While our film FOR IZZY isn’t a soapbox for social issues, the lives of the characters impacted by addiction is underpinned by recurring struggles that many recovering addicts and their loved ones face.
A recent article here (http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2016/05/opioid-addiction-treatment-focus) summed it up quite nicely: that treating addiction involves both addressing the physical dependency as well as the longer-term support of being part of a larger community.
And this is precisely what the character Dede is grappling with on her road to recovery from opioid addiction.
Medication such as methadone is important in treating the brutal physical withdrawal symptoms.
But beyond that, so is fellowship, love and connection with others, whether it’s a recovery group, reconnecting with loved ones, or reaching out to new friends entirely. Because addicts have typically walled themselves off from virtually everyone.
In a way, the road to recovery is a journey out of solitary confinement, the darkness of which not only does damage to the body, but to the soul. And so rehabilitation should be about healing the physical damage as well as the emotional damage to what makes us human – our relationships with others.