10 Percent of Americans Have Had a Serious Drug Problem

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Only 1 in 4 Americans who have suffered from a drug abuse disorder has received professional help. Ricardo Moraes/Reuters

One in 10 American adults has had a serious drug problem at some point in life, according to a study published this week in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. That equates to more than 23 million Americans. And most of them aren't getting professional help: The paper also found that only 25 percent of these people had ever received treatment.

Additionally, 4 percent of Americans are currently struggling with a drug use disorder, the new preferred term, and only 1 in 7 of those currently suffering is receiving treatment.

"Given these numbers, and other recent findings about the prevalence and under-treatment of alcohol use disorder in the U.S., it is vitally important that we continue our efforts to understand the underlying causes of drug and alcohol addiction, their relationship to other psychiatric conditions and the most effective forms of treatment," said George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, which funded the study, in a statement.

People with a drug use disorder were more likely to have a range of mental health problems. For example, they were 1.3 times more likely to suffer from depression and 1.6 times more likely to have posttraumatic stress disorder. Drug use doesn't necessarily cause these issues, but it can exacerbate emotional problems. People can also turn to drugs to self-medicate when faced by mental problems such as depression and end up becoming dependent on these substances.

A drug use disorder is defined by a range of symptoms, such as repeated cravings for a substance, a feeling of withdrawal without it and a lack of control in taking it.

The paper mirrors another study published in JAMA Psychiatry in June that found that 32 million Americans, nearly 1 in 7 adults, have struggled with a serious alcohol problem in the last year alone. And only 20 percent of people suffering from an alcohol disorder have sought treatment.

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