Understanding Addiction: Know Science, No Stigma

By Dr. Charles Smith and Dr. Jason Hunt

Understanding Addiction: Know Science, No Stigma is a must-read for those suffering from the tragic effects of drugs and alcohol.

 

In Understanding Addiction: K

• Language: English
• Publisher: Visualize Publishing
• Release date: Jun 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781737235217

Dr. Charles Smith

Dr. Chuck Smith works as an addictionologist in South Florida where he provides patient care including detox, residential, and outpatient management of addictive diseases. He is a graduate of Marshall University and the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Smith has completed an Addiction Medicine Fellowship at the University of Florida.

Book preview

PREFACE

Did you know that you can go through four years of undergraduate work, four years of medical school, and several years of residency, and in all of that time never take a single class in addiction science?

If even doctors—the people we trust our health to—aren’t exposed to the particulars of this critical societal issue, how then is the layman supposed to make sense of it? The general population still thinks of addiction as a behavioral problem. They see it most commonly through the actions of addicted people, actions that sometimes cross the line into criminality. Hence, a person with a substance use disorder is treated like a criminal and not as a person suffering from a disease. And the fact that most doctors don’t know any better isn’t helping. The end result is that, as a society, we remain in a state of denial about the true nature of addiction.

The doctors who wrote this book do know better. I can say this, because I know them. I met Dr. Jason Hunt first, through Alcoholics Anonymous. I was in long-term recovery myself. I served as a combat medic for a special forces unit in Vietnam and I came home addicted to heroin. By the time I met Jason, I was the director of a residential halfway house. I saw something special in Jason. He had a certain quality that I believe is 99.9 percent of a person’s recovery: the willingness to take responsibility for one’s actions. Jason had come to grips with what he’d done and who he was. He had no grand plans to get his medical license back and have a successful career as a doctor. That was the furthest thing from his mind in those days. All he wanted to do was put his life back together. And he was doing just that—sincerely, genuinely, and one day at a time. I helped him get certified as an addiction counselor and then hired him for the halfway house where he provided care for others trying to recover from their addictions. Later, I would testify on Jason’s behalf when he had his hearing in front of the medical board to have his license restored. I couldn’t have been prouder.

I met Dr. Chuck Smith through Jason. Chuck came to the halfway house and I saw the same promise in him that I’d seen in Jason. I helped Chuck become certified in addiction counseling, too. And I was just as proud of him. Both have gone on to have exemplary careers in the field of addiction. Because of their experiences, because of their backgrounds, their careers have become so much more for them than mere occupations. Both these men have an uncommonly strong desire to make up for time lost to their substance use disorder, which, in turn, has given them a rare passion for their field.

They both have something to share and I’m thrilled that they decided to write this book, an important entry into a field that could stand to have a lot more rational discussion, for doctor and layman alike. As Jason and Chuck might put it, much more knowledge is needed and way less stigma.

—Mike McLemore,

Senior Pastor, Recovery Church of Huntsville, Alabama

Executive Director, Alabama Alcohol and Drug Abuse

Associations ICRC Board

Executive Director, McLemore Consulting LLC/Pathfinder,

Inc.

Huntsville, AL

May, 2021

INTRODUCTION

If you’ve picked this book up, congratulations. That means you’re taking a step toward recovery, either for yourself, or for a loved one. We think you’ll be helped by the material herein.

As a quick disclaimer, however, it should be said up front that the content of this little book is probably not without some controversy. First of all, we’re both doctors, and there are some who believe that in any medical treatment it’s improper for a doctor to disclose to his patient his own experiences with the respective condition. It crosses a boundary. With problematic substance use in particular, there’s a concern that disclosing one’s own backstory borders on self-aggrandizement. It’s an ego boost, a way for the storyteller to place himself as the hero in his own journey.

These concerns are not lost on us, and we don’t disagree that they are not without some merit. What you are going to read are the stories of two doctors—us—who, through problematic substance use, have been to the very lowest points. Today, we’re both sober and heavily involved in helping others who have been where we were. But we can assure you that nothing of what you are going to read about us is heroic. Not by a long shot. We think it’s important to disclose our stories because we want you to know that we understand. We have knowledge based on firsthand experience. In the medical field, we would refer to our stories as clinical case presentations. Yes, normally case studies are presented third-person, objectively and at arm’s length, but our particular stories cannot be divorced from the knowledge we both gained along the way. In our practices, we share our stories when we think it’s appropriate and effective to do so. More often than not, these are times when a patient questions the level of depth of our knowledge. When we hear, You have no idea what I’m going through, we each feel compelled to say, Actually, yes I do. And for this book, we believe it’s critical that you as a reader know who we are and where we have come from. In some sense, we feel you have the right to know. You ought to be clear about who these people are whose advice you’re about to read.

But if we’re not sharing our stories for pride, neither do we share them in disgrace. We’ve both suffered the humiliation you, or your loved one, might be feeling even as you read this. We’re here to tell you that you don’t have to spend the rest of your life feeling ashamed. Which brings us to a second point of controversy. We know that addiction is a disease, no less so than diabetes or cancer or heart disease. Unfortunately, this knowledge is not shared one-hundred percent by the medical community. There are some who, remarkably, even still, after all the evidence, continue to regard addiction as a weakness, a flaw of character. To that, we will only say that we stand by the material that follows. We trust you’ll learn the meaning behind our book’s subtitle: Know Science, No Stigma.

These controversies aside, we think you’ll find some very interesting information in here about how the brain works and about what exactly it is that you (or your loved one) has been facing all this time. You’ll learn about risk factors in here, too. We think you’ll find that this is not so much a how-to book as a why book. And when you understand the why, the rest falls into line.

Additionally, we discuss screening and intervention. We talk about detox and treatment options. And then we discuss your long-term outlook and long-term strategies. We cover the pros and cons of AA. As it happens, we have some other ideas regarding a long-term plan for you, a more modern vision. Evidence and experience has revealed a better way.

We should also say, so there are no misconceptions, that none of what you’re going to face on the road to recovery is going to be easy. There are few shortcuts. But if you have a better understanding of all that is at work with your (or your loved one’s) addiction, then we think you’ll at least have a good head start. We trust that you’ll find that understanding within these pages. Read with an open mind. Read carefully. Most of all, read with a sense of hope. Take it from a couple of guys who know: there is more of