In Spain the exact number of people who are addicted to alcohol is unknown, but it is estimated that there are between 200,000 and 300,000 patients who should be on treatment doctor to overcome this problem, but only 8 to 10 percent go to health professionals for treatment.
These are data provided by the doctor from the Hospital Doce de Octubre in Madrid Gabriel Rubio during the presentation of the Confederation of Alcoholics, Addicts in Rehabilitation and Relatives in Spain (Caarfe), in which the sub-delegate for the National Plan on Drugs also participated , Jose Onorbe.
Rubio, who has recalled that This Saturday marks the Day without Alcoholhas affirmed that young Spaniards increasingly begin to drink at earlier ages and those who continue with a high consumption that leads to addiction in later years do not recognize the problem until they are close to 40 years of age.
90 percent of alcoholics do not receive the “correct” treatment to overcome their addiction, a “very high” percentage, according to Rubio, who has ruled out that it is due to a lack of resources.
Thus, he explained that It is a problem that has to do with the awareness that exists in societysince about ten or twelve years pass from when a young person begins to drink until he meets the dependency criteria, and at those ages, around 25, very few recognize the problem.
“Many times they go to the centers more because they have been fined for Traffic than because they feel hooked,” continued the doctor, who pointed out that the reality is that “quite a few years later” like 35 or 40 years “is when they relapse in consultations”.
In this sense, it has emphasized that “many times the patient does not recognize it, or does not want to be treated, because he thinks that what he does is enough”. In addition, the doctor continued, on many occasions patients who start treatment stop.
As he pointed out, these programs usually last about a year and a half and, then, patients must continue their rehabilitation in the associations.
“When we discharge, we try to ensure that the patient has been attending an association for months because the treatment for many years has to be done in the association, where they have to learn to live without alcohol”, highlighted Rubio.
The sub-delegate for the National Plan on Drugs has agreed with the doctor and has highlighted that the low percentage of people who are in treatment for alcohol also occurs in the case of other diseases such as hypertension.
Oñorbe has assured that for the Ministry of Health, prevention of alcoholism is a priorityespecially in the case of minors, and has criticized the advertising campaigns that encourage the consumption of alcoholic beverages among this group.
On the other hand, Rubio has affirmed that within the Mental Health Strategy of the Ministry of Health, associations of ex-alcoholics will be incorporated into treatment programs that are carried out in the public network.
Thus, he continued, the Ministry is in dialogue with the autonomous communities so that the associations have a connection with the different existing alcohol treatment devices in each territory.
The president of the confederation that was presented today, Ángel Jiménez, stressed that its objective is to help patients and their families and create a “healthier” society through collaborations with the health system and by participating in campaigns of awareness.