The Agresti Addiction Scale

The Agresti Addiction Quiz is designed to provide you an idea of whether a drug addiction or drug abuse problem exists. The drug addiction quiz is not perfect and the drug addiction quiz should only be seen as a guide.

Florida Flights Opioid Epidemic with Narxcare Tracking

In response to the opiate epidemic and the pill mill phenomenon, the state of Florida instituted a prescription tracking system under Rick Scott. The system is called NarxCare. It tracks the pharmacy, the physician, and the patient when they fill a prescription for a controlled substance.

Coping with Loss of a Job

Dr. Mark Agresti discusses ways of coping with losing your job. By understanding the stress and overwhelming scenarios, Dr. Agresti talks about the best way to continue forward and cope appropriately when dealing with a major change in your life.

Dr. Mark Agresti, West Palm Beach Drug & Alcohol Detox Specialist, Psychiatrist

Call (561) 842-9550 or email: info@206.189.200.158 Dr. Agresti today to get psychiatric help today.

Disease or Decision – What if the answer does not matter?

The first question most people ask when visiting a doctor is “What’s wrong with me?”  As a psychiatrist I usually beat them to the punch by asking them, “Why are you here?”  That question itself is diagnostic in nature.  It speaks volumes of an individual’s perception and self assessment of their problem.  If the patient is presenting with an addiction issue, invariably there are several assumptions they have already made.  Most of the time they assume that they have a disease.  That it is chronic.  That it is incurable.  And that after a period of detoxification their disease will be managed by daily doses of 12-step activity.  This in spite of overwhelming statistic that traditional 28 day treatment programs have about a 16% success rate.

This has always been a great curiosity to me.  If one in six patients who attend these conventional treatment programs remain abstinent for one year post discharge, why would anybody waste the time, money and psychic investment required by these programs.  I would not buy a car that started one out of six times.  More importantly, I would not buy a car that stopped one out of six times I applied the brakes.

What if we were treating a disease that does not exist?  In my profession that is called a misdiagnosis.  What if we spent our time, energy and money trying to stop “addiction” rather than trying to understand addiction?  An entire industry has developed around causation rather than cessation.  If you had a choice of either understanding why you drink or stopping your drinking the decision would be obvious.  Even if you are a comprehension junky for whom the process trumps the product, at some point all growth starts with stopping. (more…)

Why is it important to have a Psychiatrist help you with drug detox?

http://206.189.200.158 ~ (561) 842-9550

Dr. Mark Agresti, West Palm Beach Drug & Alcohol Detox Specialist – Psychiatrist, discusses why people it is beneficial and best to work with a psychiatrist when detoxing from drugs.  Many times drug abuse and drug use come to help with mental illness.  If you don’t work on the symptoms of what causes the use of addictive drugs (i.e. depression), you’ll find it difficult to detox completely from addictive drugs.

Call Dr. Agresti today to get help with Drug & Alcohol Addiction.