Drug Abuse and Mental Health: the Practice of Abstinence

Substance abuse problem has increased with an alarming rate in Canada as the people are consuming enormous amounts of drugs and are facing the consequences both mentally and physically. In some cases, drug abuse can lead to committing crimes. The situation of drug abuse and mental health amoung women is discussed in the essay as they are left prone to sexual assaults and being murdered. Large number of women who live in Vancouver’s Downtown, BC is experiencing harassment, poverty, homelessness, mental illness, addiction, and substance abuse issues. Women addiction is far worse and more addictive. In order to fulfil their addiction’s needs, these women usually end up in prostitution or begging. Lots of women who lives on the street are at a great risk of catching a serious illness or disease, getting kidnapped, or killed.

Shannon’s House emerged to assist women with addiction and has it’s door open 24/7. Shannon’s house is a safe, welcoming and non-judgmental environment. Regardless of whether you have experienced harassment, homelessness, mental health problems, trauma, addiction or substance abuse issues, Shannon’s House can help. A lot of women who is dealing with addiction or substance abuse issues never look for help. Shannon’s House aim on creating a safe and stable environment that supports sober living. Shannon’s House helps a person heal from the social damage caused by addiction. Cravings can be tough at times and we are here to help you cope with these urges. By offering treatment programs, Shannon’s House tries to eliminate any barriers for women looking for treatment. Our staff can help work through the underlying causes of addiction. We provide meals, one-on-one counselling, group therapy, relapse prevention, stress management and medical treatment. Staff are fully trained and available 24/7 to support you in your recovery journey.

The aim of the Shannon’s House is to implement an addiction program and a mental health program because the individual affected with the drug abuse needs these two programs to overcome with the situation and live a healthy life ahead. Shannon’s House offers a drug addiction treatment program that provides excellent medical care along with food, education and strength training to tackle all aspects of health and recovery. A holistic approach is offered by trained practitioners in which the patients will be provided diagnosis, stabilization, withdrawal control/detox, 24/7 medical treatment, CBT and DBT, relapse prevention, stress management, educations, counseling, and 12-step training and group support. This treatment program is for anyone who’s battling with addiction and mental health disorders including trauma, PTSD, and psychological injuries. Each patient is assigned their own psychiatrist and an addiction physician to address the drug abuse issues. Patients who are experiencing cravings or other difficult symptoms will have active staff to help them manage these symptoms. Also, each patient will have individualized treatment plan that will focus on to reduce the overuse of drugs and help them understand the legal consequences which can further destroy their life.

Drug abuse not only affects the women physically, but the mental deterioration is also to be covered in the shelter to ensure the wellbeing of the women coming for help and not to fall in the pit of abuse again. Denial is the most common factor which is seen in both the cases of drug abuse and mental health issue. The mental issues along with drug abuse are seen in women who live in Vancouver’s Downtown streets. Shannon’s House provide treatment, rehabilitation, integrated mental health and intensive case management services to women who suffer from severe mental illness. Shannon’s House operates day treatment program that provides targeted support and one on one counselling for severe mental illness including depression, anxiety, trauma, bipolar and PTSD. This program is for anyone who’s struggling with severe and ongoing mental illness. Psychiatrist will be available on weekly basis to assist individuals and help them deal with trauma due to assault/rape. Intensive case managers can also connect individuals to other support services.

Drug Abuse Reflection: Abstinence VS Harm Reduction

Abstinence is the term which is used in the field of addiction that describes the process with which the avoiding and not engaging in activities of drug. This means an individual must completely abstain from drugs. As seen in the video Through a Blue lens, the police found a man in the corner of the street overdosed on drugs. They gave him oxygen supply and the man realize he had to change and called for help in the detox department and after quitting cocaine for a period of time became abstinent.

Harm reduction is the strategy for the individuals in which the abstinence did not work. This strategy is successful in reducing the rate of morbidity and mortality in the population with adults. This strategy recognizes that drug use is complex, and abstinence may not work for everyone. As seen in the video Wr’s ’48 Hours’, Jonathan was picked up from Vancouver’s West end as a result of fentanyl overdose. He become stable and more alert after receiving a dose of naloxone. Jonathan said he don’t use the drug to get high but to stop the pain. He said with his pain he can’t stop using fentanyl. Individuals with drug abuse struggle to identify their drug as a problem. Supervised Injection Facility like Insite Centre can be considered as an initiative under harm reduction. These facilities provide sanitary environment for people to use substances under volunteer supervision. Insite Centre is a great option to use drugs under volunteer supervision.

The difference in abstinence and harm reduction is that abstinence focuses on completely eliminating the drug from the person’s life in order to overcome from the abuse of the substance. Whereas harm reduction strategy believes that it is not possible for every person to completely refrain from drugs, so a moderate usage is allowed under supervision. Abstinence is more of an aggressive way to remove addiction while harms reduction work slowly by minimizing the drug use day by day. Harm reduction reduces the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C dramatically due to regulated use of clean syringes. Abstinence reduces the use of heavy medication in order to overcome from the abuse of substance, but the strategy does not successfully work on every individual and individual with the lack of will power is more likely to relapse in the habit of drug abuse.

Both abstinence and harm reduction are part of the substance abuse solutions. The goal for both abstinence and harm reduction are to reduce the harm in people lives. For some abstinence may be a right choice, but for others it might not be a realistic goal. Both approaches have the same goal of individual’s wellbeing physically, mentally and socially. Both treatments can work together if the individual is willing to decreased dosage first in order to make the individual comfortable and then gradually decreasing the drug dose leading to completely refraining.

• Abstinence Pros & Cons

1. Pros: It is a great solution for individual who are more prone to relapse & drug overdose. Individuals whose health has been seriously compromised should be advised to use this treatment.
2. Cons: There are chances of body rejection, anxiety, depression, aggression, medical complication and numerous other physical and mental disorders.

• Harm Reduction Pros and Cons

1. Pros: It slow treatment that ensures health and mental complications. It lessens the risk of blood-borne infections, skin problems from injecting, Hepatitis B and C, overdose, and other drug related injuries. It is an easy way to keep track on drug user in order to check for overdoses.
2. Cons: Individuals tend to relapse to drug usage. Negative effect of social activities like needle distribution, dosage centres can be considered as an encouragement for new individuals.

According to my findings, the most evidence based is the practice of abstinence as the most clinics offer abstinence approach to completely refrain the individual from using drugs. This approach is the wisest decision as the person under the influence of drugs has an impaired judgment regardless of the dosage. And also has the tendency of relapsing in the habits of drug abuse and risk of developing another addiction. I would implement the abstinence approach. This is the wisest decision to implement in order to cope with the problem due to the numerous benefits of the program and the development of strong will power which will help in the reduced relapsing rate of individuals. It will help the women in the shelter with the assurance of successful rehabilitation which will increase the quality of life.