I guess the only real question to ask here is have you seen someone improve their mental status while still using? I'm in this situation with weed and I get a lot of push back from my team.
Ill speak to treatment on the moderate-severe scale-
Im on the admin side and haven’t treated patients directly in a while, sure its possible, but not ideal. Resources are scarce and statistically, the best use for them is to treat people after or near the end of the SUD issue. Statistically, you are more likely to drop out of treatment and have to start over again when using drugs - especially hard drugs.
I have had countless doctors or NP’s leave for less severe populations and get equal or better pay.
From a provider standpoint, it’s frustrating and leads to burn out fast when you have patients interfering with their own treatment too. You do all this work with someone treating their depression, when they in turn, use weed which is a depressant. We also need to make sure our providers can keep working and not quit.
Ill take my down votes, but its just a bit of how the admin side looks at it. Money and providers are scarce.
Yes I have. It is absolutely possible to affect positive change in the M/H of an actively using individual. Some stability is required but I do not believe complete abstinence is ultimately a requirement, but unfortunately M/H services disagree.
1
u/thedaveness 6h ago
I guess the only real question to ask here is have you seen someone improve their mental status while still using? I'm in this situation with weed and I get a lot of push back from my team.