Some Veterans "Kicking" the Drug Habit

Patient participation in health care is on the rise, as seen in people looking for alternatives to allopathic medicine. And now a new NPR report has come out, titled, “Veterans Kick the Prescription Pill Habit, Against Doctors’ Orders.” It details how some veterans – initially prescribed with many pills for pain and PTSD – are now personally deciding to stop taking these medications. And those included in the NPR Program report they are feeling significantly better without the drugs.

One reason for this change? These veterans have found that the drug use is debilitating, addictive, and destroys quality of life for them. One veteran pointed out that he at times was taking more than 20 pills a day. What he experienced was that he would take his pills, the day would pass before he knew it, and then it would be time to go back to bed.

Are these veterans unknowingly shaping a more client-centered approach to treatment? Over-diagnosing and overtreatment has come under fire recently, and now veterans are also reacting to their own overtreatment. Is it possible that they are turning to a higher power for help?

This personal action of being willing to try to heal oneself naturally is not new. As far back as the late 19th century, Mary Baker Eddy, a health researcher, recognized the importance of patient participation. “Give sick people credit for sometimes knowing more than their doctors,” she says in her book, Science and Health. “Always support their trust in the power of [the divine] Mind to sustain the body.”

This trust in the power of the divine Mind was evidenced when an individual sustained a potentially fatal scorpion sting in a remote area of Texas. The individual was quickly taken to an airport and boarded a plane. The pilot, recognizing the symptoms of a scorpion sting, said that he was going to remove the individual at the next stop to avoid a mid-air fatality on his record. A doctor on board attended the individual and the pilot called ahead for a doctor in the next town, who refused the case because he was not equipped for it. The doctor and the individual saw complete healing occur on that plane. The individual had prayed with an idea that she had gained from her study of Christian Science in Science and Health: “A spiritual idea has not a single element of error and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive.” By the time they arrived in the Phoenix, where a poison center was located, there was no need for other treatment. Her individual prayer had been effective in healing.

What is different about the veterans kicking the prescription pill habit, even against doctors’ orders, is that they are taking more control over their own health as demonstrated by their actions to do what they feel is best. They’re making decisions that work for them. And, as in the scorpion sting case, they can call on a higher power for healing and health. This kind of spiritual healing is effective, and it brings health without addiction or side effects.

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