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Humiliating People With Addiction Is Not Treatment

Some may even quit but I can only imagine how much psychological damage they've gone through.
And how their lives have been affected- to what extent.
 
Yes, recidivism rates are an example.

Also, 1 in 8 that were abused become abusive themselves. Most look to be re-abused, or become victims in life… inflict harm on themselves or seek out others to harm them.
There are some great therapists/counselors out there, but there are a small percentage that inflict more militant type harm than good, on their clients due to their abusive upbringing. Instead of reflection they practice projection and humiliation.
 
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Went to treatment in south Florida these events would summarize it:
I was forced to walk between 8-10 miles in the Florida heat when I was 2 days off my suboxone taper (so withdrawing heavily), this was for not sorting the bookshelf (my choir at treatment that week) on the first day my suboxone taper was stopped because I was sick from withdrawing
My friend had to walk around with a 2 litre empty milk jug and fill it with cigarettes and carry it with him everywhere because he was a "narcissist and to self indulged"
Everyday they yelled at us saying "you're a liar" "you've always been a liar" "your an emotional terrorist" "you hate your family"
All my mail was read by my therapist before it was given to me, he read out loud to my entire therapy group an intimate sex letter my girlfriend wrote me and then kept it and didn't let me have it
In order to move on to the next stage of treatment you had to write a letter to your parents stating you lied to them, and writing and extensive list of the reasons why you are a liar, cheater and why you would like to stay at and benefit from the treatment, the therapists would have to read it and approve before it was sent
Those are just off the top, plenty more bullshit, not helpful at all . .

You can sue for this. A therapist cannot break confidentiality unless you sign an ROA. If you signed one it might be okay - but it seems like you didn't if they were disclosing your intimate letters publicly. Also, on her end it could be fraudulent interference with the mail, if she didn't sign one she can sue. Works both ways. So sorry about this. You also, must be asked prior before disclosing this information or at least informed.
 
Here in the UK the same sort of rubbish goes on... there seems to be this legendary 'faith' in the notion that ".... you have to reack rock-bottom before you can ever get anywhere!". What a load of crap!

Having the will power, intelligence, determination and good fortune NOT to reach rock bottom has to mean a better chance, under better conditions, with better prospects, better in mind body and spirit, as you still have a trace of those essential commodities!

Unfortunately we are still plagued with nasty, whining, self-righteous little weasels and bullies like the execrable Jeremy Kyle (whose dismal TV show actually lacks the class, humanity and down-to-earth common sense of Jerry Springer. I was pleased to see recently that the vile little git's name is being widely used to describe an unpleasant malady almost as embarrassing, unloved and unwanted as the little pain in the arse himself - haemmoroids. Highly appropriate!
An agonised, deeply distressed shriek of.... "Awwww %*$*ing hell - me Jeremies!!!" recently brought tears of laughter as well as profound sympathy to my eyes, when an unfortunate sufferer tripped over in the pub, and landed very heavily astride a stout oak partition, decorated with the Ten Commandments (salvaged from an old Victorian church pew). Rather remiss of me, I neglected to note which commandment it was... am now praying it was the one about ''... covetting your neighbour's ass...", which would be perfect.

For anyone abroad still unfamiliar with 'Cockney Rhyming Slang', embarrassing and/or unmentionable medical conditions and dubious body parts often feature, for obvious reasons. Therefore 'piles' which are associated with the 'bottle and glass', and therefore hardly a thing to proudly mention in company, have an especially well appointed list of nicknames, i.e.-

Chalfonts - (fr. Chalfont St Giles= piles)
Nauticals - (fr. Nautical Miles = do.)
Sunnies - (fr. Sunny Smiles = do.)
Imperials - (fr. Imperial Miles = do.)
Statutes - (fr. Statute Miles = do.)
Romans - (fr. Roman Tiles = do.)



