would be the best for success. When someone is diagnosed with cancer,
it is determined what kind of cancer the patient has and treatment
(chemotherapy) is tailored to treat it. Even in other mental illnesses,
there are different medications used to treat the variety of mental
illnesses there are. There is not a “one-size-fits-all” (Hampton, 2018,
p.93), but this is how addiction is being treated. The whole treatment
industry needs an overhaul, but that is for another time and maybe
another paper.
As for my son, it has been a journey for him. It has been a journey
for me and the rest of my family as well. His disease requires on-going
vigilance and attention. It has progressed, and he has had numerous trips
to inpatient treatment and has overdosed several times, being brought
back with naloxone (an opioid reversal drug). He has been in and out of
sober living homes and has relapsed often. His last relapse lasted ten
months, resulted in numerous overdoses, hospitalizations, incarcerations,
and he was homeless for a while, but he is alive, and as long as he is
alive, there is hope, another chance to get better and recover.
He is currently not using any substances but is not involved in any
kind of prevention to abstain from substance use, such as counseling or a
twelve-step program, but one more day sober means one more day his
brain heals. He is so much more than his disease or the stigma that
surrounds it. He is a talented, loving, and wonderful human being and
my greatest teacher.