Private Addiction Treatment in London & Online UK
Addiction rarely stays in one part of a person's life. It reaches into physical health, sleep, mood, work, finances and the people closest to you — often long before the person involved is ready to call it addiction. Effective treatment starts by understanding the full picture: the pattern of use or behaviour, what is driving it, what has already been tried, and whether any mental health condition is sitting underneath it.
Prof. Ahmed El-Missiry is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Professor of Psychiatry providing private, psychiatrist-led addiction assessment and treatment from London, with secure online consultations available across the UK. Because this is a psychiatric service rather than a residential rehab facility, the focus is on accurate clinical assessment, medication management where it is appropriate, therapy recommendations, relapse-prevention planning and continuity of care over time.
What Is Addiction Treatment?
Addiction treatment is specialist clinical care for people experiencing difficulty with alcohol, drugs, prescribed medication or certain addictive behaviours. It is not simply stopping the substance. A proper course of treatment usually involves a structured psychiatric assessment, a diagnosis where one is appropriate, a treatment plan matched to the person's risk and circumstances, and follow-up to see whether that plan is actually working.
A thorough assessment normally considers:
- The substance or behaviour involved, and how the pattern has changed over time
- Severity, tolerance and any signs of physical dependence
- Withdrawal risk, which determines how safely someone can reduce or stop
- Physical health and current medication
- Mental health, including anxiety, low mood, trauma and sleep
- Triggers, cravings and high-risk situations
- What previous attempts to stop looked like, and what interrupted them
- Family history, work, relationships and social circumstances
- Risk and safeguarding
- What the person actually wants from treatment
National guidance in the UK, including NICE guidance on alcohol-use disorders, supports comprehensive assessment that considers psychological, physical and social factors together rather than treating substance use in isolation.
Our Addiction Treatment Service
Comprehensive Addiction Assessment
A detailed clinical assessment designed to identify the nature and severity of your addiction, evaluate contributing factors, and create a personalised recovery plan based on your individual needs.
£ 250
- 45–50 Minutes
- Remote Consultation
- Comprehensive assessment of substance use or behavioural addiction
- Review of your medical, psychological, and social history
- Identification of addiction triggers and contributing factors
- Personalised treatment recommendations and recovery planning
- Ongoing guidance to support long-term recovery goals
How the Addiction Treatment Process Works
Fill in a confidential pre-assessment questionnaire and complete a brief clinical screening before your consultation.
Attend a secure online consultation to discuss your history, current challenges, recovery goals, and treatment options.
Following your assessment, you'll receive an evidence-based treatment plan tailored to your individual needs and circumstances.
Start the recommended approach, which may include medication management, psychological therapy, relapse prevention strategies, or additional specialist support.
Attend regular follow-up appointments to review progress, strengthen recovery skills, and adjust your treatment plan whenever required.
Payment & Insurance
Klarna interest-free instalments are available for eligible appointments.
Accepted Insurance Providers Aviva, AXA Health, Preferred Health Care Ltd., Vitality Health, Bupa UK, WPA, Allianz Worldwide Care.
Pre-authorisation is required using GMC Number: 06032945.
Why Choose Prof. Ahmed El-Missiry?
- Consultant-led addiction care tailored to your personal recovery goals
- Evidence-based treatment using recognised clinical approaches
- Compassionate, confidential, and non-judgemental support
- Personalised treatment plans that address both addiction and mental health
- Ongoing monitoring to encourage long-term recovery and relapse prevention
- Convenient remote consultations available throughout the UK
Addiction Assessment With a Psychiatrist
A psychiatric addiction assessment is a detailed clinical consultation with a medically qualified doctor. That matters, because addiction frequently sits alongside a psychiatric condition, and because medication decisions — whether to start, continue, adjust or withdraw — require medical judgement.
During an addiction assessment, your psychiatrist may explore:
- Alcohol or drug use, including frequency, quantity and route
- Cravings and loss of control
- Tolerance and withdrawal symptoms
- Previous attempts to stop and any relapse history
- Prescribed and over-the-counter medication
- Physical health and any complications of use
- Mood, anxiety, trauma history and sleep
- Attention, impulsivity and longstanding patterns
- Family history of substance use or mental illness
- Work, relationships and living situation
- Risk to self or others, and safeguarding considerations
- Your own treatment goals
The purpose of an assessment is not to attach a label. It is to understand the pattern clearly enough to say what level of care is clinically appropriate — and to be honest when that level of care is something other than what this service provides.
