Archive for May 2012

Unemployed people suspected of suffering from alcoholism or drug addiction will have their benefits cut if they refuse treatment for their condition, the work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, will signal on Wednesday. In a sign of the government's new benefits regime, which lies at the heart of Duncan Smith's cost-cutting welfare changes, staff in Jobcentre Plus offices will be encouraged to cut the jobseeker's allowance of claimants who reject treatment for addiction. The new rules will come into place in October 2013 when the universal credit, which is designed to wrap benefits into one payment, is introduced. A new claimant contract lies at the heart of the universal credit reforms. Claimants will have to sign a contract in which they agree to look for work in exchange for an undertaking from the government to support them while they do so. Government sources said the contract would allow Jobcentre Plus staff to say that a suspected addict is in breach of their commitments if they refuse help for alcoholism or drug addiction. Duncan Smith will give a flavour of the new rules when he addresses an event in parliament organised by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). He will say: "The outdated benefits system fails to get people off drugs and put their lives on track. We have started changing how addicts are supported, but we must go further to actively take on the devastation that drugs and alcohol can cause. "Under universal credit we want to do more to encourage and support claimants into rehabilitation for addiction and starting them on the road to recovery and eventually work. Getting people into work and encouraging independence is our ultimate goal. Universal credit will put people on a journey towards a sustainable recovery so they are better placed to look for work in future and we will be outlining our plans shortly." It is understood that the work and pensions secretary will not make a formal announcement on Wednesday of the powers that will be handed to Jobcentre Plus staff. Duncan Smith wants to use the event to focus on what he regards as the positive work AA does in helping to treat alcoholism. A government source said: "Iain wants to focus on the brilliant work Alcoholics Anonymous does in changing people's lives. He really wants to encourage people who have drink problems to go to AA for treatment. It will transform their lives and will help them into work." The source said Duncan Smith believes it is right to give jobcentre staff powers to cut benefits if an addict refuses treatment because they can detect signs of trouble. The source said: "The universal credit will allow staff in Jobcentre Plus offices to say: this person has been unemployed for some time. The staff know if people are addicted to alcohol. They know the people they are dealing with. "But we want this to be positive and to be about signposting people to superb organisations that can help them. This is about changing their lives. It is very important to support addicts into the workplace." But if claimants refuse they will have their benefits docked. "There will be sanctions," the source said, citing cuts to the jobseeker's allowance as an example. Ministers believe that one indicator Jobcentre Plus staff can use to see whether a claimant is an addict is the amount of times they apply for a crisis loan. "If you are applying for that up to 10 times a year then that is a sign of a chaotic life," one source said. Analysis by the Department of Work and Pensions shows that almost 40,000 people claim incapacity benefit with alcoholism declared as their "primary diagnosis". Of these, 13,500 have been claiming for a decade or more. There are about 160,000 "dependent drinkers" in England who receive one or more of the main benefits. There are 1m violent crimes a year that are related to alcoholism and 1.2m admissions to hospitals a year related to alcoholism. Universal credit is the most important element of Duncan Smith's welfare reforms, developed during his years in opposition through his Centre for Social Justice, which is designed to achieve his central goal of encouraging people into work. It will integrate tax credits and out-of-work benefits into one payment, with the aim of smoothing the transition to work. Labour has given the universal credit a cautious welcome, though it has taken issue with the scale of benefit cuts. Lord Low of Dalston, the vice-president of the Royal National Institute of Blind People who sits as a crossbencher, told peers this year: "Though it has some very sensible and progressive things at its core, in the shape of the universal credit, nevertheless it goes too far to most people's consciences in the way in which it takes vital support away from some of the most needy in our society."

UK Jobseekers who reject help for alcohol and drug addiction face benefits cut

Unemployed people suspected of suffering from alcoholism or drug addiction will have their benefits cut if they refuse treatment for their c...

