True North Recovery & Wellness Center

What is MAT?

Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is an evidence-based method that combines behavioral therapies and medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat opioid use disorder (OUD), alcohol use disorder or nicotine use disorder.

There are three FDA-approved medications for the treatment of OUD.

Addiction treatment experts consider MAT to be the gold standard of care for the treatment of OUD.

How MAT for opioid use works:

Long-lasting changes in brain chemistry can make it difficult for people with OUD to abstain from using opioids because physical withdrawal symptoms and cravings can be overwhelming. MAT can help reduce the symptoms of opioid withdrawal and curb opioid cravings that can lead to relapse.

What the evidence shows:

FACT:

When used appropriately, medications used to treat addiction are not addicting, as they do not cause patients to use them compulsively or in an unhealthy way. Rather, these medications support patients in their recovery. Patients taking medications to treat addiction should be considered in recovery. Characterizing certain medications as “addictive” is confusing to people who don’t understand how these medications work and perpetuates stigma against patients with addiction.