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By Leslie Miller, Ivanhoe Men’s health Correspondent

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Wonder what’s going on with Lindsey Lohan and other celebrities whose drug and alcohol problems keep showing up as front page news? Why do they keep getting into trouble? It’s not just about them. Researchers say in our society, we still don’t understand the realities of addiction.
 
Deni Carise, Ph.D., director of the nonprofit Treatment Research Institute in Philadelphia, said what most people still don’t get is that when it comes to addiction, there’s no quick fix. “It’s a lifelong, chronic illness,” Dr. Carise said at the Addiction Studies Program in Amelia Island, Fla.
 
“The public thinks people will go away for 21 or 28 days, something called ‘treatment’ will happen behind a closed door, and people will come out of the treatment ‘all better,” Dr. Carise said. “But it’s a lifestyle change, just like managing obesity or diabetes.”
 
Dr. Carise explained her studies and many others reveal in contemporary addiction treatment, relapses are common. Studies now show more than 50 percent of outpatients drop out within months. Sixty percent of patients use drugs or alcohol within six months of leaving treatment. And about 45 percent apply for re-treatment within 12 months. Celebrity or not, it’s a long road.
 
Interestingly, Dr. Carise added that relapse isn’t just a problem for people fighting addiction. Research shows other chronic illnesses have comparable relapse rates, but without the social stigma we apply to people with addiction problems.
 
For patients with hypertension, the rate of relapse — patients re-treated in a doctor’s office or hospital within a year — is 50 percent to 60 percent. Sixty percent to 80 percent of asthma patients relapse, and for diabetes, studies showed the relapse rate is 30 percent to 50 percent. Dr. Carise said research has shown the factors that to lead to relapse in those chronic illnesses are the same as those for addiction: lack of compliance with treatment — patients don’t take their medication, they don’t follow doctors’ orders. Also, psychiatric problems, poverty and lack of family support.
 
Dr. Carise pointed out that, like other chronic illnesses that have no cure, effective treatments are available for addiction. And study after study shows patients who get treatment show significantly more improvement than those who don’t. But, she said treatment programs for addiction still have a long way to go — and so do our attitudes about addiction and the possibility of recovery from addictions.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: The Addiction Studies Program sponsored by the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, National Families in Action and the Treatment Research Institute, December 4-5, 2007

This entry was posted on Monday, December 10th, 2007 at 3:12 pm and is filed under Aid / Disasters, Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs, Diabetes, Medical News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.