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| NIAAA's Dr. Mark Willenbring Discusses Advances in Treatment for Alcohol Abuse |
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While many Americans suffer from alcohol abuse and dependence, few receive treatment for the disease. Here, Dr. Mark Willenbring, Director of the Division of Treatment and Recovery for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), shares his views on the current treatment system, new treatment advances for alcohol dependence and how the prevention community can help ensure more people receive the treatment they need.
Q: Are people receiving the substance abuse treatment they need?
A: No. In any given year, only 12 percent of people who have alcohol dependence will seek any kind of help or be in contact with an alcoholism treatment provider or an Alcoholics Anonymous affiliate. Over a lifetime, it's 24 percent. There is very clearly a substantial unmet need.
Q: What are some of the reasons people do not receive treatment for alcohol abuse?
A: There is a real problem with gaining access to treatment. First, not all primary care doctors screen patients for alcoholism. Even worse, if they do identify someone with alcoholism they may not be able to get that person into treatment because of a lack of investment in addiction treatment. The second major problem is that we have a treatment system that was designed in 1975 and not made to take advantage of advances in treatment tools. While we know from our own research at the NIAAA that there are effective medications available to help people with alcohol cravings, only five percent of people have ever used these medications. We really need to reengineer our treatment system to take advantage of new treatment tools.
Q: Have there been any new research advances in treatment options?
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