Addiction is the dark cloud that exists in the lives of many families and many individuals. According to the “National Survey on Drugs and Health: 2019,” about 19.3 million Americans had a substance use disorder and of those 19.3 million 39% accounts for individuals ages 18 and 25. The types of substances included in this survey were illicit drugs, alcohol use, both drugs and alcohol combined and some people struggled with a mental health disorder while addicted to a substance.
Here are the treatments to receive when you are going through an addiction or if you know of someone who has an addiction.
Rehabilitation Centers : This is the most common form of treatment as it requires the individual to most likely stay in a home with other addicts and are asked to abstain from any substance use. The treatment is intense and can be short-term (3 months) or long term treatment (6 months). The centers could focus on spiritual support as well as biblical. The center is also run by AOD counselors, Therapists and some Clergy.
Harm reduction: Harm reduction is a form of treatment that reduces the amount of substances you are using in a controlled and clean setting with the assistance of professionals such as doctors and nurses who monitor the effects and physical reactions/withdrawals that occur when the substance is reduced.
Individual therapy: A treatment run by a clinical professional. Individual therapy is almost always recommended as it helps the individual process their need for substances and their desire to use. It focuses on the past trauma and how it has impacted their present and potentially their future.
Group therapy: A treatment run by a clinical professional. This form of therapy is also most often recommended as it gives former and current addicts a feeling of community and a feeling of support from others who have a similar walk of life.
Hollywood has told us the stories of addiction through the lives of fictional characters and real stories and has shown us the ugliness that can occur when this lifestyle is taken. I especially appreciate the impact substances have on the families depicted in the following films.
“Beautiful Boy”
As a parent myself, this film really pulled on my heart strings. It is the autobiography of a young boy who is addicted to methamphetamines and the struggles his father and mother go through trying to protect their addict son, protect their home and other kids from the addicted son and all while trying to be strong and trying not to blame themselves for their son’s addiction. This son and father are still very close and continue to speak to other addicts about their relationship, sons’ addiction and relapses.
Maid
This movie is all about survival and instinct. The main character in the film is a woman who has grown up in a home where her mother used prescription and nonprescription substances to alleviate her borderline personality. The main character also ends up having a child with a man she met and fell in love with who eventually starts to drink heavily and becomes emotionally abusive towards her and she is forced to leave to try and survive with her daughter in safety shelters, her car and with her unstable mother.
Four Good Days
This film follows the story of a mother and daughter who also have a difficult relationship in which the daughter has abused the help of her mother, has left her son with her mother, and cannot stop using meth. The daughter eventually signs up for a harm reduction form of treatment in which she is given medication to curb her cravings but needs to stay clean for 4 days before she can get the medication.
It is important that you are emotionally capable of watching movies such as these and even more recommended that you receive therapy if you are both a family member or someone struggling with addiction as it can trigger many emotions.