Proven Addiction Treatment for Physicians
Physicians are certainly prone to drug and alcohol abuse. In fact, rates of addiction among doctors start at 10% and rise to 15% – compared to 8% to 10% among the general population. For this reason, physicians health programs for addiction treatment are vital.
With longer hours and less rewards, as well as growing battles with insurance companies, practicing medicine is getting harder and harder.
It’s no surprise, then, that physicians are notoriously susceptible to burnout, depression, and anxiety, which often lead to “self-medicating” with drugs or alcohol. Doctors also have virtually unlimited access to prescription drugs. One study in the Journal of Addiction Medicine found that 69% of physicians abused prescription medicine to relieve stress and physical or emotional pain.
Unfortunately, many troubled physicians also neglect to seek help for their addiction, fearing stigma and a loss of their medical license. However, once they do enter rehab, studies show 70% to 80% success rates among doctors.