Addiction and Substance Misuse

Behavioural Addiction, such as Pathological Gambling; Compulsive Eating Disorder; Compulsive Spending and Shopping;  and Chemical and Substance Misuse and Addiction – are serious mental health conditions. I and many physicians and clinicians, consider them to be illnesses. It’s not the individuals fault for having an illness and health condition; but it is their responsibility to do something about it.

Addiction invariably impacts an individual’s life significantly, and ‘Addiction’ is known to be a “Family Illness” too. That comes as a shock to many loving parents in ‘active addiction’ who are massively impacting their partner, sons and daughters, siblings and parents’ lives – not to mention the jeopardy to their own health.

It is estimated that 1 in 4 NHS admissions to a General Hospital, are Alcohol related. There are 60+ medical conditions exacerbated by Dependent Alcohol Use, such as Fatty Liver Disease, Cirrhosis, Heart Disease, Pancreatitis, Type 2 Diabetes, Stroke Disease and Alcohol Related Dementia, to name just a few. It is now estimated that Dementia is the most common cause of death in women in old age; and the second most common cause of death in elderly men after Heart Disease. You don’t want to accelerate the chances of Dementia. Chemical Addiction is like an accumulating, self-induced brain injury.

As a Consultant Psychiatrist, with a lot of experience working in Addiction Psychiatry – I can offer compassionate and evidence-based treatments to help people manage their Addiction and Substance Misuse. I can no longer offer emergency treatment, but can refer to colleagues in residential treatment centres for those with severe Dependence in crisis.

It was particularly sad, when an excellent residential treatment centre, The Manor Clinic in Southampton; was closed on 31 December 2022, by the company owner. Other outpatient services and Residential treatment facilities do exist in Bournemouth, Southampton and Portsmouth areas.

Following the closure of The Manor Clinic, I no longer actively oversee inpatients in residential treatment centres – but do work with patients to develop personalised treatment plans on their recovery journeys’, back to health.

Whilst some are wary of the ‘12-Step model’ of working in Addiction; programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous AA, and Narcotic Anonymous NA, can be very helpful supports – and ways to feel ‘connected’, back in your real world. Undertaking recovery from addiction is always helped by support from one’s ‘family’ whatever form that takes. Groups such AA and NA help many with making their recovery successful too.

Psychiatry provides evidence-based treatment strategies alongside individual therapy and supports such AA and NA; for those that find them helpful. It is also crucially important, in my view, to identify “Dual Diagnosis” conditions – such as Complex Trauma, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), Adult ADHD / ADD and Bipolar Disorder; which makes chemical addiction so much more likely in the first place. The individual needs an accurate diagnosis of all relevant conditions, to work out an effective recovery pathway back to health.