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"Within five years, 53% had relapsed and were addicted again to opiates, leaving 47% drug free. "Conventional treatment only results in significant recovery in
by alxndr 14y ago
"Within five years, 53% had relapsed and were addicted again to opiates, leaving 47% drug free.
"Conventional treatment only results in significant recovery in about 30-40% of cases, so the procedure apparently improves on that, but experts do not believe that such a small increase in benefit is worth the tremendous risk the surgery poses."
- praxeologist 14y agoSince FDA-approved treatments for nicotine addiction can't crack 10% in real studies, this 30-40% number seems quite dubious. Faulty studies for nicotine give similarly high percentages.
- betterunix 14y agoNot all treatments are medical. Substance abuse is a behavioral problem, and approaches based on clinical psychology have been remarkably successful.
- praxeologist 14y agoWhat % is "remarkably successful" though? Maybe with current therapy for drug abuse we are fairly close to as good as we are ever going to get but I still doubt 30-40% of people who go into treatment stop using. People just don't change their behavior that easily. I work in tobacco so can only really speak about that but a quick google is showing similar single-digit success rates for drug treatment. I'm with Szasz that addiction is not a disease but this is not conventional wisdom. Obviously, drugs are not just given like how an antibiotic is, but drugs such as for related ailments like depression can be given for people in drug treatment AFAIK.