Judgment Won't Turn an Addiction into Recovery
Judgment Won't Turn an Addiction into Recovery
But care and concern can.
Have you ever judged someone or something erroneously? We are quick to judge anyone who does not share our personal beliefs or anything that we do not understand. I am guilty of doing this many times throughout my life.
I was blessed to be raised in a conservative home with great, loving parents. Our home was drama-free. We were the idyllic family in Mayberry town. Our life centered around home and church. I did not have much exposure to the “real” world. I carried that model of the “good life” with me into adulthood, where my life centered around my family, my home, my friends, and my church. I had been taught that if you want to please God, do this, and don’t do that. It’s that simple. Right?
Well, that is what I thought. It was how I approached life. Anyone who engaged in behaviors I didn’t agree with was “sinning.” I was never mean to anyone about their struggles or lifestyle, but I’ll admit that I had judgmental thoughts. I could not understand why anyone would choose to drink or use drugs. I would think to myself,
Don’t they know better? What is wrong with them? They are choosing this lifestyle? They deserve what they get.
Without knowledge, education, and understanding, we cast unfair judgment on others. My knowledge and understanding of the “real” world expanded exponentially after the death of my husband in 2009. I had to reinvent my life and figure out how I was going to survive financially. I had to leave the comfort of my small circle of friends, family, home, and church to go to nursing school. That was the beginning of a new world for me … and a new me. I faced struggles I had never dreamed of and gained an understanding that life isn’t always simple, easy, or fair. It is not always black and white. Life is complex.
My worldview radically changed as a psychiatric nurse. Through my own personal experiences as an individual and with patients, I gained knowledge, insight, understanding, and empathy for others facing adversity and struggles in their lives.
For the last three-plus years, I was the navigator for the Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) grant at Coastal Family Health Center on the Mississippi coast. This was a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that focused on helping pregnant and parenting women with a substance use disorder (SUD) … and getting them support and treatment. When I received a referral, I would meet with the woman to assess her needs and get her plugged into an appropriate facility or level of care. I would provide case management to ensure they got the right treatment and provide post-discharge support and assistance with housing or placement in a sober living facility.
Prior to this position, I had worked primarily as an RN on inpatient units at various hospitals. I’d had some alcohol detox experience, but limited understanding of the disease of addiction. This position as the OD2A navigator changed my life. I knew that I needed to learn everything I could about drug addiction to be effective and successful in this role. So that is what I did. I learned about the disease of addiction by attending conferences and doing lots of reading. However, I learned the most from my clients. Their struggles taught me more than any book or conference ever could.
No one decides one day:
I think I’ll take drugs, lose everything and everyone I love, and be homeless. Yeah, that sounds like a good life.
I realized early on as the OD2A navigator that people with SUD face humiliating comments and judgmental attitudes from social workers and health professionals.1 Over the past three years, I’ve listened to clients’ stories of being treated as less than human. I made it a point to put the clients at ease when they met with me for the first time. Or when I talked to them on the phone. They needed to know that someone truly cared … that someone understood the disease of addiction … and that someone would help them. This was the key to many clients completing treatment and staying in recovery.
The stigma that social workers and health professionals impose on those with SUD is detrimental and is a barrier to people seeking treatment. Who wants to be talked to and treated as less than human? Due to stigma, these individuals continue in their struggle with addiction to avoid the humiliation they fear they will face. Most of the clients I worked with had already experienced such harmful treatment all too often. They were very guarded and afraid. Many couldn’t even look me in the eye.
I would say to them:
Look at me. I am not your judge or jury. I understand the struggle you are in. You are not a bad person. I care and I am going to help you get to a better place.
The look on their faces said it all! More than one client said to me with tears in their eyes:
You are the first person who has said that to me. I have been treated like a dog. I am so glad I found you. I think I can do this if I have you.
My words were comforting to them, but my demeanor and tone of voice were critical too. They knew I truly cared. Everyone deserves this kind of treatment and care from social workers and health professionals.
The way healthcare professionals treat an individual with SUD makes a critical difference. If the individual is met with stigma (and this includes everyone they encounter at a facility or clinic), the chances that they will walk away and not seek treatment are very high. Those who use opioids or stimulants like methamphetamine and who do not seek treatment or relapse during recovery are at high risk of death by overdose. It is our job as healthcare professionals to offer compassion, empathy, understanding, treatment, and healing to those with the disease of addiction.
With no hesitancy or apology, I tell fellow healthcare professionals:
If you don’t love taking care of people, and if you have any inkling of a negative attitude toward them, you should find a different job. You are doing more harm than good.
The disease of addiction destroys lives and families, but it can be treated successfully. We need to be standing in the middle of their broken bridges with our hand out to them to get them to the other side of addiction…to a new life…a better life….and happiness again. I know it can be done because I have witnessed it many times in the last three years with the clients I have worked with. It is so rewarding to see lives changed, families saved, and happiness returned to their faces.
What a difference we can make in their lives if we treat them with respect, honor, and dignity. It can be the difference between life and death.
Hill TE. How clinicians make (or avoid) moral judgments of patients: implications of the evidence for relationships and research. Philos Ethics Humanit Med 2010; 5: 11.
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