Breaking the Cycle: A Compassionate Approach to Addiction and Substance Use Treatment

Substance use and addiction are not isolated issues but rather society's problems with a profound impact across all avenues of life. The deadly, costly, and relationship-ruining nature of addictions is a societal concern that we all need to be aware of and take responsibility for. Drug misuse often stems from an individual's struggle with pain, and without intervention, these traumas are passed down to future generations, affecting society as a whole. It's our collective responsibility to address this issue, and each of us plays a crucial role in this societal narrative.

And yet, to the collective psyche, it's not the drugs themselves that are the most harmful, but the toxic messages and narratives surrounding drug use. The narratives society constructs around illicit drug use are often internalized by individuals, shaping their perceptions of themselves and, ultimately, their choices to continue misusing, or colors how and when to seek help. Internalizing shame can make it difficult for people to seek support, as they may fear judgment instead of the compassionate understanding they need. And they fear for good reasons: many people in the field of addiction and recovery, and those who profit from them, continue abusive and coercive styles of treatment despite evidence that these approaches don't lead to positive, sustained change.

Impact of stories
Understanding the power of these societal narratives is crucial for us to be more empathetic towards those struggling with addiction and to build better resources and care. To develop more communities of empathy and compassion, we must understand where we're getting the narrative wrong. Recognizing the harm in our collective shadow can move us closer to responding with compassion.

Even if we do not inherit a family history of addiction, we're all susceptible to overuse of substances that ultimately harm us (sugar, technology, porn, pills.) The constant encouragement to consume, prevalent in our society, fuels the economy and capitalism, making resisting challenging. Understanding this societal pressure can help us be more empathetic and understanding towards those who struggle with addiction. We need to recognize everyday pressure and living conditions while acknowledging the disparities among wide-ranging communities and support. We must approach these issues with empathy and understanding rather than judgment or blame.

We shift our narratives surrounding substance use and addiction by recognizing that shame and stigma serve no one beyond keeping the problems static, systems of othering intact, and humans continue to struggle and suffer. We can move beyond outdated, harmful narratives by acknowledging that in today's world, with an overwhelming sense of anxiety and fear, we will inevitably seek an escape from what is uncomfortable and overconsume things that feel pleasurable. We're human, after all.

Escape, pleasure, and connection
Choose your vice, whether it's binge-watching Netflix, enjoying cocktails at happy hour, or using heroin to unwind for the day. As emotional creatures, we always try to achieve some feeling or nonfeeling state. The economy buzzes on productivity; whether you get there with coffee, methamphetamine, or Adderall, who cares? We tend to evaluate which is better or worse, labeling others' choices compared to our own. Othering, a process of comparison and judgment, leads to social exclusion and stigma.

We're all grappling with our coping mechanisms, doing our best to navigate life's challenges. Sometimes, it's overwhelming, and we haven't been taught how to cope or have the resources to help us get there. We need to understand and question the narratives we have about people who are struggling with drug or alcohol addiction. Not all stories are the same. When you examine almost everything a little closer, it makes so much more sense.

Despite being a millennial, I'm a strong proponent of real life being lived offline. We need to get together beyond screens: When we live most of our lives in in-person communities, we surround ourselves with people, and naturally, we are more likely to understand and connect. Without enough real-life context and connection, humans are prone to blame, shame, and distance from others or even themselves.

Humanism
To be humanistic is to celebrate the vast complexities of what it means to be human and act with responsibility to create a just and flourishing world. Humanistic care is not just a fundamental human right; it's necessary for all humanity to thrive, individually and collectively. The urgency of humanistic care in the field of addiction cannot be overstated, and we must prioritize this approach in our efforts to address addiction and mental health issues. 

Humanistic approaches offer a compassionate and nonjudgemental approach to understanding an individual's situation, putting it in the appropriate context, and allowing people to grow behind their challenges.

We all need humanistic interactions and care, and people who have been traumatized, forgotten, scapegoated, and use drugs to cope are most deserving of such care. We can start by recognizing that we're not seeing the whole picture when we scapegoat substance users and people struggling with addiction. We only move beyond our problems when we realize where we contribute to them—not just enabling but labeling. When we "other" people, we distance ourselves from them, often escalating the issue and limiting understanding.

Addressing the root causes of trauma and addiction takes time and investment. Insurance companies need to move beyond short-term treatment modalities. Problems that took years to develop often take years to undo. Real recovery takes time and is worth the investment.

Remove "addict" from your vocabulary.
The term "addict" reduces a whole person down to a single behavior, and in doing this, portrays people as "less than" those who do not struggle with addiction. Clients who use drugs often internalize the negative belief that society makes about them as 'bad,' effectively making them the scapegoat for society's issues. Scapegoating and blaming people unfairly for problems they didn't cause displaces system-wide issues onto an individual. In the context of addiction, individuals are often scapegoated for broader societal problems such as poverty, crime, and public health concerns.

What can you do to create a more empathetic community for people struggling with addiction? Get involved. Learn beyond the stigmas. Notice your language. Question the stories. Think beyond what others told you about you. Consider the pain beyond the behavior. At the core of it all, ask what the real 'problem' is.

In substance abuse counseling, with those afflicted with both shame and stigma for their drug use, I've noticed that the core of the disease is the shame. My clients started believing the narrative that others wrote about them. In psychotherapy for substance abuse, depression, or trauma, I help individuals identify and rewrite old painful narratives and make their life stories their own. Trauma-focused psychotherapy includes this process to move beyond anxiety, depression, complex grief, and substance misuse. The most toxic part of substance use disease is that society or someone else told you who you were; the problem started when you believed them.