Occupational therapy can help opioid addiction

I am writing in response to the Jan. 20 Forum article about federal regulation and the opioid epidemic, “The Feds will Have a Hard Time Regulating Prescription Opioids.” As a student in an occupational therapy program, I began thinking about how our services can help when it comes to opioid addiction, intervention and treatment.

While occupational therapists may not have a powerful influence in the Food and Drug Administration sphere of pharmaceutical approval, we can provide “a forceful tool” to help educate, change and rehabilitate consumer behaviors and assist with both patient and physician education.

The FDA recognizes the importance of prescription labels and have throughout history, but they are a legal entity and that is the issue. They do not work with the patients as closely as health care professionals do. As an aspiring occupational therapist, we are here to provide the education that the label itself often cannot. Many people are ignorant to the effects of the medications they are putting into their bodies. Prescription “labels don’t necessarily change behavior,” but occupational therapy does.

Occupational therapy will not eliminate the opioid epidemic, but it will make a significant impact on treatment and recovery programs through the use of its distinct value of improving health and quality of life through facilitating participation and engagement in alternatives from opioids.

History has proven that policy alone cannot eliminate the problem. The FDA will always be on the policy end, but medicine is not all business. Occupational therapy can educate health care providers and works with patients on functional goal setting, addressing meaningful occupations, establishing healthy routines, and training to reduce the need for opioids. Despite the unavoidable disappointment in acknowledging that the financial battle between medical providers and the pharmaceutical industry will never go away, we find it is our duty to restore peoples’ quality of life despite their addictions.

Recently, the government has passed two bills including occupational therapy services in pain management and addiction. This gives the possibility that it can reach larger populations and communities. By educating health care providers about the benefits of occupational therapy for pain management, they can educate their patients to use it as an alternative to controlled substances. NICOLE SABA Bellevue