As our nation faces an unprecedented opioid epidemic, mental health clinicians must communicate to patients options for treatment for opioid use disorders (OUDs). A small subset of patients who suffer from an OUD will be consistently motivated in their willingness to accept and fully engage in medically assisted treatment (MAT). However, most patients will display fluctuating degrees of intrinsic motivation in their perceived abilities, needs, and desires for MAT. As of 2017, the MAT agents that are approved for use in OUD by the Food and Drug Administration are methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone.
An obvious first step in treating these patients is to forge a therapeutic alliance that allows the patient to feel comfortable expressing myriad emotions, including shame, sadness, fear, anger, guilt, relief, hopefulness, and hopelessness. It is important for the clinician to have a nonjudgmental, kind, open, and empathic approach. We also must be able to specifically empathize with the ambivalence many patients feel regarding MAT. This column will review common questions and concerns that patients voice when contemplating the use of the long-acting injectable naltrexone (Vivitrol). In addition, this article will attempt to provide clinicians with possible responses to these questions, and aim to increase the likelihood that patients will be willing to accept treatment with Vivitrol.
Dr. Michael S. Ascher
Patient: “If I’m sober, then I should be completely sober, and that includes abstaining from Vivitrol.”
Here, this patient has expressed his/her point of view on what it means to be sober. This view is not uncommon. The clinician should explore the origin of this belief. This particular response may be internalized from an experience in a 12-step program. Or it may be a personal feeling. Engage in a conversation about what sobriety means to the patient, his or her personal goals, and thoughts related to how opiates might interfere with these goals. Clinicians should resist the urge to persuade a patient to use Vivitrol, regardless of how strongly the clinician feels about its effectiveness, in order to address the patient’s ambivalence. Join in with the patient to acknowledge and shed light on his or her perspective and ultimately support a well-informed decision that incorporates a patient’s individual values.
Patient: “Others will judge me and say that I can’t handle life without Vivitrol and I need a crutch.”
The truth is, others may think this. Clinicians should acknowledge that the influential people in the lives of our patients may very well be judgmental. But it is a potential barrier for this patient to be too concerned with others’ reaction to Vivitrol. Stay with the patient’s concern about being judged in order to move into a discussion about ways to tolerate that response. Maybe this is a time to ask whether it would be helpful to educate family members about Vivitrol or to problem-solve ways to handle interactions with others when they say this. It also might be a time to explore questions such as “Why is needing a crutch a sign of weakness to you?” Take a moment to understand the patient’s feelings about using “crutches.” This may open up the dialogue and the potential for seeing Vivitrol as a helpful resource rather than a sign of weakness.
Dr. Elana Rosof
Patient: “If I am doing so well, why introduce another medication?”
That is a valid question, especially if the patient has experienced real change and doesn’t see a need to mix things up. You can tell them that they may be right. However, this also is an opportunity to engage in a meaningful discussion with the patient about the nature of addiction and the nature of motivation. It may be helpful to review the triggers and patterns of use for this particular patient. Remind him or her that motivation to stay sober is fluid. People in the process of change typically are in regular dialogue with themselves about what they want, why they want it, and what they need to do. It is a natural part of the process to sometimes favor sobriety, while other times want to use. Vivitrol is ONE way to manage the relationship between these fluctuations and the desire to act on urges. This may be an appropriate time to tell the patient about other patients’ experiences with Vivitrol and how they experienced relief from not having to work through the costs and benefits of using on a constant basis.
Patient: “I feel controlled by Vivitrol, and it brings up a lot of emotions for me.”
For the most part, Vivitrol will remove the person’s day-to-day participation in their decision to use drugs. This is unsettling for many of our patients who find that using a substance of their own volition makes them feel more in control than does taking a prescribed medicine. The decision to use Vivitrol to treat their addiction is asking patients to think ahead and face what comes up day to day in ways they may not have. Clients can experience fear and sadness when attempting to manage life without the “escape hatch.” It’s natural to want to fight against any feelings of being controlled. To work through ambivalence, allow the patient to air these concerns, acknowledge that feeling controlled understandably is an uncomfortable experience, and then move into ways the patient may see Vivitrol as giving them more control. It is in this kind of conversation about the pros and cons that we can help a patient recognize what feels “wise” in the long term.
