We often find ourselves judging people with addictions.  On the commute to work, we shake our heads at the man on the train who can’t seem to get a grip (literally) because he’s been drinking early and falls on to a fellow passenger. He doesn’t even say sorry. The stigma is real – I work in this field, and my own biases come out when I see a pregnant woman smoking or putting that fifth bag into her bag.  I am aware of it and try to check it, but its there and its not always easy to put aside. But if we go back to that Sesame Street video for a second and try to feel what that person is going through, maybe we can develop empathy for that person. I’m sure she doesn’t want to be drinking with a baby on the way. I’m sure she’s been lectured about what she’s doing to that child. It must be hard. But sometimes it’s hard not to get mad at her even though we know its not our place. We feel like we’re getting mad for that unborn child, right?

In  trainings and sometimes at meetings, I always ask the question – can you teach the empathy (I usually say you can’t because I like to play devil’s advocate). I’ve got a lot of interesting responses over time – both in the yay and the nay. But one common one that says, yes you can teach empathy, and the one I really believe in is listening to and understanding people’s stories. Narratives teach us a lot and help us understand. Even fictional stories and understanding motivations and experiences of a character can establish new understanding. Sometimes if we just try to understand what that’s person’s going through (quickly, yes, I know about the American health system), if we just try to hear their story even if all it might not be true or has an angle to it or is all over the place and we don’t have time for all over the place, maybe we can take better care of our patients. I have no evidence or odds ratio to prove this but I’ve been a human for awhile so I guess there’s that.

Anyway, the point of all this rambling is to share a story I read recently that addresses the very bias I owned earlier in the post.   I’m sure you’ve heard similar and there may be more powerful ones out there but I found it appropriate because just earlier on the morning that I read it, I saw a pregnant woman nodding out, almost falling to the ground outside Andrew Station. I shook my head in disgust and kept walking. Then, as if a blessing, I came in to work and someone sent me a link to this story. Its a story of addiction and also of recovery.  Knowing that its hard to make changes immediately and on demand, that addiction is a disease and that recovery is possible helps me deal with my own biases.

Enough already…here’s the link:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/05/06/310087402/addicted-and-pregnant-the-most-heart-wrenching-experience-of-my-life

-Deric