A different approach to treating addiction

Also: How long COVID disrupts the brain [Donate ❤️]( [View in Browser](  November 14, 2023 Hi CommonHealth reader, When someone is experiencing addiction, how should their family respond? Should they let their loved one hit rock bottom, hoping the "tough love" motivates them to stop using drugs? Or should they stay involved in the person’s life, offering help and support? My colleague Deborah Becker has been exploring this question for an upcoming story. Deb has [covered addiction]( for [many years]( and she said families often are told they might be enabling their loved ones’ drug use by giving them assistance like money or a place to stay. "It's very pervasive, this idea that families are to blame in some way," Deb told me. "There's this implicit notion that somehow the family contributed to this illness [of addiction]." But this may be starting to change. Alicia Ventura, an addiction expert at Boston Medical Center, told Deb it’s wrong to assume family members are the root cause of addiction, or that they're responsible for perpetuating substance use disorder. Instead, she said, family members can play an important role in helping someone through addiction and recovery. As part of Deb's reporting, she spent time with Ken Feldstein and his 38-year-old son, Brendan, who was addicted to opioids. Ken listened to the advice that tolerating his son’s addiction could be enabling it, so he told Brendan to leave home. Brendan lived out of his car for months. But eventually, Ken couldn’t bear the thought of his son potentially overdosing and dying alone. He decided to play a more active role in helping Brendan get better. Deb described Ken's decision like this: "He said, 'I'm not going to cut you off anymore. We're going to try to figure out a way to do this together. I'm not going to put more punishments on you, because I'm your parent, and we're going to try to figure out how to get this to work.' " It took years, but Brendan finally stopped using drugs. He said family support and a strong 12-step program helped him get there. Deb reports that not everyone agrees with the approach the Feldstein family took. Many believe harsh consequences are the only way to push someone to stop using drugs. Or, they feel families of people with addiction already shoulder a lot of burden navigating treatment options and sometimes the court system, and they shouldn’t be asked to take on more responsibility. Ultimately, Deb's reporting suggests each family has to decide what approach works for them. Deb said it was especially important for her to tell this story about evolving treatment strategies because [drug overdose rates]( remain so high. "We have a deadly drug supply," Deb said. "It's not like you can just let someone go and hope that they'll eventually be so sick of their lives that they'll make a change. They could just do something once, and die. "There are different factors that have come into play since I first started covering addiction, and I thought that it would be interesting to bring this to light." Look for Deb's full story in the coming days, on air and on wbur.org. Priyanka Dayal McCluskey Senior Health Reporter [Follow]( Support the news  This Week's Must Reads [Pain, fatigue, fuzzy thinking: How long COVID disrupts the brain]( The neurological symptoms of COVID can persist for years after an infection. Scientists are just beginning to understand why. [Read more.]( [Pain, fatigue, fuzzy thinking: How long COVID disrupts the brain]( The neurological symptoms of COVID can persist for years after an infection. Scientists are just beginning to understand why. [Read more.]( [You don't need words to calm a grumpy kid. 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