RESOURCES
NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS: ARCHIVE
Our news & announcements offer up-to-date information important and relative for us to share with you. We update often, so check back frequently. Past news and announcements are available in this archive.
03/05/2008 - Moving Forward in How we View and Treat Addiction
The cover story in the March 3 edition of Newsweek pointed out what the addiction medicine profession has tried to convince the public of for the past several years: addiction isn’t just a weakness; it's a disease. Like diabetes or hypertension, addiction is a chronic, recurring illness that can be treated.
For a long time, those with addiction were told they "lacked willpower." However, addiction medicine doctors know that's not a valid approach to treatment. What is known is that substance addiction is a "bio-psycho-socio-spiritual disorder." While that description seems daunting, it does emphasize how complex a disease addiction is.
Even though science recognizes the psychological, social and spiritual factors that contribute to addiction, the greatest breakthroughs in treatment are pharmaceutical, addressing the biological factors associated with the disease.
While the American Medical Association recognized addiction as a disease back in 1956, only now is science beginning to provide treatments aimed at the underlying biochemistry of the illness.
What is important is that the focus moving forward is that thinking is that addiction is a legitimate medical condition, not a moral failure.
To the benefit of those with the disease, breakthroughs have been made, including existing medications Vivitrol, Campral and Naltrexone, as well as new treatments on the horizon, such as Vigabatrin, which stimulates Gamma-aminobutryic acid (GABA) production in the brain, and some promising vaccines that prepare the immune system to target addictive chemicals, preventing them from producing a "high."
The way Prozac revolutionized the treatment of depression, also eliminating some of the stigma associated with the disorder, these new and upcoming medications will likely revolutionize treatment of addiction.
Although advances have been made, addiction medicine faces some challenges. Twelve-step programs, for instance, discourage members from using psychoactive substances, believing some may trade one dependency for another. In addition, some programs feel recovery should not be easy or convenient. Dr, Michael Levy of The Center for Addiction Medicine in Las Vegas would argue that, even with the addition of prescribed medications to treatment protocols, addiction recovery is never easy or convenient.
Additionally, drug companies aren't especially excited to produce products used by addicts. Even though scientists at pharmaceutical firms understand the science of addiction treatment, it's hard to convince the business executives to get over the negative association. In fact, most of the research on addiction treatments so far has been done by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) or small pharmaceutical companies.
Addition is a disease, and the medical community will increasingly treat it with medication over the coming years. However, keeping in mind the "bio-psycho-socio-spiritual" model, medication alone will not address addiction in its entirety. Patients still need individual or group therapy to deal with psychological and social stimulants that may lead to relapse.
Hopefully, a very public discussion of addiction as a legitimate chronic disease will prompt the public to see the illness and its treatment in a new light.