Exclusive Interview with Dr. Robert Lefever
- How long have you been treating addiction ?
The PROMIS Recovery Centre opened on 1st March 1986.
- What is the greatest challenge you have faced with an addict and what happened.
The greatest challenge I face with addicts is the opposition to our ideas that we get from some members of the medical profession. I would be perfectly happy to learn from their ideas if they worked in practice and, after all, I had the same ideas myself because we were all taught the same thing in medical school.
- Is there any difference between today’s patients and those from twenty years ago
Today’s patients tend to be younger and more damaged than they were twenty years ago.
- How would you describe social culture in respect to addiction today
The NHS still sees addiction of all kinds as a weakness or depravity. The PROMIS culture sees it as a genetically inherited problem that can be helped on a continuing basis through the Twelve Step Programme. The general social culture tends to be one of “it couldn’t happen to me” – but it can.
- Would you say people are more vulnerable to addictive disorders in today’s society
I don’t believe that today’s society is any more demanding than that of twenty or even a hundred or a thousand years ago – probably less. Addicts tend to blame the outside world for the problems that are in fact created through our own behaviour.
- The government was reported recently to have spent 30 million pounds to successfully treat 3 patients does this surprise you ?
If the government did spend £30 million successfully treating three patients I would find that absolutely scandalous – and I would doubt their definition of success.
- What would you do if you were in charge ?
If I were in charge of the NHS I would work towards trying to identify those children who have an addictive tendency and focus resources on helping them to avoid the catastrophic pitfalls into which they will in due course fall. Avoiding the medical consequences alone (heart attacks, cancer, liver disease, diabetes) would dramatically reduce expenditure. The difficulty would be in persuading families and doctors and the NHS itself that the problem is genetically linked rather than acquired through social difficulties.
- Why do you still treat addiction when you could retire tomorrow ?
I enjoy it. It’s the most rewarding thing I could ever do.
- From a patient perspective do you think it's a scary prospect to go into treatment ?
Yes it is: the prospect of going into treatment is very scary and I admire every single patient who comes to us.