This has little to do with drugs I realise (apart perhaps from a few locally applied benzocaine derivatives maybe?), but I'm afraid I get a bit carried away with the wondrous richness of the English language, and was irreistably tempted to mention that shameful excuse for a British 'therapist' so. It may provide some small comfort to know that we are plagued with such idiots her in the UK too, and sympathise with your problems absolutely!

Don't panic, I am not quite in the mood to write a book, as I have an unfortunate tendency to do sometimes, when mounted on my high horse (strictly no pun intended!)

I will therefore only briefly mention my experiences with NHS 'addiction specialists' and so-called clinics for the moment, and my viws concerning the British version of 'NA' and the strange, tortue obsessed, puritanical maniacs it seems to attract.
 
As a parent I was often told that what I needed to do was to get tougher. Those of you that have gotten to know me on here know that goes against every fiber of my nature. We were shamed as parents by the juvenile courts and looked at with pity and judgment by the adult courts. We were advised by NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness) to treat our son like a sick and incompetent invalid while being advised by Al-anon to treat him like a sly manipulator and throw him out and cut all ties. To say that it was confusing and contradictory doesn't even begin to describe it.

My brother had been sentenced to Pier One in Colorado. It was a horrendous experience along the lines of what people are describing above: total psychological breaking down of a person in the name of "treatment". We researched wilderness programs for our son and sent him to one that was far away from the "boot camp" model (Second Nature). The program used writing, hiking, cognitive behavioral therapy and philosophy to address the emotional trauma these kids were facing--their drug abuse or addictions were considered secondary to life skills in general. Although our son (then 15) was sent against his will it was all we could see to do to keep him out of the courts. He hated it at first but came to see it as one of the most powerful experiences of his life. There is no doubt in my mind that he benefited from it because Nature was the primary "therapy". Taking someone vulnerable and defeated and forcing them into a program of humiliation and authoritarian punishments is the absolute worst thing I could imagine.

My hope is that treatment will start to move forward away from any single model or theory of addiction and any single model of treatment strategies, embracing the ever deepening knowledge of the brain and human behavior. But this one--the so called "boot camp"--is not a strategy or a therapeutic model at all--it's punishment.
 
To me, 'tough love' is NO love, the vile 'invention' of petty minded, vengeful and spiteful people, who really only wish to punish and hurt some unfortunate victim who they consider has 'let them down'!

Unfortunately, my family is riddled with ignorant, mean spirited and supremely intolerant specimens, for instance, my father. His 'remedy' for my chronic, treatment resistant depression, whose worse symptoms are eternal fatigue, exhaustion and suicidal weariness, requiring me to stay in bed night and day, only capable of watching TV or listening to the radio during my few, scarce hors of wakefulness. This he sees as being 'bone idle' (which is true I suppose, but hardly my choice!), and the ideal remedy would be some 'Full Metal Jacket' style Boot Camp, where vicious, intolerant and psychopathic NCO's would soon "bring you into line", and thus cure me. Absolutely no need for medication or 'therapy', those are for namby pambies and girls!


I pointed out, politely, that this was effectively like ordering someone with no legs to "pull their socks up!", which produced a cruel, smug leer and delighted chuckle.... "you don't know the half of it laddie - you'd soon learn a bit of DISCIPLINE! Me and your mother were far, far too soft with you!"

Not a good idea to point out that when I was a child, I spent four miserable, dread filled years at a ghastly school, at the mercy of psycopathic, paedophilic (luckily for me, the little creep was straight, not gay), bullying maniacs... and they were the teachers. You see, I "had a happy childhood!", and that is official, not to ever be questioned or even mentioned. True, I didn't suffer from clinical depression back then, that came later, following a head injury. However, that "pathetic excuse" is another matter never to be mentioned, it seems my father is a highly talented amateur neurologist, who knows very well no harm could come from a "little bump on the head", even if it does required a dozen stitches, and leave a half inch deep skull fracture, still there after 38 years....

