Addiction, Mental Health and a Society That Fails to Understand Either

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http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/712396-Addiction-Mental-Health-and-a-Society-That-Fails-to-Understand-Either

neversickanymore

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Join Date Jan 2013 Location babysitting the argument in my head Posts 6,873

Yesterday 16:36

 

The amazing

stardust.hero

found and posted this but i thought she may also like it in DitM.

Addiction, Mental Health and a Society That Fails to Understand Either

Philip Seymour Hoffman died yesterday. He was found with a needle still wedged into his arm, heroin believed to be the culprit.

When I heard of his passing yesterday, it hit me in the gut a little bit. Not because I know him, not because I know his family members or friends. Not, much to the dismay of what some may believe, because he was an award winning actor.

It hit me because he isn't the only face of addiction, he is just the most recent one. He's just the face that most people recognize, the one that we were familiar with, the one that we came to love through his work on the screen.

Whenever someone famous dies, there seems to be this immediate attempt by far too many people to make their life and death insignificant, as though the death of a celebrity somehow negates the death of all the other people who died on that given day. People attempt to place more value on the lives of some people, less on others, claiming that the celebration of the death of a celebrity is a misplaced outlaying of our efforts. I argue the opposite, obviously, particularly in situations like this one where there is so much opportunity for us to learn about addiction, about mental illness, about why lives end this tragic way.

The opportunity is there, without question. The issue is whether we, as a society choose to seize it, or whether we chalk this loss up to drug use and wave it off indifferently as another selfish life wasted.

It seems we do the latter.

Plenty of opportunities have been presented to us in the past, of lives abruptly ended this way. Of people who happen to be famous, but also struggle with the same demons that many of us ordinary folks do, meeting sudden death in this way.

Philip became addicted to heroin after struggling with abusing prescription pain medications, an all too familiar and increasingly common path to this addiction. This is not the addiction we want to think it is, the sordid one that happens in alleys, nor is it one reserved only for those in positions of privilege. Heroin doesn't discriminate. Its use is up 75% in the past few years, and the demographics of the users have shifted.

It's easier to think that drug addiction happens to other people, to them, over there. Reality tells us that it happens far more often than we want to believe. It's a false sense of security.

Chances are that someone you know is addicted to drugs right now, you just may not realize it.

Or you do know, but you hide their addiction because of the social stigma.

Or you don't hide it, but you shame them instead.

Or you don't shame them, but you slowly phase them out of your life because you don't want to be around them anymore or because you just can't do it anymore.

Or you keep them around, but talk about them behind their backs, discuss how sad it is that they refuse to get help, vow to be better than they are.

Or they do try to get help and sometimes they get better for a while.

Or they relapse and die just like he did yesterday.

The trouble with drug addiction is that it really isn't about the drugs, no matter how much most people seem to believe that. Drug addiction is a means to an end. It begins usually as a way to try something new, to try and get high, to try and transport yourself somewhere else, to try and just feel better for a minute.

Most drug use is self medication for the things that people either can't or won't cope with in real life. The root of most of all that? Mental health conditions, the huge piece of this issue that we find ourselves ignoring all too often every time drugs are involved.

Nancy Reagan taught us all that drugs are bad. D.A.R.E. programs taught us that users are criminals, they are bad people. No one ever bothered to tell us that the vast majority of them were in need of help from a mental health system that largely doesn't exist.

And you know what happened?

People believed them. I can't even begin to tell you all the things I saw flying through my newsfeed yesterday in the wake of his death. Proclamations that he was selfish, that he was a waste, that he should have been happy because he was rich and famous. People who decreed from the mountaintops that if he would have just tried harder, he would have been better. That it's his fault that he died.

In reality, he struggled with depression most of his life. He got clean. He was recently in rehab.

Addicts don't want to be addicts.

Addicts don't want to die.

Addicts don't want to throw their lives away.

Addicts don't want their children to grow up without parents.

They just want to feel better. They just want to feel normal. They just want to stop feeling everything else for a little while.

Addicts are people, just like you and me.

Addicts come in all forms, dependent on many different things, drugs just being one version of dependence.

The problem is that our system is limited, laboring under the illusion that drug addiction is a criminal issue, a medical issue on the fringes that can be fixed with proper rehab. That all ignores the fact that drugs aren't the problem...what led that person to drugs in the first place is the problem. The drugs are just a means to an end.

Rehab doesn't fix addicts. It primarily treats the physical symptoms of withdrawal.

Prison doesn't fix addicts. It just puts them in a cage for a while.

Even death doesn't fix addicts. It just leaves the people who love them here, forever wondering how different things might have been.

The only way to really deal with addiction is one that is multi-faceted, one that makes us uncomfortable. It is messy and complicated and takes a lifetime of effort. It sometimes involves relapses and second chances and third chances. It involves support, sometimes sponsors. It involves therapy and counseling until whatever the root cause is has been revealed and addressed. It involves consideration of not just the physical withdrawal, but the emotional withdrawal, the social withdrawal, the psychological withdrawal. It requires a mental health system with adequate resources, which clearly doesn't exist. It requires us to do better. It requires support instead of judgement.

