Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- List of contributors
- 1 Introduction
- Part one At-risk groups
- Part two Early detection in primary care
- 9 Secondary prevention of childhood mental health problems
- 10 The secondary prevention of depression
- 11 The prevention of anxiety disorders
- 12 The prevention of eating disorders
- 13 The prevention of alcohol and drug misuse
- 14 Early detection of psychosis in primary care: initial treatment and crisis management
- Part three Limiting disability and preventing relapse
- Index
13 - The prevention of alcohol and drug misuse
from Part two - Early detection in primary care
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- List of contributors
- 1 Introduction
- Part one At-risk groups
- Part two Early detection in primary care
- 9 Secondary prevention of childhood mental health problems
- 10 The secondary prevention of depression
- 11 The prevention of anxiety disorders
- 12 The prevention of eating disorders
- 13 The prevention of alcohol and drug misuse
- 14 Early detection of psychosis in primary care: initial treatment and crisis management
- Part three Limiting disability and preventing relapse
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Although the misuse of alcohol and of other substances have many features in common and often coexist in the same patient, for the convenience of the reader this chapter is divided into separate sections on alcohol and drug misuse respectively.
Alcohol related problems
Opportunities for prevention in primary health care
A report by the Royal College of General Practitioners (1986) suggested that any general practitioner will have on his list about 55 patients who are drinking at levels exposing them to a high risk of harm and a further 200 at levels with an intermediate risk of harm. General practitioners and other primary health care professionals are well placed to identify patterns of hazardous drinking early and to intervene in order to arrest progression and minimise damage.
In Britain, 70% of the practice population consult their general practitioner in any one year, offering obvious possibilities for opportunistic screening (Pollak, 1989). Other advantages of the primary care setting are the ease of accessibility, the long-term relationship which often exists between general practitioner and patient, the lack of labelling and stigma which may be associated with specialist alcohol services, and the opportunity for involvement of other members of the patient's family (Babor, Ritson & Hodgson, 1986).
Despite these advantages, many at-risk drinkers go unnoticed and research suggests that many general practitioners are reluctant to become involved with alcohol problems (Thom & Tellez, 1986).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Prevention of Mental Illness in Primary Care , pp. 223 - 245Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996