Day 5 - Mind and Life XXVII - Craving, Desire and Addiction

You can view the videos here.

The point of this summary is not to replace the complete video and nor is it fully comprehensive, but rather the intention is to give a brief overview of proceedings so as to assist the reader in determining which sessions they would like to watch in full. 

Day Five of Mind and Life XXVII - Sarah Bowen discusses the Application of Contemplative Practices in Treatment of Addiction

Opioid Substitution Therapy: Treatment vs. Recovery

Introduction

Opioid Substitution Therapy has been a controversial topic. Somehow it is easier for the addiction recovery industry to accept medications such as Disulfiram with its aversive effect or acamprosate which does not carry the risk of approximating the state of alcohol intoxication and because studies have suggested that it is only effective in conjunction with psycho-social interventions. OST, on the other hand, uses opioid agonists or partial agonists that act in similar ways to the drugs of dependence, albeit without the same quality of high, and this, some have suggested, shifts the addiction from opioid dependence to another dependence and may be of more harm than good to the addict.

Medication in Recovery

IMPORTANT: This article deals with treating post-detoxification addicts who have been weaned from their drug of choice under medical supervision and those who don’t have a co-morbidity that presents an immediate danger to themselves or others. I am also not talking about those who are on a supervised substitution or aversion program. We must also accept that there is a minority amongst us for whom a life free of medication is an unrealistic goal. We should recognise this and not exclude these people from the recovery process.

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Many have come to accept addiction as a disease, and one of the down-sides of this belief is that addiction can be easily treated via pharmacological interventions. Accordingly, many recovering addicts are dealing with their symptoms via medical intervention. I think this is a mistake. Here’s why: