5 Excuses People use to Avoid Opiate Addiction Treatment and How to Negate Them

According to the Centers for Disease Control, opiate use has become an epidemic in the United States. Although treatment is readily available, many people are extremely resistant to receiving treatment. They enjoy their addiction or fear withdrawal too much. They put up barriers to seeking treatment and make common excuses to avoid it. If a loved one needs addiction treatment, there are ways to negate their excuses.

1. The Doctor Prescribed Them so I Have to Take Them

This is one of the most common excuses people make, it places blame on the doctors rather than themselves. Just because you are prescribed, a medication does not mean that it is safe. Doctors understand that you can become dependent on the medication and schedule the doses carefully. People who are addicted misuse the medications and do not follow the doctor’s instruction.

How you negate this excuse is to talk to the doctor and find out the dosing schedule. Then confront the addict with how much they are taking versus how much they should be taking. Talk to them about how to reduce their dosage and where to seek treatment.

2. I Cannot Afford Treatment for my Addiction

Many opiate addicts will claim they can stop using on their own.

Again, this is a common excuse. Yes, some addiction treatment is extremely costly but this is not a reason to skip treatment. How you negate this excuse is to explain that there are sliding scale, free, and low cost treatment centers. There are also treatment centers that take the majority of insurances.

3. I Just Need Relief from the Pain

When someone is in chronic pain, a person will do anything to stop the pain, even if that means turning to illegal drugs to do so. They will do anything that they can to get that relief. Most people who are in pain and cannot get prescription medications will eventually turn to illegal sources. They will also become more addicted to the opiates.

A way to combat this claim is to simply inform the addict that there are other options to keep them pain free. A few of these options are:

• Pain relief devices
• Methadone
• Suboxone

There are many other types of treatments for chronic pain and arthritis.

4. I can Quit on my Own

Another excuse to avoid treatment, the person might actually believe that they are able to quit on their own. If they try, encourage them. If they fail, do not be angry with them. The only way to combat this is to allow them to try and fail. Then offer them treatment. Most people who try to get off opiates by themselves and fail eventually realize that they need treatment and help.

5 Things Opiate Users Say

5. The Right Treatment is Too Hard to Find

Some say that the right treatment program for them is too hard to find. They think that no program will work for them and that they will not succeed. Fortunately the right treatment center is just a phone call away. Call us at 877-743-0081 (Who Answers?), we can help.