Tackle root causes of drug addiction, mental health expert tells govt

Andrew Mohanraj, president of the Malaysian Mental Health Association, says the current reliance on the abstinence model may lead to a higher chance of relapse.

People tend to use drugs as a coping strategy says the head of the mental health association.

Andrew Mohanraj, president of the Malaysian Mental Health Association, said the public sector was plagued by a shortage of specialist manpower, such as psychiatrists, de-addiction specialists, counsellors, and psychologists. Mohanraj, a consultant psychiatrist, said the national agency’s current system, of relying on addicts to practise abstinence, overlooked the psychological elements linked to addiction.Abstinence dealt mainly with eliminating the body’s physical need for drugs over time, but addiction could not be simply reversed via abstinence as addiction stemmed from complex causes such as past trauma, personality traits, peer pressure, and existing psychiatric conditions.

Mohanraj was commenting on a government proposal to review criminal penalties for drug offenders in favour of treatment or rehabilitation.

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