And sometimes, even when all those things exist, it fails. It fails because addiction can take people and swallow them whole. It can rob them of everything they value, everyone they love. It can strip them of everything they care about, rob them of reason and logic. It can convince them that they aren't worthy, that they have failed not just themselves, but everyone else. It tells them that they are broken and irreparable. Then it shoves them back down and does it again.

Our society says it failed because they didn't try hard enough, because they were selfish, because they were stupid.

How exactly is saying things like this going to help anyone?

The short answer - it isn't. It just allows us to believe that if we try hard enough, if we care about other people enough, if we are smart enough, we can avoid addiction. Our false sense of security hurts those who need help the most.

Never mind the damage done to the people they leave behind.

To those who claim Philip's death isn't tragic, I ask you to think about his children. I'm sure they would disagree with you.

Until you've been there, you can't know what it is like.

Until you've watched someone you love try and claw their way out only to be dragged back in again, you can't know what it is like.

Until you've seen someone throw everything away just to feel better for a moment, you can't know what it is like.

Until you've dealt with someone desperately in need of help who turned to self medicating instead, you can't know what it is like.

Until you've had to tease out where the line between believing in someone and enabling them is, you can't know what it is like.

Until you've had to make choices no one should ever have to make, you can't know what it is like.

Until you've done all you can to help someone who doesn't want it, you can't know what it is like.

We all have our demons. We all have our issues.

Many of us are closer to being addicts than we would ever admit out loud.

Some of us know how easy it would be to turn.

Some of us are addicts already.

Some of us already walk the line.

Rest in peace, Philip. I hope you've found some now. My love to all those who loved you.

some real good stuff here and I subscribed to her >>

http://debiehive.blogspot.com/2014/0...d-society.html

 

[Halif]

Great article.

What I find really strange is the dichotomy in Australia where there are incresingly efforts to bring issues like depression, anxiety, eating issues, etc out into the open. There government run campaigns and institutions like Beyond Blue. Somewhere, in some way, people are trying.

The reason I mentioned a dichotomy is that my experience of trying to use these services has more often than not, hit a dead end very quickly. Sometimes the people on the phones are well meaning, but simply do not have the experience of demeanor to keep that person on the line and help them believe that they still have choices. Same with doctors at all levels - I'm afraid to say that in total I've seen five people who specialised in depression and addiction - who you get can boost your forward and make you think you really can do something about the situation.

But I can say two of the five I saw fit that category, two others were indifferent, and one was actually negligent and dangerous. Having waiting months, gone through a GP to a psychologist, and finally to a psychiatrist, it was a huge blow to my confidence to find myself face to face with a man whose 13 years of theoretical practice seemed to have stripped him of any human empathy. In one of his sessions he actually said, in a head-masterly tone :" You're very lucky to have gotten away with possessing and using illicit drugs for these last few years. YOu could be behind bars". Was that supposed to help me? Scare me silly, perhaps? A lot of these practitioners are out of touch with reality and cleary have no idea whatsoever about what it means to be suicidally depressed. Scolding someone who is at the very edge is akin to telling them that they may as well just jump of the nearest building.

Money is another wall. A Great Wall. If you can't afford upfront fees to see specialists and rely on bulk-billing, then you frequently find that there's a waiting list. My shortest wait was a month (and that was pretty fast), but previously it was10 months, and once even over a year. A poster on another board I have been in touch with is suffering through Akathisia - constant torment and the inability to stop moving or get comfortable or concentrate. Medication like benzos actually result in an atypical effect, making it worse.

Quite understandably, he's in hell. We text or talk via PM and I'm amazed at his circumstances. In his own words, he said he doesn't know how he is even keeping this up. He called beyond blue and they recommended seeing a nerve specialist - but the onus was back on him to find one close by, who doesn't have months and months of waiting, and who bulk bills.

There are efforts being made to draw attention to the prevelance of these issues, but unfortunately for the moment they are mostly facades which don't go anywhere - at least not quickly. In the case of my Akathisia suffering friend, I am really concerned for his well being. There's NOTHING I can do about it.

It would be nice to see these systems developed so that there was actual support and follow through as well as a priority system. Some people just won't be around by the time there 6month long wait to see a specialist is over.

[Anodyne]

That was just what I needed to read today. Thankyou Kelly for these thoughtful words.

Our health system is badly flawed, but it is NOTHING compared to what some of my American friends put up with. However if Abbott gets his way we could soon follow them down the drain.

