Talking FACS
Host: Dr. Jennifer Hunter, Assistant Director for Family and Consumer Sciences Extension, University of Kentucky
Guest: Alex Elswick, Extension Associate for Family Resource Management
Episode 10
0:00 Welcome to Talking FACS; what you need to know about family, food, finance and fitness. Hosted by the University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program, our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families and communities to improve quality of life.
0:20 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Hello and welcome to Talking FACS. This is your host, Dr. Jennifer Hunter, Assistant Director for Family and Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky. Today, I'm pleased to have back with me, Alex Elswick, Extension Associate in the Department of Family sciences.
During one of our more recent episodes, Alex joined us to discuss; “What is addiction?” Today, he's going to follow up and talk about the recovery process and how we can help individuals through recovery. Thanks for joining us again today, Alex.
0:51 Alex Elswick: Thanks for having me back.
0:52 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: So, let's get started. Last time, we discussed, “What is addiction?” and the impact of addiction on some of our local communities. Let's talk today about recovery and how an individual can go through the recovery process and what some of the skill sets are that they need or can be provided to them to equate to more success through recovery.
1:16 Alex Elswick: Sure. So, in our previous podcast, we talked about how complex addiction is. And I think, in many ways, recovery is an equally complex process. I think oftentimes, laypeople think it's just a matter of going to treatment or to rehab and sort of, the phrase we hear often is drying out, you know, becoming abstinent from drugs and alcohol and that a person just needs to muster the willpower not to use again.
And unfortunately, that's woefully inadequate. Oftentimes, people will need to go to various forms of treatment; that might be individual counseling; that might be in-patient treatment, outpatient treatment, could be using medication. In the case of a person who is addicted to opioids, can use various medications.
Two important points about that. One, really only one in 10 people who need treatment actually get treatment. And number two, a lot of people are surprised to find that the majority of people who have a substance use disorder actually recover without formal treatment.
2:22 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Really.
2:23 Alex Elswick: It's a process called natural recovery. And the reason that I bring that up is because it speaks to the need for recovery resources in general. And so, the study of natural recovery came out of a study of middle class people who were addicted. And what the authors of the study found is that a lot of middle and upper class people were recovering without treatment. And what they realize is it's because they had all these resources that they needed; to the point where they didn't actually have to go to treatment necessarily. They could recover without it.
And so, when we talk about these resources, what are we thinking of? We're really thinking of everything that it takes for a human being to be healthy. So, for instance, they need stable housing. Housing that enables them to feel a sense of safety and security in an environment that's free from drugs and alcohol.
3:10 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Right.
3:12 Alex Elswick: They need food security. So, they need to know where their next meal is coming from. For some people, that may mean they need government benefits. They need to take care of their finances.
One of the big barriers that people often face when they're in recovery is bad credit, lots of debt, they have criminal records oftentimes; which means it's harder to get a job, harder to get an apartment and stable housing, hard to get a loan, hard to get a car. And all of these things create all these challenges that make it harder to recover.
3:45 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: So, really, what you're describing are basic life skills that an individual needs to be successful.
3:52 Alex Elswick: Yes. That's well said. Because I think really, what we're talking about is that is; “What does it take to be a healthy human being even when you don't have a substance use disorder?” People who would become addicted need the same things. It's just that the stakes are a little bit higher. Because not having those things can often lead to relapse. They cause what we call psychosocial stressors.
Also, things like proper nutrition. Something that we see often times are people who have had sort of an unhealthy relationship with something like alcohol, who go to treatment and when they get out, they may be abstaining from drinking alcohol, but now they sort of might have an unhealthy relationship with food or with sugar.
4:31 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Right.
4:32 Alex Elswick: So, like one of the things we do in extension is try to get our nutrition experts to teach people the proper nutrition, so they're actually nourishing their body. Exercise, I'm a big advocate for this. There's a lot of research that shows that exercise can actually help those brain circuits that are hijacked in addiction to heal faster. So, those are some of the physical resources.
And then sometimes people need to address mental disorder. I've mentioned this at every opportunity. Because there's a strong likelihood that a person who has a substance use disorder or an addiction– it's what we call an addiction– may also have a co-occurring disorder like anxiety or depression. And it's really senseless to treat one without the other.
