Addiction and the Economy

Currently, addiction is on the upswing fueled by the pressures from our economic downturn’ says Howard Mettiner, President and CEO of Phoenix House the nations largest non profit alcohol and drug abuse treatment centre in the United States. When people loose their homes, their savings, and their pensions, they often lose their self respect. In fact, workers can actually go through grief reactions similar to bereavement particularly if they have been unemployed a long time, have dependents, have lost relationships and had little notice of job loss. Too often people escape into substance abuse and addiction. In hard economic times, we’re seeing the dark side of optimism. The addiction or the mental illness has a deeper effect on people, consequently, it’s harder for counselors to provide hope in order to motivate their clients to change.