Chronic addiction disease requires long-term treatment. The brain pathways of addicts are altered; the interconnections in the brain are changed and can remain abnormal for months and even years

There is a tendency as soon as someone relapses to blame them as being weak or it's a moral failing or they just didn't try hard enough. So, there is a blame the patient, blame the victim mentality for not being strong enough to say no to drugs. But we don't say that if somebody relapses with arthritis or has a relapse with blood pressure problems or has a relapse with diabetes. This is part of a chronic disease model.''
Chronic disease requires long-term treatment. The brain pathways of addicts are altered; the interconnections in the brain are changed and can remain abnormal for months and even years beyond the end of the substance use or problematic behaviour. This is why many people relapse after short-term treatments.
''We face the situation at the moment where so much treatment is revolving-door. People go into relatively high-cost, intensive treatments - it may be residential rehabilitation or it may be the detoxification units or withdrawal units. They emerge from those a week or a month or six months later with very little change in brain function and often relapse.

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