Chapter 9: Introduction
Introduction
In this chapter, we will explore the ways to recover and prevent substance abuse and addiction. We begin by an acknowledgment that drugs have been part of the human experience since prehistoric times. Yet today, we have a new lethality due to the growing number of drugs, the accessibility of drugs, and the huge global drug trade business all of which have led to waves of drug abuse epidemics resulting in the heart-breaking cost to individuals, families, and society.
Schools, communities, and organizations have designed and implemented many types of prevention programs some of which have worked better than others.
We will also explore the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as unprecedented global health, social and economic crisis and how it has impacted abuse and addiction.
Recovery from addiction, looks different for everyone and this can include many different doors to health and wellness.
These can include:
- formal treatment (inpatient, outpatient)
- medication (MMT – Methadone Maintenance Treatment, Suboxone)
- dietary changes
- exercise (gym, walking, meditation, yoga, Tai Chi, etc.)
- health issues (physical, mental, disease)
- meditation
- mutual help groups (AA {12 steps}, SMART Recovery, Celebrate Recovery,
- psycho-education groups {art, cooking, music, specific topics}
- faith-based engagement
- work with a counsellor
- psychotherapist
- psychiatrist
- multidiscipline team of professionals
- therapy (CBT, REBT, etc)
- RAAM Clinics (Rapid Access Addiction Medicine)
- cultural specific programs
- programs specific to a population (doctors, firefighters, police/law enforcement)
- programs offered in different languages
- socioeconomic status
- psychological and behavioural needs
- nature of their substance use disorder
Attribution:
This chapter contains material from Drugs, Health & Behavior by Jacqueline Schwab and Denise Salters is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, with minor revisions for clarity and ease of use, as well as a few additions.
