Why drug addiction is not a moral failing: Addiction medicine, new medical specialty

Traditionally if you had problem with drugs and alcohol, the society would see you as one who is not morally upright. We are also told that old is gold but is this perception productive in anyway? And would you consider it as gold in the present generation? Those are some of the points we want to consider in this discussion and that is why we are choosing the topic “why drug addiction is not a moral failing by all standards? To be more specific with this tradition doctor Dalal Akoury MD, founder and also the President of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center is a veteran addiction expert who has helped in the transformation of millions of people across the globe with their addiction complication is going to help us understand the variance between the old perception and the new scientific understanding of the complications relating to misuse of alcohol and drug addiction. She says that up until the early twentieth century it was common to view addiction as a moral failing. It is regrettable that those individuals who fell into cage of such behaviors were viewed as bad people who were willfully doing wrong. As time goes by and with new research studies revelations, this view begun to change in the early 1940s with the arrival of groups like Alcoholics Anonymous. This brought a new dispensation and people began to look upon addiction as a disease that could be treated if the right professionals are engaged. And according to the available statics we can now confirm that over the last few decades the medical professionals’ establishment has further endorsed the idea that such behaviors are a brain disease by creating a new specialty to treatment of addiction.

Moral failing has no link with drug addiction : Relationship between medicine and addiction is not a new one

We are all aware that western medication has been predominantly involved in the treatment of addiction for many years with some little restrictions in the applications. The explanation to this is that many alcoholics have traditionally sought their physician expert’s opinion from time to time when they decided to get help for their addiction and the complications that come with it. Under normal circumstance during such visits, the physician would in most cases refer them to other specific professionals such as psychiatrist, addiction therapist, or self-help group. Things are changing and now the medical establishment is viewing addiction as a disease that they can treat. This has led to the rise of a new specialty of addiction medicine. And according to the experts at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, doctor Akoury is registering that in the past it was not unknown for physicians to be highly knowledgeable about addiction. As a matter of fact, those who are regularly dealing with such patients may decide to do additional courses so as to increase their ability to help. The American Society of Addiction Medicine has been on the leading front in providing this training to those who willing to benefit from it. It is therefore important to appreciate that those groups that have also been the driving force for ensuring that addiction medicine became a recognized specialty had their dreams realized in 1988.

Why drug addiction is not a moral failing: Need for addiction to be a medical specialty

One clear fact that needs to be understood is that addiction has consequences that cut’s on both sides of the divide. That is to say that everybody has his or her portion of pain whether you are a direct or indirect victim. And remember that at the moment there are many different professionals involved in providing care for addicts and some of those professionals may include:

Addiction therapists
Addiction counselors
Psychiatrists
Psychologists
Social workers
Psychiatric nurses
Public health professionals

Even though a lot of progress has been made with the treatment of addiction patients, much more is still need to be done because of the following reasons:

There is increasing evidence that alcoholism is a physical disease – a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. If it is a medical condition then it is only natural that there should be a medical specialty that is focused on offering the most effective possible treatment.
High resonance imaging shows that addiction does actually cause damage to the brain meaning that it is a medical problem.
There are now a number of medical institutions across the globe including in the US offering accredited one year programs where doctors can gain the knowledge they need for the treatment of addiction – in the past such courses were not accredited. This means that these physicians will be in a much better position to offer the help their patients need.
Information is power and the lack of it about addiction is certainly going to be a gap that needs to be filled and this can be done by creating an addiction specialty in medicine to help in breaching the gap.
Addiction is viewed as similar to other chronic conditions such as diabetes. When it is not possible to offer a cure the focus should be on medical management of the symptoms.
The medical management of addiction can focus on relapse prevention. By getting somebody to stop abusing alcohol or drugs. This must be appreciated that this is just half the battle and the real task is to help them stay stopped.
There are a number of pharmaceutical drugs that people can use to overcome their addictions and of particular interest are drugs that may reduce the intensity of cravings or help the individual pass through withdrawals easier.
Sending addicts to psychiatrists might not always be the best course of action because many of these individuals do not have psychiatric problems although a high percentage of them do.
Physicians often feel helpless to help addicts. The growth of the specialty of addiction medicine means that they can do more than merely patch them up and send them back out to the world.
The physician is often in a good position to recognize the symptoms of an addiction.

Moral failing has no link with drug addiction: Future of addiction treatment

Finally with this fact that addiction has become a bona fide medical specialty out of the box, we need to start seeing real time improvements in the care of addicts such including the following says doctor Akoury:

There will be an increasing number of physicians who have a good understanding of addiction and treatment. These professionals will be able to help ensure that addicts who pass through the medical system receive adequate treatment.
It is likely to mean that there will be increased research into pharmaceutical and other treatments that may be of value to those struggling with addiction.
It should mean that physicians can do more than just pass the addict onto another specialty.
Physicians will be able to play a key role in relapse prevention.

All these are tailored towards ensuring that addiction victims get the best and this best can only be realized when you as a victim of an addiction schedule for an appointment with doctor Dalal Akoury today for further professional guidance.