We can safely take for granted that a doctor treating your back pain isn’t going to determine the course of care based on whether she thinks you’ll fully commit to getting better. She isn’t likely to start treatment with a contract stating that the only way to stay in treatment is to commit to doing everything she requires and reaching total recovery. She isn’t going to set arbitrary parameters for how fast you should recover.
It’s also safe to assume that your quest to get care for back pain won’t carry negative connotations or stigma. You aren’t worried about being seen walking in and out of physical therapy. You don’t get sideways glances from co-workers when you tell them that you finally started addressing your bad back. You won’t be judged as a person for having back pain or giving in to its control over your daily life. If you stop going to treatment and just decide to manage things on your own, there’s a high likelihood you can go back to physical therapy again whenever you’re ready.
This is a far cry from the experience of most people seeking treatment for substance use disorder (SUD). SUD is a chronic medical disorder characterized by alterations in the functioning of the brain caused by prolonged substance exposure. It is most common in people with genetic, environmental, and developmental risk factors. The primary result is a rewiring of the brain’s reward processing, and changes to what motivates and prioritizes behavior, mood, and executive functions.
Like any chronic condition, treatment of SUD requires assessment, diagnosis, and a longer-term individualized treatment plan aimed at achieving outcomes and improving quality of life. Evidence strongly supports that SUD, and specifically opioid use disorder (OUD), is best treated through a combination of coordinated treatment and therapy incorporating medication. In some cases, there may be underlying conditions that need attention, both physical and psychiatric. There’s no strict medical definition of “cured,” and every patient faces differing challenges, and differing definitions of success, related to living with the condition.
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Because it affects the brain, and in some cases carries a risk of death, nobody would argue that SUD is less serious than back pain, and it can be objectively quantified as one of the most serious chronic conditions Americans face.
If we know that SUD has a disproportionately high health toll on individuals, and its toll also impacts entire communities, why hasn’t health infrastructure for treatment of SUD been a top priority until recently? The answer lies with stigma.
Source: Hitconsultant