Psychiatry Specialist Professor Onur Noyan made some remarkable statements about substance addiction. Prof. Dr. Noyan said, “Addiction is a disease that causes future blindness. We are trying to replace the dopamine that enters the body too much with a tool other than substance. The main and most important step of this treatment is for the person to be aware of their illness.”
Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Onur Noyan was a guest in the last episode of the documentary “Sober Lives” produced by Hande Karacasu. Noyan made warnings about the precautions that can be taken against drug use and addiction. Emphasizing that drug addiction is a disease and the “first use” on the path to addiction is a behavioral choice, Noyan said, “When we do not see addiction as a disease, our perspective on addiction is very different. When we see it as a choice or a moral weakness, addiction is perceived as a situation that cannot be treated. Ultimately, addiction is a brain disease. First use is always a choice. In other words, it is the individual’s individual choice whether an individual comes into contact with a substance or alcohol. However, after the substance enters the brain, the biological changes in the brain change the structure of the brain and the disease we call addiction begins to emerge. The person begins to lose control of themselves. What happens when they cannot control themselves regarding the substance they use? This time, they always use it again. "Then the brake system breaks down, it cannot stop itself and eventually the functionality deteriorates. We call this future blindness. Addiction is actually a disease that causes future blindness," he said.
“WE ALL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BECOME ADDICTIVE”
Prof. Dr. Onur Noyan, who stated that the claim that a particular community is more prone to addiction does not reflect the truth, said, “Of course, genetic predispositions and family characteristics are important. Some sociological, cultural, economic conditions are also effective, but there is no specific community that we can distinguish. We all have the potential to become addicted. Common statements such as addicts always come from broken families are not true. A child from a family with a very organized family structure can also be addicted.”
“BIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT SHOULD BE COMBINED”
Stating that the individual treatment method is mostly followed in Turkey, Noyan said, “Our priority and preference is for the treatment to be psychosocially focused. In other words, there should be both biological, psychological intervention and sociological approaches in the treatment. The patient also needs to understand their clinical condition and accept the disease first. Many of our patients come to us under the pressure of their family, relatives or the pressure of the environment and do not accept that they are sick. We try to raise awareness first. In the second stage, we do some tests and examinations. Because alcohol and drugs trigger some changes in the brain and body. It can impair liver and kidney functions. We try to treat the withdrawal experienced by the patient with other drugs. If there are other psychiatric symptoms accompanying the process, we give them our specific drugs. We definitely recommend a psychotherapy process in addition to this biological side.”
“AMATEMS MUST BE MULTI-SPREAD”
Touching on the connection between addiction and proneness to crime, Noyan continued as follows:
“We need to correct the addiction equals crime equation. We cannot say that a person who commits a crime is a potential addict. Or it would be very wrong to say that an addict is a potential criminal, and unfortunately this is the biggest misconception in the press. Yes, there are some common tendencies. But there are more dominant triggering factors. If we ask whether the economic situation affects addiction, yes it does. In the simplest terms, the substances a person uses can change. The substances a person who is not in a good financial situation chooses are different from the substances a person who is in a good financial situation uses.
Unfortunately, the state's treatment services are inadequate. The number of doctors in this field is inadequate, and the number of psychologists is even more inadequate. In other words, people are unfortunately less likely to receive the support they can get by going to a private clinic from the state. It is essential to expand AMATEMs, to open AMATEMs in every province and district, and to increase the number of doctors and psychologists.”
