Why Seeking Help for Alcohol Addiction is Very Important

Featuring Dr. Shimi Kang, BSc., MD, FRCPC, Psychiatrist

Duration: 1 minute, 12 seconds Why Seeking Help for Alcohol Addiction is Very Important So when patients come to see a psychiatrist for the problem of alcoholism, the first thing we do is take a history and find out is it really a problem in their life.

Are they meeting the criteria of addiction: the consequences, the out of control, the cravings? Is it impacting their day-to-day function? If it is then we want to know what state of change they're in.

Pre-contemplation is that term denial when they're not really ready to make a change. Contemplation is they know something's not right but they're not ready to quit altogether or sign up for AA or go see a drug and alcohol counselor. Action is when they make a decision that they want to make a change.

What we do in our offices is really assess that and try to move people into action if that's where they want to be, but really our goal is to promote health and healthy living and not to make a moral judgment on what to do in terms of substance use.

If you think you might have a problem with alcoholism, definitely start by talking to your family and friends. Get support. Talk to your family doctor and they'll do an assessment to see if you need to see a specialist like an addiction specialist or a psychiatrist. There's lots of resources out there so get help and it can be treated.

Presenter: Dr. Shimi Kang, Psychiatrist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Psychiatrist