(WDIV)--Pictures and video released on social media raised the issue of drug abuse, but do they help or hurt the efforts for real change?
A toddler in pink pajamas cried as she pulled on her mother's arm, desperately trying to wake her up after the mother overdosed in a Massachusetts dollar store.
Ohio police released photographs of a grandmother and her friend suffering an apparent heroin overdose with her 4-year-old grandson in the back seat.
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A mother in Indiana was found unconscious in her car, holding a syringe in her hand. Her 10-month-old son was still strapped in his car seat.
The pictures and videos of these incidents are shocking and quickly went viral -- but is releasing them to the public helping or hurting?
Scott Masi, the outreach and referral specialist at the Brighton Center For Recovery, said the issue is complicated.
"We have to be very careful on how we perceive it and how we see it," Masi said. "We're a society of exploitation. Is it shaming the individual, or is it helping the individual?"
Ten years ago, Masi was a parent in the throes of addiction.
"Going to pick up my kids at school, and getting high on the way there with my kids in the car, taking them to places to obtain the drugs I took," Masi said.
He said the images highlight the impact the epidemic is having on families.
"One of the things we can take away from it is understanding the systemic aspect and how this is a family disease now, and the need not only to address the person suffering from addiction, but how it affects the family around them," Masi said. "Foster care has exploded in this country with the need of kids needing placement, because the effects that this epidemic has had. We have to be careful, too, because of the desensitizing aspect that might come about because of viewing these images over and over."
Family therapist Anetia Isbell wants the images linked to action.
"If we could use these photographs to educate people how to get help for the addict and for the parent and for any children, then it becomes a educational piece," Isbell said.
Many who see the photos might wonder how parents could place their young children at such risk. A recent study by the University of Pennsylvania found opioids may interfere with natural parenting instincts. The drug essentially short circuits the brain pathway responsible for bonding.
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"The brain actually ends up rewired, where it is being convinced that next use is just as important as food air and water basic needs," Isbell said.
Masi agrees.
"The drug prioritized everything in my life," Masi said. "The cycle of addiction just takes hold, and that there is no part of your life where you are not trying to get high."
Masi hoped the shocking images will also trigger compassion.
"This is a disease like any other disease," he said.
Masi said he is proof that there is hope.
"I'm hoping it's the motivating factor that will get them the help they need," Masi said.