Why Doctors Hide Their Addiction

About 1 in 10 doctors struggle with addiction, but most of them avoid getting help for one really big reason. Now, of course, there are a lot of reasons why people in general avoid addiction treatment. It costs a lot of money. You're in denial. You can't take time off work. The stigma of it. There's a lot of reasons why people don't get treatment, but there's an extra big reason why physicians and other healthcare workers don't seek help for addiction. And that reason is kind of legit, to be honest. The reason is because they're afraid if they seek help, They could lose their medical license, nursing license, x-ray tech license. When you hold a professional license, particularly in the healthcare realm, there are a lot of restrictions and protections. And there's good reasons for that, right? We want to protect the safety of the public because people are placing their lives in the hands of doctors and other healthcare professionals. So in this video, I really want to explore the realities behind what happens when you have a professional license and you need To seek help for addiction. For those of you who are new here, my name is Amber Hollingsworth and you are watching Put the Shovel Down. I'm a master addiction counselor and I've been working with people and families struggling with addiction for more than 2 decades now. In the last 10 years or so, being in private practice, I've been seeing more and more doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals who are really struggling and need serious help. In the past several years, I've seen a lot of physicians, which is why I know that there's this extra layer of fear and reluctance for Getting the help that you need. I guess I kind of always knew that, but it became really, really clear to me last year when I was seeing a doctor, let's call him Dr. Smith, for an addiction to drugs. Now, I had been seeing this guy for about 8 weeks or so. We had talked about everything in his life, all the difficulties from childhood, his family of origin, his marriage, his children, you know, like all the big intimate kind of things we had been talking about. But it wasn't until the second to last session That I found out he was a doctor, and it was kind of weird how I found out. I almost had to like dig it out of him. You see, this doctor, when he came to me, told me he was a business owner, and he did. He owned several businesses. We didn't talk about his work that much, but he would allude to it from time to time. And in our second to last session, we were talking about something related to his past. I think it was, we were talking about being in college. And then I said, you know, what did you major in in college? And then he said something like biology. And then I can't remember, I asked another question. And then he said, well, you know, like in the medical field. And I, I got Like getting out your therapy tweezers. I felt like I was having to get out the tweezers and pull this out of him inch by inch. And I didn't even know what I was pulling for, but I knew it was weird because all of a sudden I felt like he was trying not to tell me something. And then it finally came out that he was a doctor. He did own the businesses on the side, but he was a physician. And I was like, why didn't you tell me that before? He was like, I don't know. I guess it just didn't come up. And it wasn't until after the session that it suddenly occurred to me. Oh my gosh, he didn't tell me that because he's scared that he would get turned into the licensing board and he would lose his license. I know it seems silly, but it really did just occur to me because I have seen a lot of healthcare professionals, a lot of doctors and other people in jobs that were highly sensitive and other situations where it can ruin your career. And of course, that's a subject that comes up that we talk about, but I had never worked with somebody, at least not for that many weeks, who was so reluctant to even mention what they did for a living. And I'm going to tell you a story in just a minute. That's going to help you know that that is a legitimate fear. But before I tell you that story, here's what I want you to know. Let's just look at how complicated this matter really is. On one hand, yes, you have confidentiality for your own medical treatment, even if you're a doctor, and addiction treatment has even more extra special confidentiality. So yes, you have that privacy to be able to Talk to your doctor, your nurse, your counselor, whoever, to get the help that you need. But there's a caveat. When you go to renew your license, there's usually these like, you know, several questions or like checkboxes that you have to check each time. And basically they're looking for, has anything happened over this, you know, past licensing period that would make it not okay for you to get a renewed license? And one of those questions is usually something around, have you struggled with a substance abuse problem? Have you sought treatment for substance abuse? So even though you can Clinically go and see somebody to get help for the substance use, then you get caught in this question of how do I answer this question on my licensing renewal application? This isn't just doctors; this is most people that have a professional license, and definitely all people that have any kind of medical-related license. I know it's easy when you're just looking in from the outside to say, "Well, you got to do what you got to do to get help," but that's a big hard decision. It's hard enough as it is when when you layer that on top, it becomes extra sensitive. And the way that works is counselors are. Mandatory reporters. And if you get told something that's letting you know the child's in danger, or in this case, a patient's in danger, you have to take certain steps for the safety of the public and especially children. But the way I see it, unless they tell me something that really makes me think that they're putting the lives of their patients in jeopardy, then what's between me and them is between me and them. That's how I see it. And sometimes it comes up about the licensing renewal, and this is what I tell people. Like I said, I'm probably going to get some slack, but this is my stance on it. It's between you and I. In fact, no one's ever going to know you came here unless you tell them that you came here. And I'm certainly not going to release any records unless you sign for them to be released. But they're not going to come and get the records unless they know that you've been here. And even if they try to come get the records, they're not going to get the records without some big major legal reason. And like I said before, I've never had that happen in over 20 years of being in this business. I'm not saying it won't ever happen or it could never happen. I'm just saying it hasn't. And also to help people feel better, I layer this on top. I say, listen, I barely take any notes. I keep track of who you are and when you came and financial records. There's certain things that you have to keep, but I purposely don't put a lot of people's private business in those notes just as an extra layer of protection because I never want someone seeking help to come back and hurt them later. That's the last thing we need because it makes people not want to get help. I want to take a quick break right here to talk about the sponsor