Bad move too to have the insolence and disobedience to arrange an MRI scan (last year), then have the temerity to produce a neurologists report, mention atrophied brain damage in the frontal lobes, and a fractured skull. No comment or discussion of course, just a surly sneer and angry mutters of "hypochondriac", "excuses!", and "paranoia!", followed by a dire warning to keep quiet and not upset my 'poor, sick mother...', before I was dismissed.


And so its 'happpy family time' once more, and that is an official pronouncement, which means any attempt at discussion will no doubt end in swingeing reprisals, and stony silence. Sorry to go on about this, rather selfish - but something I need to get off my chest.... and out of my "feeble, idle mind".


What I will mention is what would inevitably occur, were any attempt to 'Boot Camp' me.... and this is an absolutely accurate prediction. Unlike 'Full Metal Jacket', the scenes of training camp would be over by lunch time, as soon as I got hold of a knife. Were the sergeant and corporals be unwise enough to issue me with a rifle, all would be over by breakfast, as would be their lives and careers. Under no circumstances would I take my own life, I tried that once a few years back, and the havoc, misery and pathetic self-pitying 'how could you do this to us?' are still fresh in my mind. No mention of 'how could you sink this low?" or 'why didn't you ask for help?' of course... my parent's carefully organised and treasured 'age related' amnesia seems to have erased any memories of me begging, pleading and desperately requesting help, and their callous, careless dismissal of said, because "it was for my own good!" - "you need to stop taking those drugs!".... oh, the wonders of 'Tough Love!'


Anyway, when I failed to die, I decided to get on with it and suffer, hoping against hope that the medical profession might come up with something.... fat chance! Suicidal, anergic day by day misery is their only answer and prescription. Maybe, like me, they hoped it would just go away? Well, after four years it has.... though not because of my father's insistent advice... "you have to make an effort, pills are not the answer - you're just lazy and have to try harder!", followed by a dreary list of people with incurable ilnesses, lost eyes and limbs, etc etc.... yawn! I did point out that "I am not them, and would willingly surrender an arm or leg to get rid of this depression?" Insolence AND weakness, unforgiveable!


It was not of course this sanctimoneous, patronising crap which helped me of course, though he had a point in a way. True, pills were not the answer.... but powders were.... hmmmmm? And no need to sacrifice any body parts, only my freedom an clean criminal record... possibly, if unlucky or silly. And when an unexpected opportunity to 'help myself' occured one night, the temporary ability to actually 'try harder' allowed me to 'make an effort' at last! No stupid 'tough love' required, just a bit of luck, and the real, true and caring LOVE of an ex-, and her new guy...


I follow no religious 'faith', but have a very precious spiritual side, which leads me ro positively state that god IS Love, and Love is the Key. All I have to do is be patient, share, give and distribute my LOVE, and the Key will turn up!
 
Once again, just like the UK. A shamefully large proportion of hardcore heroin addicts were first introduced to it in our prison system. The ideal market, breeding ground and opportunity to deal - a truly 'captive', deeply unhappy, desperately bored, highly anxious, rebellious, dangerously frustrated and bitter, restless 'audience', with nothing to do all day but wank and wait. Only there because they already have no respect for the Law, have problems with society, and feel like outcasts - which is how they are viewed and treated. No expertise needed to see this is asking for trouble!
 
BTE, I just love the sound of Dr P. ! He no doubt deserves that name... "I'm sorry, was that 'Doctor Panic', or 'Doctor Piano'? Your writing is awful..." Serves him right!
 
It makes sense to use humiliation to try to "treat" drug addiction.
This is because, as part of the drug war, propaganda that (non-accepted) drugs are "evil" has been spread and has become part of the folk philosophy on drugs.
Therefore, by association, drug users are also evil.

We need a new paradigm, in which drugs are seen simply as chemical tools to unlock various modes of consciousness.
Nothing evil about them.
Those who become helplessly addicted need help - compassionate help, like we'd give to someone with a(nother) mental illness.
Not humiliation.
 
It makes sense to use humiliation to try to "treat" drug addiction.
This is because, as part of the drug war, propaganda that (non-accepted) drugs are "evil" has been spread and has become part of the folk philosophy on drugs.
Therefore, by association, drug users are also evil.

