which would further alienate people suffering from substance abuse away from the majority of society. I do believe that the more commitments to rehabilitation are the most important thing to pursue; however, as the article indicated, without receiving the medical help from mental health service teams, it would be very hard to abandon substance abuse by themselves alone.
I feel that removing stigmatization associated with drug addiction would be the most challenging task to be practiced in reality. Therefore, I believe that more education or information sessions targeting the general public prepared by the mental health team focusing on drug addiction would be critical.
With regards to mental health treatment, do you know the specific treatment approaches or methods of mental health department in treating drug addiction?