In the battle against substance abuse and addiction, medication-assisted therapy (MAT) and behavioral therapy are being used to battle addiction on two fronts.
Photo Illustration by Craig Kelly | The Lima News
LIMA — In 2022, there were 4,915 people who died from accidental drug overdoses in Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Health. While that number is actually lower than 2021’s total of 5,174 overdose deaths, that number is still almost 500 more than the population of Ottawa, according to 2021 U.S. Census Bureau data. Eighty-four percent of those deaths were related to opioids, the majority of them related to fentanyl specifically.
Behind those overdose deaths, however, are thousands of others who are still living with addictions to opioids and other substances. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, approximately 757,000 Ohioans age 12 and older were diagnosed with substance abuse disorder from 2017 to 2019, representing about 7.7 percent of the population.
For people like Micah Sobota, the director of the crisis stabilization unit at Coleman Health Services, treating people with these addictions requires multiple vectors of attack as the crisis has only continued to grow since Coleman first arrived in Allen County in 2011, treating fewer than 100 people that first year.
“We’ve treated over 1,000 people here since then,” he said.
As easy as it is to succumb to addiction, especially with opioids, which can cause brain chemistry alterations from the first dose, according to Sobota, whose background is in pharmacy, getting freed from addiction can be much more arduous a process, as those who struggle with addiction know firsthand.
“I wish there was a magic pill I could give,” Sobota said. “But the truth is that it just doesn’t work like that.”
While no magic pill may exist to cure addictions, pharmaceuticals are playing a part in addiction treatment. For instance, it is now common practice for law enforcement and other first responders to have naloxone available in emergency situations when a person is overdosing on opioids. However, as treatment continues for those dealing with addictions, Coleman, as well as other facilities, have incorporated medication-assisted treatment (MAT) as part of its approach.
“When it comes to medication and counseling, we hit all of it at once,” Sobota said. “We’ve got psychiatry and we have doctors and nurse practitioners giving prescriptions.”
Medications such as Vivitrol (naltrexone) and Suboxone (buprenorphine/naloxone) are used to help lower the body’s dependence on that addictive substance.
“With opioids, they attach to receptors in the brain that release dopamine, which is a chemical released when you feel euphoria, like when your team won the big game,” Sobota said. “These cause so much dopamine to be released that it alters the balance in your brain and your body becomes dependent on that. So these medications work to re-establish that balance. That could mean working with those receptors to release lower levels of dopamine, the same philosophy seen in nicotine patches.”
Other treatment facilities, such as BrightView Addiction Treatment Center and Pathways Counseling Center in Ottawa, also use MAT along with cognitive and behavioral therapy to combat addiction. On Jan. 11, the WORTH Center in Lima received approval from Allen County commissioners to receive a $109,000 Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Grant from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice, money that will be used to implement medication-based treatment for people in that facility struggling with addiction. Previous grants had been used to fund counseling and behavioral therapy, but the WORTH Center was able to reallocate other funds to continue that therapy while this grant funded the pharmaceutical component.
While counselors have continued to see both progress and setbacks with those being treated, having both of these tools in hand has been helpful in the fight, Sobota said. However, he said, it must be understood that this is not just a case of taking a round of medication and a few therapy sessions and walking away clean.
“Some people may receive treatment for the rest of their lives,” he said. “It’s like a marathon, and we are the first 100 yards of that marathon. They may end up doing well or they may end up going back to the beginning, but that’s okay as along as they keep moving.”
