Mental health care plays role in fighting opioid abuse
As our community continues to grapple with the opioid crisis, there is a major, underlying factor that needs to be incorporated into our response, and a root cause that needs to be examined.
The opioid crisis we see today is not just the result of over-prescription and marketing by the pharmaceutical companies but also a symptom of a deeper issue, a massive mental health crisis in this community and nation that is disproportionately impacting those 40 and younger.
Not only does a pre-existing mental health problem put an individual at increased risk for opioid misuse, it also puts them at increased risk of death from those opioids. We must offer a sustainable and affordable treatment pathway to our community to address both opioid use disorder as well as underlying mental health disorders. Not doing so will only lead to more death and suffering in our communities, particularly in our young adults and teens.
This is not to say that the recent discussions our community is having about medically assisted treatment are not important. Medically Assisted Treatment is an effective, lifesaving treatment that is often necessary for a harm reduction strategy. But medicine is not the complete answer to the crisis.
If we do not offer our community and state robust, affordable and evidencebased behavioral health care, in addition to medically assisted treatment, this crisis will continue, and more people will die. Those who bring into their substance use emotional and mental pain need a healthy pathway out.
I’m the CEO of Central Care Mission, a residential life skills community center in Orlando serving those with Substance Abuse Disorder, and I see it every day. I’m also on the board of Project Opioid, which recently co-authored a report called “A Prescription For Change.” The report published by UCF in partnership with Project Opioid leads to the conclusion that millennials and younger generations are using painkilling substances, not to numb physical pain, but emotional suffering, social anxiety and mental anguish.
Couple this with nationwide availability of heroin and fentanyl, and you have a perfect storm. The evidence is on our streets, homes and workplaces, and it overwhelmingly supports the conclusions of this report.
Young people are bringing into adulthood mental health issues like acute anxiety, chronic depression, social isolation, financial stress, and obesity. They are in pain. they become addicted to painkillers. This takes the emotional pain away, briefly. their life begins to unravel, creating more mental health issues and more pain.
Programs providing mental health are critical in helping people like John, who never developed a healthy relationship with his father, who moved away when John was young and was harshly critical of John’s life. So John started using opioids at a very early age to cope with these emotional wounds. Then he created a false narrative of success and education that became his false identity. The more addiction took him down the road of failure, the more his false story became entrenched.
While at our facility, he was drug-free without any relapse for six months when we began to suspect his cover-up. If he could not begin to trust the staff and come out from the mask of security, the chance of remaining substance-free was highly unlikely.
Through love, time, telling the truth, and healthy relationships, at age 29, John dropped the false narrative, and now he is free, not just from his addiction, but to be himself. His story of transformation is one of mental health and behavioral health. These are vital and necessary components in our response to the humanitarian crisis of opioid use.
Over the last 11 years, I’ve watched people die from overdoses, grieved with their friends and families and conducted their funerals. It is gut-wrenching and impacts families and our community for years. Sixty-eight thousand people in the tri-county area are incorrectly using opioids. Our community needs to respond now with a full spectrum of treatment.