What Sparked The Change In Opiate Addiction Treatment?
It used to be that those who suffered from drug addiction were considered to have a major problem with will-power…or “won’t” power, to be more specific. Everyone—medical professionals included—thought that all it took to quit using drugs was to “just say no.” As time went on and research results came in, it became much more clear: drug addiction was a chronic disease with medical characteristics and, like other chronic diseases, it was prone to relapse or recur even when it had seemingly been abolished for a time.
Dr. Charles A. Dackis is the chief of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center-Presbyterian. He says: “There has been a revolution in the way we view addiction. It’s being seen now as a disease of the reward centers of the brain, much like pneumonia is seen as a disease of the lungs.”
Neurobiology of the function of the brain under the influence of drugs is the subject of study now. There are fundamental changes in the way the brain functions that change when drugs are used. These effects can last for hours, days, weeks and years after drug use has stopped. Some changes are permanent. The causes and extent of the disease in the pleasure centers of the brain and nervous system are currently being researched.
Says Dr. Eric J. Nestler, chairman of the department of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern medical center: “We now know the changes these drugs cause in the brain at the molecular level that lead to addiction. Because of imaging studies we know where to focus, and that’s a brand new advance.”
This great change in the categorization of drug use also changed the way in which drug addicts are viewed: no longer a pariah of society, a drug addict is no a victim of a disease. The stigma associated with drug addiction is starting to turn but in some realms of society, it’s taking a little bit longer than others. This is why drug treatment centers like Meditox are so important. Now people who have only been using for a short period—especially those who don’t use drugs recreationally but acquired an addiction through prescription use—can get free of that addiction without advertising the problem to the world. The best way to fight bad publicity is to avoid it in the first place.
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