UF expert: for some physicians, alcohol and drugs are prescription for addiction

In the wake of news that Vice President Dick Cheney’s personal physician is battling an addiction to prescription narcotics, a University of Florida physician cautions the problem is more widespread than patients and practitioners might think.

An estimated 4 percent to 6 percent of doctors — tens of thousands — will at some point in their lives be hooked on drugs and as many as 15 percent on alcohol, a number that mirrors trends in the general population, says UF addiction medicine expert Kenneth W. Thompson, M.D., who once struggled with a personal addiction to prescription drugs and now serves as medical director of the Florida Recovery Center, located at Shands at Vista. But for health-care practitioners, facing up to an addiction can be a tough pill to swallow: Recovery can be hampered by a reluctance to seek help from fellow physicians and by stress and sheer accessibility of prescription medicines, he said.

“Addiction is often misdiagnosed as depression, stress or marital problems because many health-care and mental health-care practitioners are unaware of the numerous manifestations and symptoms of addiction,” Thompson said. “Addiction is not the result of life problems but rather the cause and therefore requires treatment that specifically addresses the addiction. I was blessed that the treatment providers that cared for me understood this.”

Thompson, also an associate professor of psychiatry at UF’s College of Medicine, was featured this morning on “Good Morning America” and has treated more than 10,000 patients who suffer with chemical dependency, including 1,700 health-care professionals.

UF researchers who studied doctors enrolled in recovery programs have found that long-term treatment and close monitoring of addicted physicians gives them the best chance of remaining employed and drug-free. Successful rehabilitation is possible, noted Thompson, who said physicians must undergo counseling and treatment and agree to random drug tests if they wish to retain their medical licenses. The good news: Compared with other patient groups, physicians are much more likely to return to work and never relapse, he said.