for this video, which is Soberlink. Those of you who follow me, you know I love Soberlink. Those of you who don't follow me, you might be wondering what it is. Soberlink is an alcohol monitoring system. It's more than just an alcohol monitoring device because you can get, you know, like a breathalyzer anywhere. This is a whole high-tech system that not only helps people get sober and stay sober, but it also helps to rebuild trust Faster. A lot of the physicians that I see have been able to get sober just through the use of Soberlink and some counseling or coaching sessions without having to go to treatment. The other good thing about Soberlink is if for some reason you need the record for court, for the RPP or something like that, the Soberlink record is admissible in court because it's pretty much impossible to cheat that thing. It has facial recognition in it. So every time you take a test, it scans your face. Oftentimes if I have a client who's worried about a legal problem or worried about like a custody situation, I'll encourage them to go ahead and get on Soberlink proactively so we can go ahead and start creating a record that shows without a doubt that they have been continuously sober. It's a way to get ahead of the situation. That way, if you need to prove your sobriety, prove that you are taking the issue seriously and that you're taking steps, whether that's legally, whether that's just through your spouse, or whether that's through a licensing board, Soberlink is definitely the way to go. Now, if you want to learn more about Soberlink, I have put the link in the description. If you click that link, you're going to be taken to a page where I tell you the whole scoop about how it works, how the schedule works, what it looks like, all the ins and outs. Click the link below to find out more about Soberlink. And if you decide that you do want a Soberlink for whatever reason, using this link will get you a discount. Now, earlier I said I was going to tell you a story that kind of legitimizes why this is a real fear. We're going to call this doctor, Dr. Jones. Let's call him Dr. Jones. Dr. Jones brought himself to see me because he was having a problem with alcohol. It's not like He drank every day. He definitely wasn't alcohol dependent, but when he did drink, it tended to be too much. It was usually at football games, social events, golfing, things like that. The drinking would go too far. It'd be basically like a bender, and not so great things would happen, mostly just embarrassing things and things that were causing problems in his family. So he brought himself to see me, but not too far into our work together, he got himself pulled over and ended up getting a DUI. And because he got that DUI, that arrest record was public, which then got back to his employer, which then got sent up the chain. Ultimately, he got mandated to go into this treatment center to get a big full evaluation. And when he went for the evaluation, based on the findings, they told him he had to do, I think it was like 60 or 90 days of treatment. Now, I've worked in private practice, I've worked in treatment detox, pretty much all the levels of care. And I can tell you that this guy's alcohol use, although very problematic and he did need help, would not normally have met the criteria to need 90 days of treatment. But here's where the rope comes in. If the licensing board or your employer says you have to go for the evaluation and you have to do whatever they tell you, and you go into this inpatient facility to get this evaluation, then if they say you're going to do 90 days, you got to do the 90 days, right? Because now you're held in a trap. So not only did he have to do the 90 days, but there was a lot of things after that that he ended up having to do as well. If you ask me, there's a little bit of a conflict of interest there. I'm sure it works different in each state, so hopefully it's not that where you live. In South Carolina, that's where I'm at. Even if you, like, let's say you work for the Department of Transportation, let's say you drive a truck for a living or something, and then you end up for some reason having to go get a substance abuse evaluation. They have it kind of written into their rules that you get the evaluation at one place, but you can't get treatment there. They can recommend a level of treatment, but you have to get treatment somewhere else. And the reason it is that way is to protect against this kind of thing. If the organization doing the evaluation can benefit from recommending a big, long, giant kind of treatment, And trust me that this doctor went through was very expensive, and you have no choice but to do it. Can you see where there's a bit of a conflict of interest? Now, there are actual treatment programs that specialize in physicians or specialize in healthcare workers or specialize in pilots, which I think is kind of cool because there are some unique challenges based on those specific professions, and it might make you feel more comfortable to be around other people who kind of get those circumstances. If you're in this situation, here's my advice to you. Reach out, get some help, go to a person in private practice, go to a private organization before you find yourself in a position to have to go to treatment. Deal with this problem before you get mandated to deal with this problem, and your life is going to be a lot easier. I know it's scary, but here's the thing. People that do addiction treatment, everybody we see is doing drugs and alcohol, like everybody. Okay? But we're not just going to freak out because you tell us you drink too much. Sometimes. Okay? But just because the fact that you have a substance abuse problem doesn't mean that we're going to automatically jump to some kind of conclusion that you're a danger. Addiction counselors are here to help you. We don't want to fill out any papers. It's a pain in the butt, and we definitely don't want to hurt you. So just so you know, counselors, we're not just chomping at the bit to go and make somebody's life more difficult. Please don't let this hold you back from getting help. And in the event that you do find yourself On the radar of the licensing board. Almost all licensing boards have protocols for this. In most cases, you don't just immediately lose your license unless there was like a major incident that could involve patient safety. Like I said, it's hard to say because each state is slightly different. Most of the time what happens if you get caught up in this is you get involved in something like here, they call it the Recovering Professionals Program, RPP. I think that's what they call it. And that organization sort of oversees to make sure that you do follow treatment recommendations. And you usually have to do so many check-ins and so, and regular drug screens and that sort of thing. It's not that getting on the licensing board radar is the end of the world. Like I said, I've seen people that were in that situation and it's workable and doable, but I certainly understand why you'd prefer not to get yourself caught up in that situation. But don't just ignore the problem. If you ignore it, it is going to keep going and eventually it is going to catch up with you in that way. So don't wait until those things happen. The sooner you address it, The easier it is to fix and the less complications that you're going to be dealing with.