We need a new paradigm, in which drugs are seen simply as chemical tools to unlock various modes of consciousness.
Nothing evil about them.
Those who become helplessly addicted need help - compassionate help, like we'd give to someone with a(nother) mental illness.
Not humiliation.

I agree with your sentiment. But the sad truth is that we don't treat people with mental illness very well at all. Our jails have become de-facto state mental hospitals.

I'm speaking for united states of course.
 
^ You are very correct about that.
We also need to start treating people with mental illness more respectfully, and helping them, instead of punishing them.
 
To those of you who have posted your horror stories of having to deal with some of the most unethical and cruel forms of 'rehabilitation' in America: I know this won't help much, but I completely empathize and sympathize with as I have also experienced the unrealistic expectations set forth in an abstinence-based program while spending a mandatory 2 months at a rehab center a few years ago.

It's evident that such programs are created in large part by 'experts' who have never personally experienced what you or I have with respect to the nuances (for lack of a better term) of the habitual long term usage of 'street drugs' (cost, availability, purity, legality, and so forth).

I remain confident that one day humanity will look back in bemusement towards this era of irrational oppression and tyranny towards our minority group of individuals who, by resorting to such substances (for whatever reasons), mean no harm towards others in doing so. In my case, it's always been about trying to temporarily obtain some form of freedom (mental and/or physical) from the shackles of the mess of a life which I found myself in by the time I had hit adulthood, but my prohibitionist counterparts never can think that abstractly, it seems. They only see the end result (me using), and the rest doesn't matter, it appears, because I now owe society a debt for choosing to consume parts of a fucking plant - oh the horror.
 
I too vehemently agree with slim, we need a paradigm shift from the status qa, essentially seeing, understanding and treating human being who happen to use drugs for a variety of reasons no less legitimate than two people getting married just because they love each other.

Prohibition is the status qa.
The War on Drugs is the status qa.
Mass incarceration is the status qa.
Arresting youth without just cause is the status qa
Racial disparity in all public and private institutions is the status as.
And it goes on and on....

Obviously the way things are today must chance. But change can be dangerous too. We work to create a society based on human rights, harm reductions, and all else we stand for, just as we must also combat the power structure attempting to recreate their desire — today's status qa . Only a multidimensional approach to "the drug problem" can at least achieve some very real and very meaningful measure of success.

Drugs or mind altering substances or whatever is nothing more than what they are: things, abiotic life forms, artifacts we ourselves have created I'm our own wisdom.

One that sees this like anything else, for what it is and NOTHING MORE. As in one capable of seeing a thing for what it actually is, not letting others tell us what we are seeing when it doesn't look anything like what we're actually seeing ourselves. The most important thing is seeing, feeling, experiencing, and understanding a thing, feeling or experience for yourself, with an open mind, an open heart. Perhaps most important is for you, each of us, to see it, with eyes unclouded by hate.

It's just an illusion.
 
Well said there Victor! The word 'drugs' is abused as much as 'defence' IMHO, immediately conjuring up images of kids injecting themselves in grubby squats, before going out to mug passers by, or shoplifting to provide money for a 'fix'. Or dying from 'overdoses' of Ecstasy at illegal raves, ruining their chances at school or coollege by getting stoned on cannabis, trying to fly from the top of tower blocks whilst high on LSD, or causing fatal crashes in their parents cars after getting 'high' on whatever substance is available - all provided by evil 'drug pedlars' or pushers, almost always unshaven, sinister Mexicans who laugh too much and travel in hot rod cars with trick suspensions.
Ignored and overlooked are the realities, where youngsters (I speak for the UK) are more likely to get pregnant, get hurt fighting, choke to death on their own vomit, or get killed crossing the road after drinking ridiculous amounts of alcohol. Or end up in prison after commiting acts of vandalism, being rude to policemen or assaulting each other, or anyone unfortunate enouugh to be in their way. There are a whole load of 'fly-on-the-wall' documentaries now, following our heroic police around, as they pin such wicked teenagers down en masse, after sorely provoking them, tipping away their (probably shoplifted) supplies of booze, or, most spectacular of all, smashing down the doors of evil drug pushers at dawn, and similarly mistreating the stoned, confused individuals sleeping inside, before finding small amounts of dope, speed or coke in some biscuit tin in the kitchen. Never, ever are any late night riots of cannabis users featured, or MDMA crazed vandals and muggers arrested - nor cocaine fuelled drivers breaking the speed limit, heroin addicts causing civil unrest, nor etc.etc etc. etc....
It makes me sick. Yet still, the media is filled with horror stories, and glorified overstated crap about the few, pathetic seizures of drrugs showing that the 'War on Drugs' is being won. And it always seems that such reports include esimates of the value of such seizures, which show that the poliice must be paying 10X as much for their drugs as the rest of us!
 
