Fundamental treatment shift for alcohol dependence coming
Media briefing focuses attention on new and emerging approaches.
By Susan J. Landers, amednews staff. Aug. 15, 2005.
Physicians can do a lot to help people with alcohol disorders, said Mark L. Willenbring, MD, director of the division of treatment and recovery research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Brief, repeated contacts between physician and patient can result in substantial improvements, he said.
Dr. Willenbring was among a panel of experts on alcohol dependence who spoke at a July 21 AMA media briefing in New York City.
There is a spectrum of alcohol use disorders, Dr. Willenbring said. "The idea of staging the illness -- like we do with cancer -- and then applying the appropriate interventions for it is critical in understanding how to approach these disorders."
The understanding and treatment of alcohol dependence and similar disorders is expected to fundamentally shift over the next decade, allowing physicians to customize treatment to each patient, he said.
About one in every 13 adults in the country is addicted to or abuses alcohol, noted AMA Trustee Cecil B. Wilson, MD, in opening remarks. "That's nearly 14 million Americans." But the compulsion to take a drink can be overcome, "and medical science continues breaking new ground in understanding the dynamics of this complex disease," he said.
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