News Releases

Exclusive, New Addiction-Treatment Option at Memorial Hermann Prevention and Recovery Center

Houston, Texas – With an estimated 140,000 Houstonians struggling with alcohol or drug addiction*, Memorial Hermann Prevention and Recovery Center is offering an innovative new treatment option to address neurochemical imbalances in the brain.

The PROMETA™ treatment protocol, offered in Houston exclusively through Memorial Hermann Prevention and Recovery Center, is a medically based approach to alcohol, cocaine or methamphetamine dependence. In addition to its effect on neurochemical imbalances, the treatment also addresses nutritional deficits related to substance dependence.

“ Addiction is determined to be a brain disease by the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization,” said Eugene Degner, M.D., medical director of the Memorial Hermann Prevention and Recovery Center. “Scientific evidence has established that the substance-dependent brain is physiologically and biochemically different from a ‘normal’ brain. Until now, our therapeutic options have been limited, but the PROMETA™ treatment protocols are specifically designed to address these neurochemical changes.”

Studies show that changes in brain chemistry and function play an important role in the physical and behavioral symptoms of substance dependence, including tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, craving and relapse. Until now, treatments for substance dependence have not directly addressed the underlying medical aspects of the disease.

“ Substance dependence is a complex disease, including physiological, genetic, psychosocial and environmental factors,” Dr. Degner said. “We want those who are struggling to know that there is a medical explanation for the problem.”

Substance abuse has a devastating economic, social and human impact on the country’s population. The economic burden for healthcare costs and productivity losses in the United States is estimated at $345 billion annually.

*Based on 6.86% of Texans in the SAMHSA, Office of Applied Studies, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse who experienced alcohol or illicit drug dependence or abuse in the past year, rounded to 7% and applied to the current City of Houston population of approximately 2,000,000.

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