Approach to individuals with alcohol and drug use in primary health services

Alcohol and substance use disorders are preventable and chronic diseases. Since serious damage can occur in almost every system in the body, alcohol and substance-related conditions threaten the individual and society as an important public health problem, beyond being a psychiatric disease. It is known that individuals with alcohol and substance use disorders have many comorbid medical diseases, and this association negatively affects the prognosis. Individuals with alcohol and substance use; especially specific risk groups such as adolescents, elderly, women and pregnant people often avoid expressing their use and seeking treatment from the relevant specialist due to many individual, familial, judicial and sociocultural concerns and/or obstacles when addiction develops. The service area of primary healthcare professionals covers risky individuals of all ages, genders and symptoms. Individuals are enrolled in primary health care with their families. Individuals are more likely to apply to primary care for any reason compared to other health care levels. From these perspectives, preventive, supportive and therapeutic approaches are of indisputable importance in primary care for individuals with alcohol and substance use problems. It is necessary to know the risky use of alcohol and substances, the processes leading to addiction, possible accompanying medical conditions, to be aware of the authority and effectiveness of primary care, and to have a stigma-free approach. In this review, the approaches of primary healthcare professionals to the problem of alcohol-substance use in their professional practices; It is aimed to provide practical information about what they can do within the scope of primary and secondary protection services.