Rhode Island Eye Institute

Or is it a confusing disease with complex behavioral, emotional and spiritual aspects?

CENTRAL FALLS, Rhode Island (CNN) - A bar called Goober no frills, just north of Providence, Rhode Island, is probably the last place you'd expect to find a discussion on the therapy of advanced addiction. But that's where Walter Kent, a retired mechanic, spends his Fridays. It helps in the kitchen and hangs in the bar, catching up with old friends. Most addiction specialists what I call playing with fire, or worse. This is because for over 30 years, Kent was a hard-core alcoholic. His drink of choice was beer Heineken and Jacob Ginger brandy, but with alcohol would.

"It's like a little child who wants candy. You see, you want the taste of it. "He closed his eyes and sniffs the air, remembering the feeling." You can be yourself, and all of a sudden you even a hint alcohol, just the smell of it, and say, 'Oh, I need a drink. This feeling is not something you can get rid of. "

But now, Kent is not tempted at all. He says the credit goes to a prescription medication - a pill called naltrexone. It is part of a new generation of anti-addiction that can transform the world of rehabilitation on his head.

Dr. Mark Willenbring, who oversees research scientist at the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, said alcohol has reached a point similar to a depression reaches 30 years ago - when the development of Prozac antidepressants and other mental health care took the asylum office and put in homes and physicians. "There will be a" moment Prozac, "Willenbring said:" When primary care physicians start managing functional alcoholics. "

Despite studies showing the effectiveness of established rehabilitation programs have been slow to adopt the use of drugs. At Hazelden in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a little under the treatment, although a handful of longtime drug abusers may be referred to a physician prescribing after their stay ended. "When we struggle with [the proportion of patients receiving anti-addiction, but the medical director Dr Kevin Clark said that the traditional model - based on intensive therapy and the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous popularized by - is still the best ". It is a brain disease, but it is a multifaceted disease. It has a spiritual component, a behavioral component, "said Clark." Our experience tells us that having a network of support and recovery is what really makes the difference. "

However, the drug is slowly slipping into the therapy of drug addiction in general. A champion is Percy Menzies, a pharmacist and former sales representative for DuPont, which has developed naltrexone. His St. Louis, Missouri-Recovery Centers for America treats patients in a hospital on site, but refers them to outside doctors for treatment monitoring. With therapy, virtually all patients is given Vivitrol, a sustainable form of naltrexone that is given monthly by injection.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/15 ...

I had to offer an answer here, because there are just too many misconceptions circulating Yahoo Answers and the general public about substance abuse. It amazed me how people understand very little about it. Even people who call themselves professionals are misleading others with their "answers".

1. From a clinical perspective, a person is not "addicted" to something less than physiological withdrawal symptoms occur during removal of the source.

2. There are lots of things are labeled "abuse.