5:14 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: So, for someone that goes through the natural recovery process that you just explained. So, essentially they recover more or less on their own. Do those mental disorders often go undiagnosed or is that something that they're able to recognize through their recovery process?
5:31 Alex Elswick: I think what many people find, who go through a sort of natural recovery process, is that– at least in some cases, in the case of anxiety for instance, a person may have been self-medicating their anxiety by using drugs or alcohol. And when they finally get the proper treatment to manage their anxiety and they're no longer experiencing those symptoms, now they no longer have a need to cope with drugs or alcohol. That's certainly not the case for everyone.
5:59 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Right.
6:00 Alex Elswick: But that may be the case for some. And then there are all these social factors that you have to address. So, you have to find a new network of friends. You know, having people in your social network who are still actively abusing drugs and alcohol is certainly a problem and a risk factor for addiction.
But a really important one is repairing family relationships. Because unfortunately, as a result of substance use, we often see families torn apart and relationships broken.
So, one of the things that I advocate for most often is that families go to family counseling to start to repair some of those relationships and to find ways to support their loved ones.
6:41 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: So as we think about recovery and just the opioid crisis in general that unfortunately, it's so widespread that most all individuals know someone that unfortunately, has suffered their addiction. And so, whether it be a family member or a co-worker or a neighbor, friend, whoever it may be; typically, they can identify someone in their life that they know that has suffered with addiction. How can we, as individuals, help them through the process of recovery?
7:13 Alex Elswick: One of the things that I encourage people to do is to think about the language that they use when they talk about addiction. Because sometimes, when– I’ll use the word addict, for instance. It's pretty common. You're going to see it used in newspaper articles and even sometimes in research literature.
But the word addict can be harmful. And so, calling a loved one an addict or calling a friend an addict is sort of a reference to their old identity as a person who was addicted to substances. And so, I encourage people to try to find language that's maybe not so stigmatizing.
Then something else that people can do is find ways to just be supportive. And not supportive in a way that's contingent upon whether or not a person's using drugs. Because oftentimes, will say, “Well, if you're sober, I'll help you”. But that's sort of an easy way out. Because everybody wants to help a person who's doing well.
8:07 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: True.
8:08 Alex Elswick: We can all get on board with the comeback story. What's a lot more difficult is being supportive of someone when they're struggling. And it's easier to do that when you remember that what a person is dealing with is a brain disease.
8:20 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Right. Good points. Other information that you might have to share with us, in terms of just understanding their recovery process better?
8:28 Alex Elswick: Yeah, I hear people talk about loved ones who graduate from treatment. Sometimes, I'll reframe that and say, “Really, what we're talking about is a commencement and not a graduation”.
And it's not just a matter of semantics, it’s driving home the point that treatment isn't over when a person leaves, let's say an in-patient treatment. It's really the beginning of a lifelong recovery process.
Because as we said in the first podcast, addiction is a chronic disorder. So, like these other chronic disorders like hypertension or heart disease or diabetes, it has to be managed every day. You think about a friend of mine, for instance, who has diabetes and has to check his blood sugar and take insulin every day. He doesn't do it once and cure his diabetes.
9:10 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Right.
9:11 Alex Elswick: He does it every day to manage his disorder. And the same is true of addiction; just like other chronic disorders. So, people have to find ways to manage their disorder on a day-in day-out basis.
9:23 Dr. Jennifer Hunter: Right. We have the opportunity to work together quite a bit. And so, I have the opportunity to talk to you quite often and pick your brain, so that I can learn more about substance use disorders and the recovery process.
I appreciate you joining us today and having the conversation. Because I think as average consumers, the more knowledgeable we are, the more that we understand maybe what someone else is experiencing, the more that we can benefit and serve our local communities.
9:50 Alex Elswick: Absolutely.
9:53 Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. We deliver programs focusing on nutrition, health, resource management, family development and civic engagement. If you enjoy today's podcast, have a question or a show topic idea, leave a ‘Like’ and comment on Facebook @UKFCSEXT. Visit us online at fcs.uky.edu or contact your local extension agent for Family and Consumer Sciences. We build strong families. It starts with us.
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