Peter T. Seal is President of the Southern Colorado Alliance of
the National Alliance of Methadone Advocates (SCA-NAMA) in
Colorado Springs, CO. He has worked in the field of methadone
as a counselor and trainer for over 15 years.
How many times have you heard that before?!
Little did we know! It seems the world is full of Freudian
Slips – we often know more than we know we know! Thoroughly
confused?
What I’m talking about is that it really is “ALL IN YOUR HEAD”!
Think about it – how for years we’ve all been told “It’s only in
your head”, and “You’ve just got to get your head together.” All
that time, all those people (your parents, friends, treatment
professionals, etc.) were talking about the correct general
area, but thinking in terms of psychological issues, instead
of chemical issues. The brain chemistry IS where the problem
lies. Their overall understanding was far off base!
Your addiction/disease has nothing to do with beliefs, morals or
attitudes. It is the BRAIN CHEMISTRY -the metabolic processes
that are deranged, and NOT the psychological condition in our
heads. It is this lack of understanding that prevents nearly all
of us from achieving success in recovery.
Think about it – have you read any research articles on
neurotransmitters? The reason that drugs make us feel better or
normal is because of their chemical action in the brain. Does
it not make sense that the daily use of a substance whose
chamical action is in the brain would eventually change the way
the brain works? For example, lets say that for 2 years a
person injected insulin every day. Eventually the body would
say, “I’ve got all this extra insulin floating around I guess
I’m making too much. Better cut back on the insulin
manufacturing.” That is what happens to your brain when you put
drugs into it daily. From some drugs we can recover and
eventually the brain will return to normal. Unfortunately, for
heroin use this does not seem to be the case – the damage is
permanent for some people. For others who have been dependent
on heroin the damage is a matter of degree. They may feel fine
under normal circumstances, but should a crisis occur – whether
physical as in a medical condition, or psychological as in the
death of a close friend or family member, change/loss of job,
divorce, or any life crisis – they are unable to respond within
the normal range. This eventually leads to relapse. So, does
not heroin, cocaine, alcohol or any other drug usage change a
person’s BRAIN CHEMISTRY??
Isn’t that what Drs. Vincent Dole, Marie Nyswander, and Mary
Jeanne Kreek said before and after discovering methadone
maintenance treatment thirty years ago, back in 1963?! When are
we going to get it?? What the hell is “rebound effect”,
“protracted withdrawal” and relapse in general? The first two
are nothing but the fact that your brain chemistry is still
expecting extra drugs. The last one is your brain may never be
normal and you just can’t take it anymore, so you relapse. And,
in fact, your brain may never have been normal to start with,
but that is for genetics and science to answer. However, it is
looking more and more like some individuals are predisposed to
drug use in general and heroin addiction in particular.
But even all the experts who know these things, along with the
self-righteous “recovering” people, can not believe in 30 years
of scientific research, documentation, evidence and facts.
Hell, addicts themselves/ourselves do not want to admit it is
really is only in our heads’! We are told and sold all these
psychological, emotional and spiritual things to do to achieve
recovery, but they have such minimal success that more of us are
dead, incarcerated or still strung out. Yet, the one thing that
is missing from the picture – the BRAIN CHEMISTRY of an addict –
is rarely addressed, with the rare exception of “quality”
methadone treatment.
Most addiction professionals’ are behaviorists and know zero
about the brain or pharmacology. They do not believe in giving
a “drug” to an addict. Because of this, they usually sabotage
methadone treatment by doing it incorrectly. The medical
profession and medical treatment are the only hope that addicts
have!
It’s so simple – if it IS “only in your head” – then you must
address the problem in the only way that will address the
CHEMICALS in your head. I know this so very well. When I
detoxed from methadone, it was the “right” thing to do afterall.
So for 13 years I lived in a state of protracted
withdrawal! I never felt normal the entire 13 years — not one
day. You can’t even go to sleep and forget about it — first
it’s hard to get to sleep and even harder to stay that way. And
it affected my feelings too because I had to put up a wall of
protection. I dared not feel or it I might be overcome by my
own emotions. I have learned the hard way, that denial is
a powerful thing! Until, finally I got damn tired of it and I
addressed the chemicals in my head. I will never again be “drug
free” at such a cost. THANK YOU Drs. Dole, Nyswander, Kreek,
Joseph and other younger researchers such as Payte, Zweben and
others. You have given me the power of knowing that my
addiction is truly a disease. With this knowledge I have
regained the humanity that I lost as an addict. Without it I
would have never had the confidence to learn that “the power of
one addict helping another cannot be equaled”- NOT! It can be
surpassed by going to the cause of the problem! I can firmly
say as a drug therapist that going to therapy and spirituality
never did a thing for me, except to side track me and waste 13
years of MY LIFE!. I denied myself my own humanity, as we all
do to “stay clean at all costs”.
So please learn about your disease –join an advocacy group
learn about methadone, find out if you have ever had proper
treatment or correct doses. And then demand quality methadone
maintenance treatment with dignity, not psycho-babble! When
given in the correct therapeutic dose, methadone can normalize
your brain chemistry, so that you can normalize your life!
NAMA is right.- Methadone really does save lives!
A version of this article was first published in Methadone
Awareness May 1994 1(10): 3.