The Rehab industry is fucking disgusting!!!! The Hills is Los Angeles is fucking gross. The amount of their clients that die is out of control and they never change their methods; not to mention yelling at people is something (the owner) likes to do. He humiliates people because he is an egotistical bastard. Whatever though I made it out of there. Fuck the humiliation and poor treatment, but I made it out and still got a year sober on my own. But fuckin "A" that place ran my estate $65,000 a month for the three of months I was there and $10,000 a month for the 3 months I was in one of their sober living homes. All for a place that is unwilling to teach heroin addicts that they should smoke at the least the first time they use if they can't help relapsing. I lost two friends I made at that place, and plenty other acquaintances. Also Utah wilderness programs should be brought into the light, in these places I was dehumanized... reduced to a number. Ashley Valley Wilderness Rehabilitation. Fuck that shit. Was kinda fun in a way, kinda like boot camp except a little easier. They did manipulate you and ultimately the therapists were sort of enjoying a power trip, however the staff was legit and seemed to really care. Not too expensive either, $30,000 out of my estate for 15 weeks. However if you failed a week it costed money to stay longer. IDK it was a fucked up place, they made you tell your parents everything you did wrong ever. You were 100 miles from the nearest town with a gas station, sure you were allowed to walk, but that cost you an extra week of staying there when you came back, cuz no one ever made it more than 25 miles. A couple of poor saps spent their own hard earned money on this sshit and still weren't allowed to leave cuz of the papers they signed. I'm going to include a shitty picture of a friend of mine while we were at Ashley Valley, notice he is wearing yellow so they could find him by helicopter if he ran, plus he is super dirty cuz we would never be able to wash our clothes and we could only shower once a week, and it was a shitty shower

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That is truly horrific - you'd almost be better odff in Guantanemo Bay! A word about the private clinic I attended in the UK - they accepted that I was NOT 'an amphetamine addict', but someone who relied on a (sadly illegal) drug, to have any sort of worthwhile life, like many others. The government repeatedly tried to shut them down, make life ever more difficult for their patients, and eventually threatened a court case - using ME as a witness! Oh boy, was I looking forward to my 'day in court', but sadly it never arrived - the cowardly authorities bottled out, so it never happened. They found another, back door way of trying to destroy me... and nearly did! It is unfortunately always an unfair, hopeless battle, which I am forced to fight with no weapons, no army, no chance of winning. Apart perhaps from expressing myself here? I have no doubt that the bastards who seem to hate, fear and revile me will see every word of this... so damn you, and see what is coming!
 
The plain fact is, in my experience, almost everyone who runs into trouble with drugs is suffering from some form of mental illness, some horror they wish to overcome or escape from... and medicine, as it is practised at the moment, fails to take this into accoun, or effectively offer any cure or comfort to pre-emp this. I am therefore damned as a Junkie, rather than treated as someone suffering from mental illness, i.e. chronic depression. Were it chronic anxiety or insomnia, I would no dount be a differnt sort of JUnkie, addicted to benzos, barbs, opiates or who knoes what - anything to provide relief.
 
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