A Harmful Misconception

Anna Stanley believes that the world of addiction recovery services has taken a long time to catch up with the science of treatment. Abstinence-based practices have long been the only methods acknowledged by addiction counseling professionals who saw medication as a crutch, rather than a valid tool to aid recovery.

The argument against medication-assistance therapy is now weakening due to evidence that these programs are in act more effective than counseling alone. In 2015, President Obama voiced the need for health care providers to expand medication-assisted treatment options. Stanley, who serves as program coordinator at Morse Clinic’s Chatham Recovery, says it was an important step in bringing national attention to a harmful misconception.

“It’s time to raise awareness that maintenance programs are an FDA approved, completely legitimate method for treating addiction,” Stanley says. “Opioid addiction is an epidemic and we need to use the most effective form of treatment.”

Stanley regularly deals with the stigma surrounding medication-based treatment, even having faced a client’s enraged mother who thought the treatment would keep her son addicted. She often has to explain to family members that a patient is still sober while taking their dosage of methadone or buprenorphine.

“Sometimes people think we’re licensed drug dealers. That couldn’t be further from the truth,” Stanley explains. “These aren’t the same drugs you get on the street. This is government approved medication, just like taking insulin for diabetes.”

Morse Clinics provides resources for family members to understand the physical changes that occur in the brain through addiction and how these changes are treated by medication. They hope that educating family members will prevent them from imposing shame on the recovering patient and instead create a supportive, compassionate environment.

On a larger scale, Stanley also educates court systems who voice concern about the safety and side-effects of medication-assistance therapy .

She explains that properly administered methadone and buprenorphine doses are safe and highly-effective. Methadone is a full opioid agonist and buprenorphine is a partial agonist—this allows them to mimic the effects of an opioid without the euphoria, withdrawal symptoms, or cravings. Getting patients to this stage is crucial before starting any counseling or behavioral therapy. As a counselor, Stanley knows the difficulty of working with someone who’s in withdrawal. They usually have trouble sitting through a therapy session or functioning at the level needed to make behavioral changes.

 “It’s not their fault. Withdrawal for opioids has some of the worst symptoms. Patients tell me they wish they were dead rather than go through that pain,” Stanley says.
 

She stresses, however, that medication alone will not sustain recovery in the long-run. Once a client is stable, it’s important for them to begin counseling and behavioral therapy to maintain employment, repair relationships and create other positive lifestyle changes. The center works with each individual to make a treatment plan which includes a balance of medical treatment and behavioral therapy.
 

“It’s not a magic medication,” Stanley explains. “Any recovery requires a lot of effort from the patient, but medicine can bring them to a place where they can function well enough to put in the necessary work.”