Addiction Is Often the Symptom. The Real Problem Starts Earlier.

Every year, people lose jobs, relationships and years of their lives to addiction. They cycle through treatment, relapse, and treatment again. Many carry diagnoses of depression or anxiety that never quite explain the full picture. For a significant proportion of them, the addiction is not the original problem. It is the solution to one.

The scale of the connection between trauma and addiction is well-documented. The Adverse Childhood Experiences study, one of the largest investigations of its kind, found that for each documented adversity in childhood, the likelihood of developing a substance use disorder later in life increases two to four times. Those who experienced five or more adverse childhood events were seven to ten times more likely to develop an addiction. Approximately 75 per cent of people in substance use treatment report a significant history of trauma or abuse. Unprocessed trauma, researchers have found, does not disappear. It resurfaces as depression, anxiety, PTSD, or dependency on substances that temporarily suppress what has never been properly addressed.

2 to 4x Increase in substance use disorder risk for each adverse childhood experience documented. Those with five or more ACEs are 7 to 10 times more likely to develop addiction. Source: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, Kaiser Permanente / CDC.

Despite this evidence, conventional addiction treatment has historically focused on the substance rather than the person. Detoxification addresses physical dependency. Twelve-step programmes address behaviour and community. For many people, these approaches are valuable and effective. But for those whose addiction is closely connected to unprocessed trauma, depression, anxiety, or PTSD, treatment that does not address the underlying conditions alongside the substance use may be less likely to produce lasting change. The two are connected often enough that separating them is, for a significant proportion of patients, the wrong clinical decision.

This is the clinical gap that dual-diagnosis treatment is designed to address. By treating addiction and the underlying mental health conditions concurrently, rather than sequentially, clinicians can work on both the symptom and the cause within the same period of residential care. The challenge, in many healthcare systems, is that the two are still treated separately, by different services, often years apart.

75% Of people in substance use treatment report a significant history of trauma or abuse. Source: research cited across addiction treatment literature.

Phuket Island Rehab, the luxury private rehabilitation centre located in Phuket, Thailand, was founded in 2023 by Dr. Ponlawat Pitsuwan specifically to address this gap. The centre treats alcohol and drug addiction, process addictions including gambling, internet, and relationship dependency, and co-occurring mental health conditions including depression, PTSD, and insomnia, within a single integrated residential programme. Treatment is individualised: each client undergoes a comprehensive medical assessment and psychiatric consultation on admission, with their programme designed around their specific clinical profile rather than a standardised schedule.

The facility provides medically supervised detox where required, medication-assisted treatment, 24/7 nursing support, evidence-based therapy, psychiatrist consultation, wellness activities, and structured aftercare planning for long-term recovery. For clients who relapse within 12 months of completing treatment, the centre offers a complimentary 30-day return stay under its relapse prevention guarantee.

COMMENTARY: DR. PONLAWAT PITSUWAN, PHYSICIAN AND FOUNDER, PHUKET ISLAND REHAB

"In clinical practice, the presenting problem is rarely the whole problem. Someone comes to us because their drinking has become unmanageable, or because their gambling has destroyed their finances. But when you sit with them and take a proper history, you almost always find something earlier. A period of significant loss. A childhood that did not feel safe. Years of performing competence while carrying something they had never been able to put down. Addiction is frequently the most effective coping mechanism a person found for something that was never properly treated. Our work is to treat both."

The therapeutic environment at Phuket Island Rehab is itself part of the clinical model. Geographical distance from the environment in which an addiction developed removes the immediate triggers, social pressures, and daily routines that sustain addictive behaviour. For international clients from the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, and Singapore, the combination of removal from that environment and daily clinical intensity within a structured residential setting provides conditions that weekly outpatient therapy in a familiar setting rarely replicates.

Further information about Phuket Island Rehab's treatment programmes, admissions process, and treatment costs is available at phuketislandrehab.com

ABOUT PHUKET ISLAND REHAB

Phuket Island Rehab is a luxury private rehabilitation centre located in Phuket, Thailand, founded in 2023 by Dr. Ponlawat Pitsuwan. The centre specialises in the treatment of alcohol and drug addiction, process addictions, and co-occurring mental health conditions, using an individualised, dual-diagnosis approach within a fully residential setting. Services include medically supervised detox, medication-assisted treatment, 24/7 nursing, psychiatrist consultation, evidence-based therapy, wellness activities, and structured aftercare. International clients are served from the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, Singapore, and beyond. Further information: phuketislandrehab.com

PRESS CONTACT

Phuket Island Rehab

32/23 Sakdidej Road, Wichit, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket 83000, Thailand

T: +66 82 748 8333

E: [email protected]

W: phuketislandrehab.com

Media Contact
Company Name: Phuket Island Rehab
Contact Person: Dr. Ponlawat Pitsuwan
Email: Send Email
Address:32, 23 Sakdidej Road, Wichit, Mueang Phuket District
City: Phuket 83000
Country: Thailand
Website: https://phuketislandrehab.com/

Press Release Distributed by ABNewswire.com
To view the original version on ABNewswire visit: Addiction Is Often the Symptom. The Real Problem Starts Earlier.

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