Ethical Issues in Diagnosing and Treating Addiction

Although addiction to alcohol and drugs has long been recognized as a medical condition, treating it successfully has continued to elude doctors and health experts. Recently an array of compulsive behaviors—ranging from gambling and video game playing to sex —has been added to the list of conditions medically defined as addictions. The January 2008 issue examines traditional and newly classified compulsive behaviors and asks specifically how physicians can improve their recognition, diagnosis, and treatment of addiction.

Volume 10, Number 1: 1-78 Full Issue PDF
  • From the Editor
    Jan 2008

    Addiction: Overlooked and Undertreated

    Allison Grady
    A serious ethical concern raised by addiction is that physicians’ perceptions of addicts—often subconscious—affect treatment.
    Virtual Mentor. 2008;10(1):3-4. doi: 10.1001/virtualmentor.2008.10.1.fred1-0801.
  • Case and Commentary
    Jan 2008

    Lost in the Web: Compulsive Videogaming

    Michael Brody, MD
    Like most extreme behaviors, excessive videogame playing functions as a cover or adaptive mechanism for underlying anxiety and depression. Compulsive gaming, like all pathological solutions (alcohol, drugs, gambling) makes a bad situation worse.
    Virtual Mentor. 2008;10(1):17-20. doi: 10.1001/virtualmentor.2008.10.1.ccas3-0801.
  • Medical Education
    Jan 2008

    Teaching about Substance Abuse

    Richard A. Yoast, MA, PhD, William J. Filstead, PhD, Bonnie B. Wilford, MS, Susan Hayashi, PhD, Jennifer Reenan, MD, and Jorie Epstein
    Virtual Mentor. 2008;10(1):21-29. doi: 10.1001/virtualmentor.2008.10.1.medu1-0801.
  • Medicine and Society
    Jan 2008

    Double Standard for Access to Pain Management

    Steven D. Passik, PhD and Kenneth L. Kirsh, PhD
    One of the many doors money and power often open gives access to opioids where they would otherwise be withheld without strict oversight and management. Elvis Presley provides perhaps the most famous example of unmanaged access to drugs.
    Virtual Mentor. 2008;10(1):49-54. doi: 10.1001/virtualmentor.2008.10.1.msoc1-0801.
  • Viewpoint
    Jan 2008

    Addiction and Sin: Recovery and Redemption

    Hans Madueme, MD, MDiv
    An older generation was far more likely to understand itself and its social world in terms of sin and virtue, vice and godliness. Lack of self-control and weakness of will were moral failings to be avoided. That sort of language has fallen on hard times.
    Virtual Mentor. 2008;10(1):55-58. doi: 10.1001/virtualmentor.2008.10.1.oped1-0801.