<div class="entry-thumb entry-thumb-article" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; position: relative; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; float: none; max-width: 600px; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><img alt="Valentin Casarsa / Vetta / Getty Images" class="attachment-article wp-post-image" height="400" src="http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/108267704-resize.jpg?w=600&h=400&crop=1" style="border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;" title="108267704.resize" width="600" /><div class="entry-thumb-meta" style="border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; padding: 5px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"><div class="entry-thumb-credit" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 9px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: normal; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: right; color: #4c4c4c; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">VALENTIN CASARSA / VETTA / GETTY IMAGES</div></div></div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Are you or have you ever been a college binge drinker? Welcome to alcoholism, a diagnosis your college self could qualify for under the changes proposed to the next edition of psychiatry’s diagnostic manual, the DSM 5.<span id="more-59454" style="border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;"> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">As the <em style="border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">New York Times noted on Saturday in an <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">article that rapidly became one of the most emailed, DSM 5 will have just one diagnosis for <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">addiction problems, though it will be characterized as either mild, moderate or severe. Currently, alcohol and other drug problems come in two flavors.  The first, “substance abuse” is a short-term, self-limiting problem: it encompasses most heavy drinking in college.  The second “substance dependence,” is what everyone else calls addiction or alcoholism and is typically chronic and marked by relapses.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Fortunately, the new diagnosis will get rid of the confusing term “dependence” (physically needing a drug to function isn’t actually addiction) and the stigmatizing term “abuse.” Unfortunately, however, it will also tremendously elevate the number of people considered alcoholics.  One Australian study suggested that using DSM 5 definitions will increase the number of people diagnosed with alcoholism by a stunning 60%.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Ian Urbina writes:<blockquote style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 15px; padding-top: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; quotes: none; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; border: 0px initial initial;"><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">“The chances of getting a diagnosis are going to be much greater, and this will artificially inflate the statistics considerably,” said Thomas F. Babor, a psychiatric epidemiologist at the University of Connecticut who is an editor of the international journal <em style="border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Addiction. Many of those who get addiction diagnoses under the new guidelines would have only a mild problem, he said, and scarce resources for drug treatment in schools, prisons and health care settings would be misdirected.<p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">“These sorts of diagnoses could be a real embarrassment,” Dr. Babor added.</blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Proponents of the new system argue that it will allow substance problems that might develop into serious addictions to be nipped in the bud:<blockquote style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 15px; padding-top: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 15px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; quotes: none; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; border: 0px initial initial;"><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">“We can treat them earlier,” said Dr. Charles P. O’Brien, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania and the head of the group of researchers devising the manual’s new addiction standards. “And we can stop them from getting to the point where they’re going to need really expensive stuff like liver transplants.”</blockquote><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Yet because it’s impossible to determine which college bingers will moderate after graduation and who will go on to have lifetime problems, the distinction between abuse and dependence is difficult to pinpoint. The reality is that most college binge drinkers and drug users don’t develop lifelong problems. But most addiction treatment programs encourage them to see themselves as having a chronic, relapsing disease that requires a lifetime of attendance at 12-step meetings to keep in check. Currently, about 31% of college students <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">meet criteria for “<span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">alcohol abuse,” while only 6% have the alcoholism-equivalent diagnosis of dependence.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Earlier editions of the DSM explicitly said there are alcohol and other drug problems that legitimately exist but do not reach the level of addiction; Alcoholics <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Anonymous itself differentiates between “problem drinkers” who can learn to moderate and alcoholics who can’t. DSM 5 obliterates the distinction. If the change is finalized, anyone whose drinking or drug use creates any problems will essentially be an addict or alcoholic with a “mild” case of the disease and presumably, therefore, not someone who can learn control over his habits.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">While researchers have been encouraging the widespread adoption of “<span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">brief interventions” and other techniques that don’t require abstinence or a label— with great success— this change could swing the field in the opposite direction.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">And that poses a huge problem, particularly for adolescents and young adults with mild problems who may be pushed to adopt an addict identity and to see themselves as having no way to control their drinking or drug use if they ever “relapse.” Rather than empowering those who do have control to use it, these programs essentially tell kids that if they ever have just one drink or puff on a joint, they’re lost.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">(<strong style="border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">MORE: <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Does Teen Rehab Cure Addiction— Or Create It?)<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">While that strategy may help some people with addiction avoid relapse, research shows that it makes relapses worse if they do occur.  And given that the overwhelming majority of teens who are treated will not remain abstinent for life, this strategy is counterproductive for most who will be exposed to it.<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">In my years of covering addiction, I’ve heard the story dozens of times: someone with a mild problem enters treatment, is convinced they have a more severe case and meets others who help him or her get worse.  One teenage girl told me about meeting someone who turned her on to cocaine while in treatment for marijuana; another young man <span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">told me how treatment was the source of his perception that “who I was, was an alcoholic and drug addict.”<p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">Clearly, treatment for young people already labels too many of them as addicts and alcoholics; the last thing we need is the DSM legitimizing this harmful practice.  It should rename substance abuse “substance misuse,” and label addiction, “addiction.”  From any perspective, it’s absurd to potentially label the 40% of college students who get drunk at least once a month as having “mild” alcoholism.<span style="border-image: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: left; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px initial initial;">

Are you or have you ever been a college binge drinker? Welcome to alcoholism

VALENTIN CASARSA / VETTA / GETTY IMAGES Are you or have you ever been a college binge drinker? Welcome to alcoholism, a diagnosis your colle...

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UK Jobseekers who reject help for alcohol and drug addiction face benefits cut

Are you or have you ever been a college binge drinker? Welcome to alcoholism

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