Professor Ignatius N. Ijere, a clinical psychologist and Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow from Syracuse University in the USA has emphasized that addiction is a condition that can be managed and treated, but not cured.
Speaking at a workshop on “Addiction Management” the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Cape Coast organized, Prof. Ijere explained that there is no scientific evidence to prove that addiction can be cured.
According to the clinical psychologist seeking medical and counseling attention for individuals battling with addiction is only focused or aimed at managing and controlling aspects of the addiction but not curing it.
“You can make up anything. You cannot cure it. But it can be managed successfully, keeping the person to be functional and realizing that they can still live their day-to-day life with the addiction.”
He explained that relapse is part process and there is a high possibility persons with addiction to return to that behavior.
“You are going to live and die with it. I said earlier on, relapse is part of the recovery process. For anyone who has been diagnosed with addiction, there’s a possibility even if the person has been in recovery for 30 years, 50 years, or 100 years, there’s a possibility the person will go back to it again. There’s a possibility the person will go back to that particular behavior. That’s a possibility.” he emphasized.
The clinical psychologist, who is helping the faculty members of the School of Nursing and Midwifery-UCC to develop a program in Addiction Management, praised the use of African traditional medicine in the treatment of drug addiction, calling it a cheap, holistic, safe, efficient, natural, and healthy alternative.
However, he also acknowledged the limitations of African medicine, such as poor quality control and safety, lack of documentation of adverse reactions, and improper diagnosis.
He maintained that “It’s a holistic health care system that we use. Revelation, spiritualism, herbalism, all those things that have to do with health. According to research, those things tend to have a very strong and evidence-based fact because in the African context, whether it’s psychological illness or addiction disease, it is both a natural and supernatural cause illness.”
To him, the prospects of African traditional medicine were bright and positive if viewed in the context of service provision, economical potential, poverty reduction, and increase of healthcare coverage.
The Director of the Biomedical and Clinical Research Centre-UCC, Prof. Samuel Kyei, who chaired the function indicated that the insight Prof. Ijere has given would go a long way in assisting the faculty of the School to develop a fully-fledged program in Addiction Management.
In attendance at the workshop were also members of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association.
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Source: Eric Sekyi/ATLFMNEWS
