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Medication-Assisted Treatment: Fact vs. Fiction

Healing and recovery are a journey, and now Alluma has one more way to support it. Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) uses medications and behavioral therapy to provide a whole-patient approach to treating substance use disorders.

Learn more about MAT with fact versus fiction below.

FICTION: Medication only makes addiction worse.

FACT: MAT is used to prevent or reduce opioid overdose and to treat addiction to opioids like heroin and prescription pain relievers that contain opiates. The prescribed medication operates to normalize brain chemistry, block the euphoric effects of alcohol and opioids, relieve physiological cravings, and normalize body functions without the negative and euphoric effects of the substance used. The medications used in MAT are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

FICTION: Substance use disorders are a thing of the past.

FACT: Substance use disorders are an urgent public health crisis that has only worsened during the coronavirus pandemic.

MAT can help people fully recover and get back to their lives.

FICTION: MAT is the easy way out; it’s cheating.

FACT: The goal of MAT is full recovery. MAT has proven to be clinically effective and significantly reduces the need for inpatient detoxification services. MAT is comprehensive and tailored to each person.

MAT has been shown to:

• improve survival
• increase retention in treatment
• increase patients’ ability to gain and maintain a job
• decrease illicit opiate use and other criminal activity
• contribute to lowering a person’s risk of contracting HIV/AIDS or hepatitis C virus by reducing relapse potential

FICTION: Addiction isn’t a disease, and people can stop using a substance whenever they want.

FACT: Addiction involves disruption of neurochemical pathways that can be modified with the use of medications, as in treatment for depression or other medical conditions – for example, if a patient were using insulin to treat diabetes. Even if an individual uses all the support options, they may not be able to achieve the desired end goal with that alone. But medication along with other modalities of treatment may enable someone to successfully realize their goal of remission of symptoms and maintain recovery.

Need more information about MAT? Contact us today.