Author: tearj3rker

Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:13 pm

If you really want him off all opiates, then there are other ways people can get clean than opioid replacement therapy. There’s rehab / 12-steps / Smart-recovery / counselling / geographicals. Often a combination of different recovery tools CAN help some get off opioids. But he must choose to get off Suboxone himself if he’s to have any chance at success.

I have known people who have gone through a phase of opioid addiction who have managed to give up by their own accord (using "will power" could be a way of describing it). They were the people I was using heroin with in my early 20’s and who were addicted, then realised where their life was going and managed to escape.

But for most of the people here, and likely your husband too, we didn’t manage to pull out on our own. We find it a LOT harder to quit without help.

They’ve done some research into what separates those who can stop from those who can’t. Some factors they’ve identified are personality – impulsivity, difficulty delaying gratification, non-comformity, feeling socially alienated etc. Also there’s big indicators like having a mental illness, or an abusive upbringing. There is a lot more too. We all have our own unique mix of features that qualify us for the disease of addiction.

The idea that addiction is a behaviour that your husband can stop with willpower falls under the life-process model of addiction. It’s just another way of viewing the beast of addiction. Some people with addiction issues find the life-long label of addict discourages self-development and stigmatizes them. Believing they have a degree of will-power can help some addicts stay clean. But too much emphasis on this idea can make a recovering addict feel weak for relapsing, or struggling to get clean.

The disease model of addiction is the dominant way of viewing addiction at this point in history, and has its roots in the idea that addicts are born addicts, and that addiction is a disease that the addict has no power over. There’s also the biopsychosocial / medical model, which overlaps with the disease model in some ways, but takes a lot more factors into consideration.

Whatever way a person views addiction is up to the individual, and most people follow the model that works best for their recovery. It sounds like what’s happening between you and your husband, is that you have opposing views of addiction. Your husband is following the disease model, while you’re following the life-process model. As a result, there’s some friction. It’s REALLY important you guys get on the same page, whatever you do. Whatever view of addiction your husband finds helps him stay clean the most, try and support him in what he’s doing.

That is one way of putting it, I spose.

Maybe if you thought of it more like a nicotine patch, but for opioid addicts?

Author: tearj3rker

Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:13 pm

If you really want him off all opiates, then there are other ways people can get clean than opioid replacement therapy. There’s rehab / 12-steps / Smart-recovery / counselling / geographicals. Often a combination of different recovery tools CAN help some get off opioids. But he must choose to get off Suboxone himself if he’s to have any chance at success.

I have known people who have gone through a phase of opioid addiction who have managed to give up by their own accord (using "will power" could be a way of describing it). They were the people I was using heroin with in my early 20’s and who were addicted, then realised where their life was going and managed to escape.

But for most of the people here, and likely your husband too, we didn’t manage to pull out on our own. We find it a LOT harder to quit without help.

They’ve done some research into what separates those who can stop from those who can’t. Some factors they’ve identified are personality – impulsivity, difficulty delaying gratification, non-comformity, feeling socially alienated etc. Also there’s big indicators like having a mental illness, or an abusive upbringing. There is a lot more too. We all have our own unique mix of features that qualify us for the disease of addiction.

The idea that addiction is a behaviour that your husband can stop with willpower falls under the life-process model of addiction. It’s just another way of viewing the beast of addiction. Some people with addiction issues find the life-long label of addict discourages self-development and stigmatizes them. Believing they have a degree of will-power can help some addicts stay clean. But too much emphasis on this idea can make a recovering addict feel weak for relapsing, or struggling to get clean.

The disease model of addiction is the dominant way of viewing addiction at this point in history, and has its roots in the idea that addicts are born addicts, and that addiction is a disease that the addict has no power over. There’s also the biopsychosocial / medical model, which overlaps with the disease model in some ways, but takes a lot more factors into consideration.

Whatever way a person views addiction is up to the individual, and most people follow the model that works best for their recovery. It sounds like what’s happening between you and your husband, is that you have opposing views of addiction. Your husband is following the disease model, while you’re following the life-process model. As a result, there’s some friction. It’s REALLY important you guys get on the same page, whatever you do. Whatever view of addiction your husband finds helps him stay clean the most, try and support him in what he’s doing.

That is one way of putting it, I spose.

Maybe if you thought of it more like a nicotine patch, but for opioid addicts?