A burst appendix and addiction are similar, the both cause
pain we can not see.
When we treat a disease we must remember there is a human being behind the disease. Too often we forget there
is a person with feelings behind the behavior, the illness, the struggles and the pain. We go through life reacting because of our
life experience, our callousness and our pain.
When a doctor is treating a patient with cancer it is easy
to remove their self from the human in front of them and see it is just another
problem to solve, just another form to fill out. When we treat an addict we must remember there
is a human being behind all the anger, deceit and bad choices. We must remember they didn’t start out this way, they became this way over time. The
tough part is not to become cold and callous to their condition. Sure they are going to lie, yell, and treat
you poorly. They will even cheat on their UA test, we must look at why they are
acting this way. Is it out of shame,
guilt, the pain or is it how they have learned to protect themselves. When you confront them about lying, cheating
and their bad behavior it’s their nature react, to want to protect themselves
with more lies to cover up the last lie.
We must look beyond this and still treat them as a person who is hurting. 
What if you were rushed into the emergency room screaming in
pain because your appendix just burst and the surgeon said“until you clam down and stop screaming I am not going to treat you”. The patient would die before that happened.
Realize an addict is in pain; pain you can't see or understand. Don’t take it personally
and don’t let it make you cold and callous.
Look beyond the lies, the anger and the behavior and treat them as a human being in pain.
Discover what is causing their pain, causing them to act this way,
what are they afraid of if they tell the truth and ask for help. They may not know and we must help them
answer the question.
When the surgeon asks the patient where does it hurt, they
may get “everywhere” or even “I already told you &(#)#^&..” This
doesn’t deter the nurses and doctors from their mission of saving a life.
You must not be deterred from your mission, because how you
treat an addict may save their life and someone else’s life.
