Suboxone, a New Treatment Paradigm: Part One
Suboxone, a New Treatment Paradigm: Part One
Suboxone is a relatively new medication for opiate dependence that will result in a sea change in addiction treatment. Physicians currently prescribing suboxone are aware of the usefulness of this medication, and news of the medication has reached ‘the street’ to such an extent that opiate addicts often call addictionologists and ask for the drug by name. Word of mouth is spreading the news about suboxone without the benefit (or need) of television commercials. My experiences with suboxone make me wonder if we are at the verge of an entirely new approach to opiate addiction, and in turn to other addictions as well.
The traditional approach to drug addiction treats all substances as essentially the same. Yes, the addict does develop a ‘love relationship’ with his/her substance, but the substance’s sister, brother, aunt, or uncle can easily step in and take the place of the drug of choice in a process called ‘cross addiction’. This is one reason why traditional treatment demands sobriety from ALL substances, but there is a more complicated reason as well. The addict, over time, becomes hyper-aware of his/her mood, comfort level, and anxiety. The addict constantly ‘checks in’ somatically, asking ‘am I going up? Or ‘am I (oh no!) coming down? Every bead of sweat may portend the pain of withdrawal. Every ache is a new excuse to use. The addict takes comfort in the ‘4-hour schedule’ of use; an internal clock becomes all-important, and eventually the only thing that really matters. Sobriety and recovery demand that the addict learn to take life on life’s terms, and give up the obsession with symptoms and medications. Sobriety will ‘extinguish’ the learned obsession with symptoms over time—sometimes a great deal of time. As the obsession fades, the addict takes steps away from relapse. But if the addict uses a new substance that changes perception, even a substance like diphenhydramine that is not addictive, the old attention to feelings and symptoms returns. Many addicts are aware of an ‘addict’ frame of mind and a ‘sober’ frame of mind; a drug that causes the addict to look inward and focus again on symptoms can trigger the addict mindset to re-appear. And once the addict is back, it can be very difficult to return to the mindset of sobriety.
The need for total sobriety no doubt keeps some addicts from asking for help, and there are other addicts who ask for help but simply cannot maintain sobriety from all substances despite multiple trials of treatment. To widen the appeal and utility of addiction treatment, other treatment models have appeared, including an approach that has been called ‘harm reduction’. The harm reduction approach helps the addict find ways to reduce his/her intake and so reduce the harm that inevitably results from heavy or uncontrolled use. By introducing ‘drink counting’ and other behavioral techniques, harm reduction has similarities to cognitive therapy. Regarding the various traditional treatment approaches, there are patients who would clearly do better in one vs. another approach, and there also patients who would benefit from either approach. Specifically, some people use or drink in an almost nihilistic fashion—every episode of drinking characterized by drinking to total oblivion. I would favor complete sobriety for these individuals, because the cognitive changes made in treatment will likely be obliterated by the first drink. On the other hand, a patient with a 20-year long smoldering addiction facing his first DUI may be a good candidate for a harm reduction approach. In such a case, alcohol is a major part of the addict’s personality, and the idea of total sobriety after one offense would be a difficult sell. But with education about changes in tolerance with aging, and an introduction to drink counting, the patient may do well for another 20 years.
There are problems with traditional treatments, beginning with the simple observation that relapse rates have always been high. The high relapse rate has implications for addiction that go beyond treatment methods, as I will explain later. Another problem with traditional methods is that they require significant motivation from patients–motivation that must be accessible over and over throughout patients’ entire lives. Finally, some degree of detoxification is usually required before tradition treatments, requiring expensive medical services that may be far removed from the treatment center. The specter of detox and withdrawal are major roadblocks to treatment. Withdrawal is a unique experience, difficult to compare to other dysphoric experiences. Physical symptoms include headache, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, abdominal cramping, diarrhea, and muscle spasms of the legs that result in involuntary movement. The withdrawing person usually feels profoundly depressed and anxious.
Pages: 1 2