Medicated Assisted Treatment:
A Starting Phase to Recovery Between 26 and 36 million people abuse opioids in the world (Volkow 2014) and every nineteen minutes someone in the United States dies from an opioid overdose (CDC 2012). A person often continues their use of opioids despite negative consequences due to the fear of withdrawal and lack of coping skills. Medication assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction is an option which stops withdrawal symptoms, provides stability and accountability for the individual and can help guide a person to a healthy, stable and productive life. Despite the success and demand for MAT, it “remains grossly underutilized in many addiction treatment settings, where stigma and negative attitudes …show more content…
It is also not responsible to allow patients to continue MAT indefinitely without incorporating other treatment methods and without a plan to move on. Addiction is “cunning, baffling [and] powerful” (Alcoholics Anonymous 58), and is classified as a disease by most health care professionals. According to Merriam-Webster, the term “addiction” means the, “compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal” (“Addiction”). Addiction is very complex; it “manifests in three distinct ways: craving for the object of addiction, loss of control over its use, and continuing involvement with it despite adverse consequences” (Harvard Medical School). Individuals may become addicted to opioids, which include prescription pain killers and heroin, from prescriptions, through self-medication for injury or mental health illness, peer-pressure and for a myriad of other reasons. Through continued use, scientists have found that addiction causes changes to the brains structure and function, “addiction hijacks the brain… …show more content…
Until the 1960’s, incarceration and two hospitals in the United States were the only treatment options for individuals with opioid addiction and the relapse rate was nearly 100% (Joseph, Stanfliff and Langrod). During the 1960’s death rates for those using heroin skyrocketed from 7.2 per 10,000 to 35.8 per 10,000 between 1950 and 1961 in New York City, drug-related diseases were spreading rapidly and crime rates were at an all-time high (Joseph, Stanfliff and Langrod). Many researchers and medical professionals felt that “although a drug-free state represents an optimal treatment goal, research has demonstrated that this goal cannot be achieved or sustained by the majority of opiate-dependent people. However, other laudable treatment goals including decreased drug use, reduced criminal activity, and gainful employment can be achieved by most MAT patients” (National Institute of Health Consensus Development Conference Statement). Treating addiction as a moral failing or lack of willpower and incarcerating or hospitalizing addicts in mental institutes was not working and something needed to change. Methadone, one of the medications used for MAT, was developed as a research project to respond to this heroin epidemic (Joseph, Stanfliff and Langrod). Methadone is a full agonist; it activates the opioid receptors and
A Starting Phase to Recovery Between 26 and 36 million people abuse opioids in the world (Volkow 2014) and every nineteen minutes someone in the United States dies from an opioid overdose (CDC 2012). A person often continues their use of opioids despite negative consequences due to the fear of withdrawal and lack of coping skills. Medication assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction is an option which stops withdrawal symptoms, provides stability and accountability for the individual and can help guide a person to a healthy, stable and productive life. Despite the success and demand for MAT, it “remains grossly underutilized in many addiction treatment settings, where stigma and negative attitudes …show more content…
It is also not responsible to allow patients to continue MAT indefinitely without incorporating other treatment methods and without a plan to move on. Addiction is “cunning, baffling [and] powerful” (Alcoholics Anonymous 58), and is classified as a disease by most health care professionals. According to Merriam-Webster, the term “addiction” means the, “compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal” (“Addiction”). Addiction is very complex; it “manifests in three distinct ways: craving for the object of addiction, loss of control over its use, and continuing involvement with it despite adverse consequences” (Harvard Medical School). Individuals may become addicted to opioids, which include prescription pain killers and heroin, from prescriptions, through self-medication for injury or mental health illness, peer-pressure and for a myriad of other reasons. Through continued use, scientists have found that addiction causes changes to the brains structure and function, “addiction hijacks the brain… …show more content…
Until the 1960’s, incarceration and two hospitals in the United States were the only treatment options for individuals with opioid addiction and the relapse rate was nearly 100% (Joseph, Stanfliff and Langrod). During the 1960’s death rates for those using heroin skyrocketed from 7.2 per 10,000 to 35.8 per 10,000 between 1950 and 1961 in New York City, drug-related diseases were spreading rapidly and crime rates were at an all-time high (Joseph, Stanfliff and Langrod). Many researchers and medical professionals felt that “although a drug-free state represents an optimal treatment goal, research has demonstrated that this goal cannot be achieved or sustained by the majority of opiate-dependent people. However, other laudable treatment goals including decreased drug use, reduced criminal activity, and gainful employment can be achieved by most MAT patients” (National Institute of Health Consensus Development Conference Statement). Treating addiction as a moral failing or lack of willpower and incarcerating or hospitalizing addicts in mental institutes was not working and something needed to change. Methadone, one of the medications used for MAT, was developed as a research project to respond to this heroin epidemic (Joseph, Stanfliff and Langrod). Methadone is a full agonist; it activates the opioid receptors and