Letter: Addiction and mental health care
The painkiller OxyContin is a form of oxycodone designed to provide a slow release over 12 hours. (Jan. 29, 2009) Credit: Newscom
I would like to open up a new line of dialogue regarding the prescription painkiller epidemic ["LI pain pill crackdown," News, June 7].
Pain management that involves the prescription of opiates is generally the domain of medical doctors. Drug addiction is a mental health issue.
In my experience, medical professionals are not experts in diagnosing and treating mental health disorders -- and we should not expect them to be. We have, in response to advanced knowledge, fragmented our health care system into multiple specialties, with a different doctor for every part of the body. We also separate treatment of the body from treatment of the mind.
While I've seen dialogue between medical specialists, there is often very little connection or communication between medical and mental health providers. Pain management and addiction specialists generally do not work side by side to detect and address opiate addiction. Care fragments, and patients fall between the cracks.
Ingrid Heiner, Farmingdale
Editor's note: The writer is a former mental health professional, chronic pain patient and painkiller addict in recovery.
