COVER STORY | MEDICAL
People with addictions and their loved ones
deserve the best treatment and support available
to them and to receive that care in a way which
empowers them to recover from the physical,
emotional, psychological, social and spiritual
contributors and consequences of their illness –
and, also as importantly, to discover how to live a
healthier, more fulfi lling life.
While acknowledging the truth that it is the
clients’ own willingness, commitment and ability
to access and harness their resources and inner
strengths that accounts for most progress in the
process of recovery and discovery, what can we
do as health professionals to support our clients
in actualising the potentials of their heart, body
and mind?
Are we really utilising the best approaches to
foster our clients’ wellbeing? Are we embodying
the way of being, living and relating that we are
recommending to them? Are there any models
of care or principles of treatment which can
support and guide us in our work?
Th ese are useful questions, as they contain seeds
of personal and professional change and evolution,
ADDICTION T DAY
and help to prevent apathy and stagnation.
Most of us view addictions and the treatment
of people with addictions through the fi lter of
our own personal and professional belief systems.
What’s more, we each have an inner lawyer,
a sub-personality who makes a convincing
argument for our way of practicing, and against
ways which confl ict with our practice.
Th is innate bias is common; we all do it to
diff ering degrees. For example, there are a variety
of perspectives on why addictions come about
and how best to treat them. One movement
believes that addictions, such as alcoholism, are
progressive, genetically-based diseases, rooted in
painful emotional and psychological problems
which, over time, through therapy, abstinence
and support groups, need to be identifi ed and
addressed. Th e focus is then on learning to live
a healthy and fulfi lling life with the disease of
addiction.
Another movement takes the nutritional
approach and believes that addictions are brain-
and body-based diseases
with their roots in our
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THE BEST PROGNOSIS: INTEGRATED, HOLISTIC
APPROACH TO ADDICTIVE DISORDERS
Seven areas of focus, when addressed at the appropriate time and with expert
guidance and support, can bring about a fuller recovery process – one which goes
beyond simple abstinence and towards true recovery, prescribes Dr Mark Atkinson
genetic make-up, and that full and sustained
recovery can be brought about through nutritional
rehabilitation and biochemical repair.
Yet another movement says that addictions
are the consequence of not living a healthy and
fulfi lling life, and not having the skills and tools
to regulate emotions, manage stress and build on
innate strengths and talents.
So who is right? Research does not yet have
the answer. My own experience is that all these
perspectives contain elements of truth, but none
contain the whole truth – or whole solution.
So surely a sane and sensible way forward is
to harness the strengths of each in a way which
is tailored and adapted to the needs of the client,
while also remaining open to new innovations,
research discoveries and, of course, refi nement
with experience?
Th is is the essence of the integrated holistic
approach to addictions that an increasing number
of professionals and addiction treatment centres
around the world are starting to embrace.
CONTINUED...
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