[Chrissy Star]

The media and reporters are pretty ignorant - there failures in acknowledging Philip show that the story is not focusing on him at all, but sensationalising one event in his life (which just happens to be the last event in his life). I would like to acknowledge that Philip was a man who lived side by side with others just like you and me, and that who he was as a person is what is really the focus in reading of his death. Philip contributed to our society in ways that only he could and this will be honoured through his memory, these gifts from him to us all through acting are appreciated and will be missed. Only people that were close have a right to discus more personal topics. This includes whether he partook in heroin use or not, also whether he publicly chose to discuss this and related topics such as addiction. It is no one else's business unless you are given the right to make it your business. This is because disgusting labels laden with toxic shame are disrespectful and pirate personal profiles so easily, such blanket concepts show a complete lack of responsibility in knowledge transference, it is almost an assured lie, like saying that a young black male will have stolen that car because there is little chance he could afford it and that's what is usually the case when it comes to expensive cars and young black people.

Sure, statistics can collect data about Philip's life which may be useful in understanding societal patterns, but c'mon, are you people serious in being so tunnel visioned when it comes to Philip that this is all you associate with when you hear that he has passed?

Don't you think that he was a little more than just a "needle in the arm" or an "addict" (is this what he would have described himself as?). Obviously you don't know anything about him if this is what you see. Unless of course he devoted his life to developing an addiction and it was his chosen "career path". Or he was the "don't do it" poster boy and devoted a large part of his life to portraying what it is like to live with an addiction. But if he didn't broadcast it or give permission to do so - what right does another have to do so?

If you would like to talk about your life with an addiction, or how addiction has personally been involved in your life, go ahead. But don't assume that it is anything like anyone else's life or that you can talk for anyone else on the subject, not without their permission, that's for sure!! Maybe someone can take a mental note, that when you pass over you can be remembered through your woes in not feeling comfortable with other's life choices and that addiction was of particular concern for you. (Of course, no other aspect of you should be mentioned, because nothing else about your life matters, right?)

Sorry, but I just feel so bad for anyone who knew this man or any of the people who could take something from his contributions to our society - all the positives are ripped away and dissolve into nothingness with posts like this. It really is abhorrent to read.

Sweetie, if you got addiction problems, go get help and sort yourself out, don't transfer what pain you feel to others, and don't disguise it as being about another person by using their name instead of yours. What is your full and real name anyway, we know Philips and acknowledge him, why not you too, you are just as important, even if you are not actor. Or are you? Better still, you can be the poster boy/girl for addiction. Your contributions to our society will (I'm sure you would believe) save lives. We can all thank you when you die and remember you by this.

[Halif]

The problem is that our system is limited, laboring under the illusion that drug addiction is a criminal issue, a medical issue on the fringes that can be fixed with proper rehab. That all ignores the fact that drugs aren't the problem...what led that person to drugs in the first place is the problem. The drugs are just a means to an end.

That's the most pertinent line of the article when looking at the broader picture.

It is infuriating to realise that many people, including those high up in the ranks, have absorbed this view to the point where they cannot see otherwise. I've been waiting for many, many years to see a doctor of health hold a session with me which revolved around my past and present circumstances and how it came to be this way.

Rather, they are obsessed with the drug use itself, and how to get you out of your routine and into THEIR routine - which itself frequently involves drugs. I've had anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, and methadone pushed upon me quite heavy handedly without ever being asked once why I started taking opiates in the first place.

The core of the thing, the very root cause, gets brushed aside and most doctors seem obsessed with taking control of your experience of life by telling what you can and can't use. The greatest irony and show of ignorance came from a psychiatrist who has 13 years of specialist training under his belt. He swore black and blue that taking heroin was going to kill me - probably soon. Note: he didn't ask how much I was using or how I was using it, let alone why. He wouldn't listen to anything I said but mainted that my only hope was to get on the methadone program.

This kind of broke my brain. He was adamant about it in an almost feverish way. I could not fathom it until it dawned on me: He sees methadone as a medicine and heroin as a drug which is dirty and depraved. I've heard enough from friends to know that I will never go on methadone. The psych could not understand the fact that I wanted some iota of control over my use. Just because I buy a gram of H today, doesn't mean I'm gonna cain it. I'll use it regularly, sure, but I'll use it when I feel it's necessary.

I don't want to have my life over to a pharmacy who tells me when and how much to take...

[Francois le Danque]

Don't forget, methadone is harder to withdraw from than heroin!

My favourite part is about how

he should have been happy because he was rich and famous...if he just tried harder, he would have been better.

Don't you think the rich and famous are the ones with the highest ability to try? Here we have a fellow with boundless money (assumedly), a fair bit of free time, and the invulnerability to police action that famous people seem to carry, even when their (particularly drug-related) crimes are very public.

Compare this with your stereotypical street junkie; no money, no time, targeted by police. So, by the reasoning of the Haters, Mr Hoffman had all the opportunity in the world to relinquish his addiction. Guess what?? It didn't work! So obviously addiction isn't cured by simply "trying harder". Don't you think if he is a world famous actor he would have tried his best?

Some people are incapable of logic.

OR maybe he (heaven forfend) didn't even want to quit. Maybe he wasn't even addicted and this was just an accident. Who knows?