Addiction Psychiatry
Addiction psychiatry may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about drug and alcohol abuse, though this type of therapy is really helping many addicts globally.
Addiction is defined (DSM-IV) as a state of withdrawal from a substance that a subject was once dependant upon. When a person becomes detached from that particular substance, they go through varying stages of psychological imbalance. This is precisely where addiction psychiatry comes in – to help those that are experiencing an altered mental state as a result of a dependency. When you start to view this type of mental health disorder in this manner, therapy makes perfect sense.
While psychology tries to help those with addictions through a series of sessions based upon talking about emotions, psychiatry tries to get to the core of the matter through various treatments. Patients must be assessed according to acute intoxication; biomedical conditions; emotional conditions; treatment acceptance; relapse potential; and recovery environment. Those that cannot fit into the aforementioned categories will not benefit from psychiatric treatment.
Legally, in order for a person to be considered an addict, their mental severity must be assessed according to medical issues, employment issues, and psychiatric issues. Addiction psychiatry attempts to help a person deal with the many stages of mental anguish that come from leaving a substance behind for good – something that is not easy to do. Those within this profession will use various medications in order to treat patients in combination with emotional therapy.
This type of psychiatric treatment has been proven successful in many different circumstances. Often, patients cannot quit an addiction on their own due to the overwhelming mental burden that comes from leaving a substance behind. When a psychiatrist steps in and offers a way to battle those “mental demons,” addicts can then work on putting their life back together. Though this type of therapy is extremely helpful, many people will not seek this help. In fact, most people that are involved with this sort of treatment are forced to comply with it due to legal matters.
By now, it should be easy to see why the field of addiction psychiatry is necessary within our world. Simply by intervening with the withdrawal process, medicine is able to help a person separate themselves from their substance of choice.