Is it possible to cure yourself of addiction without professional help? How often does that happen? Satel was formerly a staff psychiatrist at the Oasis Clinic in Washington, D.C., where she worked with substance abuse patients. Scientific American spoke with Sally Satel, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research and lecturer in psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine, about quitting drugs without professional treatment. Other studies on Vietnam War veterans suggest that the majority of soldiers who became addicted to narcotics overseas later stopped using them without therapy. A survey by Gene Heyman, a research psychologist at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts, found that between 60 to 80 percent of people who were addicted in their teens and 20s were substance-free by their 30s, and they avoided addiction in subsequent decades. Because these changes make it much harder for the addict to control substance use, health experts recommend professional treatment and complete abstinence.īut some in the field point out that many if not most addicts successfully recover without professional help. The model attributes addiction largely to changes in brain structure and function. His claims of quitting a serious drug habit on his own, however, is perhaps one of his least eccentric statements.Ī prevailing view of substance abuse, supported by both the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Alcoholics Anonymous, is the disease model of addiction. After the rest of his season's shows were canceled by producers, Sheen has gone on an interview tear with many bizarre statements, including that he is on a "winning" streak. Until last month, he was the highest paid actor on TV, despite his well-known bad-boy lifestyle and persistent problems with alcohol and cocaine. When asked recently on The Today Show how he cured himself of his addiction, Two and a Half Men sitcom star Charlie Sheen replied, "I closed my eyes and made it so with the power of my mind."
0 kommentar(er)
