It bears repeating: addiction is a chronic, relapsing condition. Other chronic, relapsing diseases include cancer, heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, hypertension, arthritis, COPD, multiple sclerosis, and Crohn’s disease – to name just a few.
The days of treating people struggling with an alcohol and/or substance use disorder as if their condition is the result of poor decisions, a character flaw, or a simple lack of willpower are behind us.
We don’t punish, insult, or degrade people with cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. We treat them with the latest medications and evidence-based techniques.
When they make positive progress, we share their joy. When their condition returns, we don’t blame them: we look at their treatment, lifestyle, and any other contributing factors to find out why the condition returned. Then we adjust the treatment, support them to the best of our abilities, and help them find hope for a healthy future.
The same should be true for people working to overcome addiction: we should treat them, support them, work to understand them, and do everything we can to help them.
If one treatment approach is unsuccessful, it doesn’t mean another approach will be too. If you relapse – which is common with a chronic disease – our job is to find out why. Then we do everything we can to help you return to a state of health.
At Pinnacle, our goal is treating the whole person. Your success is our success.