A new study of heroin addicts suggests that treatment programs might do well to provide grief counseling for those patients in recovery. From a press release about the study, conducted at the University of Buffalo:
Heroin addicts trying to kick the habit often profoundly grieve their lost "relationship" with the needles they use to inject the drug, according to a new study by a University at Buffalo doctoral student. This intense personal connection with the needle, which some addicts described as a "love affair," may be a factor in the high relapse rate among recovering addicts, according to the study's principal investigator Davina Moss, who recently earned a doctorate in counselor education from the UB Graduate School of Education….
"They described a feeling of 'oneness' with the needle, how they would caress the needle, and how they would never forget their first time using the needle — much like someone would describe a first love."
One user in the study even suggested that if he didn't crave the feel of the needle, he might be able to kick his habit, says Moss, who has worked with heroin addicts for 13 years.
Moss also found that recovering addicts grieve the loss of heroin as if they were mourning a loved one's death. They expressed a love for the drug much like one loves a spouse. Such intense feelings have been reported in other studies of heroin addicts, as well as in studies of other drug addicts and alcoholics, Moss says…
"Heroin addicts have great difficulty ending their relationship with the drug," Moss says. "Their unresolved grief is not being addressed in treatment programs."
