Dr. Naveen Puri (Addiction)
Dr. Naveen Puri is Medical Director at Bupa UK Insurance and a former NHS GP with over two decades of experience in healthcare. He specialises in the connection between mental heal...
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Who are you?
Hello, I'm Dr. Naveen I'm a medical director at Bupa and a GP by background. I enjoy travel and discovering new cultures.
What is your experience of mental health and addiction?
I've been a doctor for 20 years now, and I've had the real privilege of coming into contact with people who are affected by mental health issues with addiction, and sometimes with both. During my training as a GP, I also worked with the community mental health team, where I worked with people who were specifically affected by addictions and severe mental health problems. And so I come at this with an element of experience on that basis.
Can you be diagnosed with addiction and a mental health condition at the same time?
It is certainly the case that you could be affected by therefore diagnosed with an addiction and a mental health condition at the same time. But it's also important to recognise that just because you have an addiction doesn't mean you've got poor mental health in the background to that. And similarly, if you've got poor mental health does not mean you will necessarily be affected by an addiction. So while they can be linked, sometimes they can also be separate, too. And it's important that we recognise there's not always that commonality there.