Dealing with Addiction

If you insist mr. waraich (#6), but I took it at face value and even then it seemed good.

Nice to see you back on chowk.As you rightly said in #6, this article does not actually deal with addiction/dependence, hence the title seems to be bit out ofplace. The phenomenon of drug dependence or addiction in wider sense has a very vast canvas, which has needs to be understood in social,economic,political and psychological contexts and not much in terms of medical implications, which is merely a fall out of all other factors.The tragedy is that even those of us(professionals) who understand this, are hardly able to have any significant impact. We,at best are able to treat some of the complications of the underlying malady in the given system, and are destined to see the victims dying helplessly in front of us.

Nice to see you back on chowk.As you rightly said in #6, this article does not actually deal with addiction/dependence, hence the title seems to be bit out ofplace. The phenomenon of drug dependence or addiction in wider sense has a very vast canvas, which has needs to be understood in social,economic,political and psychological contexts and not much in terms of medical implications, which is merely a fall out of all other factors.The tragedy is that even those of us(professionals) who understand this, are hardly able to have any significant impact. We,at best are able to treat some of the complications of the underlying malady in the given system, and are destined to see the victims dying helplessly in front of us.

As i said this was more of an existential post- a reflection on the meaning of life- rather than to try and find means of rehabilitation for recovering users. Rehabilitation etc are separate questions which are best dealt with on other sites.

dear dr waraich...i am also a psychiatrist who practices psychotherapy. your description of those people struggling with addictions was very touching. Unfortunately they had a tragic end. It is generally believed among mental health professionals that the prognosis of people with addictions is not very good. It produces a lot of pessimism. I believe that it is our responsibility as health care professionals to come with programs that would help difficult patients and offer their families and dear ones some hope. Can you share in the light of your knowledge, experience and wisdom what are the factors that can improve the prognosis of such people so that we can prevent suicide and loss of precious lives. What do you think
...therapists can do
and
...family can do
to help such people?.
I thoroughly enjoyed your article
sincerely
sohail
www.drsohail.com

Everybody have to pay a terrible price for addiction(s)- Alchoholic or Drugs .
Person, Family and society.

I don`t know why Allah does not intervene here and help lpsychiatrists with better drugs and psychotherapy! Have you ever thoght of it doctor?

the correct term is not ``de addiction`` but ``rehab``

Highly moving accounts, of course - but precious little on how one should be ``Dealing with Addiction``.

Re: # 1 I agree. I had not kept that name - it was more existential. The names have all been changed.