Addiction and Psychiatric Illness as Medical Disease — Steven R. Lee, MD

Dr. Lee

Understanding the difference between normal behavior versus the medical diseases of addiction and psychiatric illness is critical to understand your child’s behavior.  Everyone has the capacity to decide what they will and will not do if they are not impaired and it is everyone’s responsibility to take care of themselves and accept the consequences of their decisions. 

Those who are impaired because of mental illness, intellectual deficiencies, autism, and chronic addiction do not make good decisions and need treatment medically and in psychotherapy.  Even these people are responsible for their decisions of accepting treatment or not accepting treatment.  They must have the will to want to change, be honest with themselves and others, and be open-minded enough to listen to those who are trying to help them.  If they are arrested because they broke the law, they will be held responsible for their behavior especially if they have been offered help and they refused even if they are impaired.  They will have to suffer the consequences of their poor judgment, strong self-will, and antisocial behavior.

As parents we feel responsible for our children because we love them.  Sometimes we have tried to help them many times and they had to do it their way with bad outcomes.  Knowing what you can do and what you cannot do requires understanding addictive disease and mental illness as medical diseases in order to know what is the problems caused by the disease and the problems caused by the child’s self-will.  Knowing when you should step in and help financially and when you should not requires understanding the concept of enabling which makes them worse and makes you sick as well. 

This will be a lecture to explain how addiction and mental illness are medical diseases.  I will review the major psychiatric illnesses, the different addictions, and the treatment that is necessary.

About Dr. Steven Lee

Psychiatrist and Addictionologist for 41 years

Medical Program Director, Outpatient Services, Ridgeview Institute, Smyrna, Georgia

History of Joint faculty appointment in Psychiatry and OB-GYN, Emory University

History of Chronic Pain Management

History of being Medical Director:  Peachford, SummitRidge, Ridgeview Institute

History of Program Director Young Adult Services at Peachford and Ridgeview Institute