Dr. Susan Schack
Patient: “If I take Vivitrol, I could imagine using many more opioids to override the blockade.”
This thought is a kind of hopeless, automatic one, such as “This won’t work for me,” or “I will just use on it.” We can remind our patient that a thought is simply a thought. Mindfulness can be used to help this patient identify and label his/her thoughts. The task is then to figure out whether it is wise to act on those thoughts. It is crucial to be able to monitor and track this kind of thinking to help a patient identify and manage cravings. These thoughts will happen, but the behavior does not have to follow. In dialectical behavior therapy, we help patients identify thoughts that come mostly from emotions, which are, for the most part, about having short-term relief rather than thoughts that are more balanced by emotion and reason. We call the latter kinds of thoughts “wise mind”; they are more focused on long-term goals. Clinicians should help the patient discern the difference between these different types of thoughts. Remember, if the patients are sitting in your office, there must have been some “wise mind thinking” that led them there, and you should highlight and explore why they made that choice in the first place.
Patient: “I want to have the ability to use opioids if things get really bad.”
Opioids can become a source of security and a reliable resource that doesn’t fail the patient when he or she is struggling. Most of the time, patients have gotten to a place in which opioids are the only coping skill they have to manage life’s difficulties. These clients need to relearn alternative coping skills. Using Vivitrol gives them the ability to be sober enough to practice distress tolerance skills and realize the benefits of not using opioids. Learning how to distract, soothe, and use relaxation strategies are the only ways they are going to be able to build a satisfying life again without substance use. If we can hold up the dilemma facing this person by saying “On the one hand, you are scared not to have your usual go-to; and on the other hand, you want things to change.” It may be helpful to have an in-depth discussion of what patients imagine might happen if they don’t have opioids to fall back on. This discussion may uncover the patients’ lack of confidence about being able to cope and a way to introduce some of the alternative coping strategies. It also may leave them with some concrete ways to manage the difficult feelings they are experiencing.
Patient: “What if I get in an accident and really need opioids?”
Some patients who have developed a dependence on opioids did so as a result of a past prescription for pain medication. They know very well the relationship between opioids and pain relief and the concern that they won’t have this option may be a real obstacle for them. Clinicians are in a position here to explain that, in most cases, patients can be treated with alternatives to opiate medication such as regional analgesia, nonopioid analgesics, and general anesthesia. In an emergency situation, a trained anesthesia provider is able to reverse the Vivitrol blockade so that the client can receive adequate pain management.
Patient: “I’m worried about side effects … ”
The most common side effects of Vivitrol are headache, nausea, somnolence, and vomiting. A serious but very rare complication is hepatocellular injury, but this is really only seen at extremely high doses of naltrexone (five times the approved dosage). If the patient is pregnant or planning pregnancy, she should consider alternative relapse-prevention medications, such as buprenorphine or methadone. If the patient has a proven allergy to naltrexone, polylactide-co-glycolide, carboxymethylcellulose, or any other component of the injection, Vivitrol should be avoided. As for the injection site, the client may experience some pain, tenderness, swelling, bruising. In very few cases, the site reaction can be severe. Again, here is an opportunity for a valuation of pros and cons of both continued opioid use and a Vivitrol trial.
Dr. Ascher is a board-certified general and addiction psychiatrist who serves as a clinical assistant professor in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and is in private practice. Dr. Rosof is a clinical psychologist in Philadelphia with a specialty in addiction and extensive training in motivational approaches. Dr. Schack is a clinical psychologist who serves as an expert consultant with the Center for Motivation and Change and is private practice in Philadelphia and New York City. None of them have conflicts of interest to disclose.