Further Reflections on ‘why Should Addiction Medicine Be an Attractive Field for Young Physicians?’

than on treatment for chronic, severe patients. Not surprisingly, few addicts receive treatment. A national survey of urban population aged 18 years and over showed that only 17% of respondents with substance use disorders reported having been treated during the 12 months prior to the study, usually by people in professions other than medicine and psychiatry [6]. The delay in treatment for people with substance use disorders is higher than for any other psychiatric diagnosis disorders, with less than 1% making contact the same year (0.9%), compared to 16% for any other mood disorder [7]. The possibility of modifying this situation depends upon our ability to modify popular perceptions, including the science of addiction in medical syllabi, and inform policy makers of the enormous cost-effectiveness of treatment in order to increase both the budget and facilities for addiction treatment. The high proportion of comorbidity of addictions with mental disorders highlights the need to integrate services, perhaps increasing the likelihood of attracting more psychiatrists to the field. Both developed and developing counties must advance further in regarding addictions as a chronic disease and guarantee the right to treatment, as a result of which they might be able to attract more medical doctors to this field.