Here are some six barriers to treatment and addiction recovery:

Lack of addiction education

Drug addiction is often considered a sensitive topic and this is because there’s not a lot of proper education about it. This causes the lack of information on the stages of addiction, and what could have been done to prevent it from progressing. And later on, a person who is already suffering from addiction, despite the glaring impact on his life, still doesn’t know that he needs treatment.

Lack of support from family or friends

Aside from the person suffering from addiction himself, those around him also do not have sufficient information about addiction, and thus, have no idea that they may have been part of the underlying causes that pushed the person to resort to substances. Furthermore, they don’t how important their role is for addiction treatment and recovery.

Stigma affecting work and social life

Resulting from the lack of addiction education, substance use disorders remain stigmatized and a person suffering from addiction fears that undergoing treatment or rehab would cause devastating impact to their social lives and career opportunities. That’s what some just hide the fact that they need treatment even if they know that they do.

The perceived lack of confidentiality when undergoing treatment further exacerbates the problem, as those who need treatment may be scared that they will be exposed, and thus the vulnerable to being stigmatized.

Shortage of affordable health services targeting and preventing addiction

Some people believe that undergoing treatment or a rehabilitation program is too expensive, and thus they forego treatment. Some may even resort to self-medication.

Furthermore, there is a lack of free mental health services that could have addressed the root cause of addiction. What a lot of people do not know is that addiction could have been caused by emotional turmoil and in the absence of healthier coping mechanisms, they just resorted to substance abuse.

Lack of knowledge or access on where to get treatment

Some people simply do not know where to get professional help. The lack of addiction education really branches out to a lot of other barriers that prevent people from getting help even if they know that they already do need it.

Limited capacity in known programs

While programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous are able to help millions of members and that there are thousands of treatment centers all over the United States, this is considered to still be insufficient as there is a limited number of beds and professionals available for the true number of people who need help.

Do your part in Breaking the Barriers to Treatment & Addiction Recovery

While the Government has the responsibility to address most of these barriers, there are certain things that we can do to help break the barriers to addiction treatment and recovery. The first and most important thing that you should do is get educated on drugs and addiction, as a lot of change can happen after getting educated on the matter. Not only will you be able to help yourself prevent or address addiction, you will also know how you can be of help to person who suffers from addiction. Let’s all do our part in battling addiction.