Health is the first of the four broad areas in SAMHSA’s Recovery Support Strategic Initiative (Health, Home, Purpose, and Community). While SAMHSA is right to be concerned that the Recovering Peer needs to abstain from substance use first in order to improve the prospect of successful recovery, there is more to Health than just abstinence
In SAMHSA’s 10 Guiding Principles, Holistic is listed near the top. Holistic is a large category and surely Holistic Health is an important aspect of that.
Not so very long ago, leading edge medicine was telling us that genetic predisposition was the chief cause of health problems, including the ‘medical model’ of alcohol and substance use; exacerbated of course by environmental exposure.
Since the completion of the Human Genome Project however, a new picture has emerged. It turns out that the expression of the genes is dependent upon a biological dialogue that the organism and the environment engage in together. Beneficial surroundings, activate the health giving qualities of genes while threatening and adverse environments switch on the detrimental aspects of our genes. This model is known as ‘epigenetic expression’ and recently great strides have been taken in the understanding of psychobiological gene expression.
Gene Expression/ Protein Synthesis Cycles:
Gene Expression | Approximate time | Major function | Research Domain |
Evolution | Eons | Origins | Darwin |
Inheritance | Generations | Replication | Mendel |
Development | A Lifetime | Growth | Embryology |
Housekeeping | Daily | Metabolism | Functional genomics |
Clock Genes | Circadian | Synchronization | Chronobiology |
Late activated | 4-8 hours | Immune | Immunology |
Immediate & early activated | 1-2 hours | Environmental response | Psycho-neuro Immunology |
Behavioral State Related | Hours | Wake/Sleep, Dreams, Mood | Psychology |
Activity dependent | Minutes to hours | Memory, Learning | Neuro-science |
Immediate early | Seconds to minutes | Arousal states | Psychobiology |
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The Psychobiology of Consciousness is a continuous energy, experiential state of neurogenesis in the dynamics of Self-Reflection and co-creation of Self (Psychosocial Genomics), which is a combination of:
Here we find that the Psychobiology of Consciousness is largely the intersection of these, especially numbers 2, 3, and 4.
Stigma is something that almost all peers face when actively in recovery. Stigma may also be present prior to recovery (indeed, perhaps throughout almost the entire lifetime) and continue long after a peer has recovered.
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The Stigma of drug use, mental health issues, institutionalization, incarceration, sexual abuse, and health and living matters can be an impediment to any aspect of the Guiding Principles and their healing aspects. Stigma is not confined to the area of recovery and social and community related stigma can compound and bring complications to an otherwise solid recovery effort.
However, Peers may face intense stigma from family, extended kin, and landlords where they rent (bringing problems in obtaining satisfactory and safe housing). Living in a stigma charged environment is not peaceful and stable and frequently leads to arguments, labeling, and stressful relations.
However, schools, employers and volunteer opportunities are reticent to take on ex-convicts, Mental Health patients, and recovering drug users or alcoholics. The peer is then isolated from meaningful employment, socialization, and the beneficial aspects of feeling productive.
However, stigma isolates and marginalizes its victims, leading to disenfranchisement and despair in the areas of community integration and contribution. Rather than non-judgmental support, the recovering peer meets with judgment, labeling, and stigma which inhibits momentum in recovery.
As if all this were not enough, the above factors are related to the adverse expression of the epigenetic factor because the surrounding environment is not conducive to trust and healing and is in fact detrimental. This in turn negatively impacts the overall health and wellbeing of the recovering peer at the most vulnerable time when he or she is needing help and support.