Dear Marshall Smith, and Dr. Evan Wood, I am replying to your articles Feb 17, Feb
20..... You are both right, but are comparing apples to pears. Methadone maintenance
therapy for apioid addictions is proving to reduce HIV, crime, and can be the first step towards the ultimate goal of abstinence. The first step after the physical detox in any addiction (smoking, food, gambling,drinking, sex, and all the way up to heroin) is learning to cope with emotions. We all prefer total abstinence from drug use, but we must value whatever steps of harm reduction we can accomplish on the street levels. We can aim for total abstinence when we get them into further treatment.
There is a huge difference between street treatment and a live in theraputic community. I have worked with both. How can we criticize any program that reduces harm? Respectively, I offer a third point of view as a Master Clinical Hypnotherapist specializing in cognitive behavior modification. When a person uses a substance, or behavior to feel better, or not feel at all (food, sex, gambling, alcohol, drugs) they are in addictive behavior. They will stay in a "chronic relapsing condition " until they stop turning to an external source to help them cope with pain, stress, anxiety, depression, and anger. The trigger and the response system are all run by the subconscious. We have to teach people how to cope with their life, emotions, and de-link the responses to craving addiction of choice. This is the only "CURE" to addiction and relapsing. The final cure is changing our own belief system.
Our beliefs and triggers are formed in our subconscious. Clinical Hypnotherapists are in all major treatment centers in the U.S.A. for drug, alcohol, eating disorders, sexual offenders, anger management, prison, and anxiety programs. This therapy works directly with changing the self esteem, beliefs, reaction and response systems that keep people acting out harmful behaviours. Clinical Hypnotherapists work together with all standard therapies. Addictions is rampant and destructive to families, individuals, and our community. Canada is twenty years behind the U.S.A. in behavioral modification treatments. We all have pieces to the puzzle, lets work together and make a difference instead of cutting each others treatments down.
Sherrie Kitto, Master Hypnotherapist,
Prince George
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