The Opioid Epidemic is Not What You Think
By: Nina Fortem
Tags: Therapy, Trauma, Psychology, Opioids, Opinion

Almost 21 million Americans have some sort of addiction, yet only 10% will get the proper treatment.

We have all seen the numbers and heard the statistics. The opioid crisis as the media refer to it has been ongoing for many years. The buzz that seems to get people going is that there is a drug pipeline to America or that Americans have gotten weaker etc. I could go on and I am sure you could to with some nonsense theory that is not even close to the truth about why so many of our neighbors, friends, and family members are suffering with addiction.

I will spare you the trouble of having to read further for the answer. It is trauma. Trauma is referred to as a deeply disturbing or distressing experience. When was the last time you had a deeply disturbing or distressing experience?I can think of several instances that come to mind. We all could and maybe a few very luck people are reading this thinking “Trauma? Nope I am great.” Lucky for you very few.

Trauma could be anything. We think of it as something intensely awful as rape, murder, or kidnapping and while those situations are traumatic they are not the only traumatic incidents that can happen.

Trauma can be that horrible divorce you went through, the loss of your mother when you were twenty, the non-stop bullying in the 6th grade. Anything that distressed you on some level.

Mental health is a relatively new concept in this country. The United States has long discussed mental health, but it was not always helpful and often harmful. The last lobotomy was performed in 1967 which truly was not that long ago. So if mental health is not really being addressed it stands to reason that people would need a way to cope.

Opioids provide a coping mechanism. This does not mean it is healthy and I do not advocate the use of them, but the reality is a lot of people turn to opioids to cope with their unresolved trauma.

The addiction to opioids often starts after someone has been prescribed them for some sort of procedure whether for a short or long amount of time. What happens next is realization. A realization that opioids provide a sense of relaxation. With that relaxation comes a sense of euphoria and overall feeling of well being.

Imagine just going through an ugly divorce, becoming a single parent, and suddenly you are both stressed and overwhelmed 100% of the time. You take these pills and suddenly you are no longer worried with a tension headache all day. You can sleep again and you sleep all night long. There is a sense of wholeness again. All from a pill. So instead of having to go to therapy and do the really difficult work that is personal growth you pop a pill. This story is not unusual and also really not shocking.

I often see news anchors or “experts” acting shocked and pondering how this crisis happened. It is no shock that people want an escape from their pain. No one starts off their life with an opioid use disorder (OUD). By circumstance of life the OUD finds them. It finds them in the bright of daylight just as easy as the darkness of night.

The disorder generally starts in a doctor’s office or from well meaning friend or family member giving their prescription to someone else who is in pain. The numbing sets in and then for the first time the pain and intensity of those experiences are dulled.

I work with folks who have OUD and the stories are all so similar. They all have families, jobs, and hopes for themselves. The drug takes over and does not care about any of it. The dreams turn into where the next pills is coming from and how to get it.

Families and relationships suffer but more than anything the person with the disorder suffers.

They stay in the purgatory that is numbing pain without processing it. The experiences are stuck inside them relegated to the back of their brain waiting for more opioids to come and calm them for the moment. There is no reason to seek out other coping skills like meditation, exercise, or social support because everything has been numbed in the brain.

If we had the ability to destigmatize trauma I believe we could end the opioid epidemic. There never should have been a war on drugs. There should be a war on trauma. We should be working towards preventing sexual assault, violence occurring during incarceration, and so much more. We as a society should be working towards unity, family stability whatever that may look like, and most of all normalize talking about these experiences.

When we do not talk about them we end up numbing them and the cycle continues…