If a broader psychiatric review is what you need first, you can also book a consultation with a private psychiatrist in London.
When Should You Consider Addiction Treatment?
You may benefit from a specialist addiction assessment if:
- Alcohol, drugs or a behaviour has become difficult to control despite intending to cut down
- You have stopped before and returned to the same pattern
- Use is affecting work, study, finances, relationships or parenting
- You experience cravings, or physical symptoms when you don’t use
- You are drinking or using to manage anxiety, low mood, trauma symptoms or sleep
- Someone close to you has raised concern more than once
- You are using prescribed medication differently from how it was prescribed
You do not need to be at crisis point to seek an assessment. Earlier assessment usually means more treatment options, not fewer.
Types of Addiction We Can Assess and Treat
Alcohol Addiction
Assessment covers problematic drinking through to alcohol dependence: how much and how often, morning drinking, cravings, tolerance, blackouts, withdrawal symptoms and previous detox attempts. Where dependence is present, the plan must account for withdrawal risk before any reduction begins.
NHS guidance is clear that stopping alcohol suddenly can be dangerous for someone who is physically dependent, and that medically supported withdrawal may be needed.
Drug Addiction and Substance Misuse
This includes prescription medication (such as opioid painkillers, benzodiazepines and stimulants), cocaine, cannabis, opioids and other substances. Suitability for outpatient psychiatric treatment is decided case by case — some presentations need inpatient or specialist addiction-service input, and that will be said plainly at assessment rather than worked around.
Behavioural Addictions
Assessment is available for compulsive patterns such as gambling, gaming and problematic internet use, where these are causing significant impairment or distress. Behavioural addictions are frequently linked to mood, impulsivity and anxiety, which is why psychiatric assessment is useful here.
Co-occurring Mental Health Conditions
Addiction commonly occurs alongside anxiety, depression, PTSD, ADHD, bipolar disorder, OCD and insomnia. Treating one and ignoring the other tends to produce short-lived results.
Related services include private anxiety assessment, depression assessment, PTSD assessment, ADHD assessment, bipolar assessment, OCD treatment and insomnia treatment.
What Happens During an Addiction Assessment?
Step 1 — Pre-assessment. You complete a confidential questionnaire and brief clinical screening before your appointment, so consultation time is spent on the things that matter most.
Step 2 — Psychiatric consultation. A 45–50 minute consultation covering your use or behaviour, history, physical and mental health, risks and goals.
Step 3 — Clinical formulation. Prof. El-Missiry sets out how the pattern developed, what is maintaining it, and what is likely to help — including any diagnosis that is clinically supported.
Step 4 — Treatment plan. A written plan covering medication where appropriate, therapy recommendations, relapse-prevention strategies, and referral where a higher level of care is needed.
Step 5 — Follow-up. Review appointments to monitor progress, treatment response and any medication, and to adjust the plan as circumstances change.
Addiction Treatment Options
There is no single correct treatment for addiction. What is recommended depends on the substance or behaviour, severity, physical health, psychiatric history and personal circumstances.
Psychiatric Medication
Considered only where clinically indicated — for example in relapse prevention, in managing withdrawal-related symptoms, or in treating a co-occurring psychiatric condition. Medication is never the whole plan.
Psychological Therapy
Recommendations for evidence-based therapy appropriate to your presentation, including structured approaches for substance use and for underlying anxiety, trauma or mood difficulties.
Relapse Prevention
Identifying triggers, high-risk situations and early warning signs, and building practical strategies before they are needed rather than after a setback.
Ongoing Psychiatric Follow-up
Regular review of progress, symptoms, medication and risk. Continuity matters more in addiction than in almost any other area of psychiatry.
Specialist Referral
Where residential rehabilitation, inpatient detoxification or local NHS addiction services are the safer or more appropriate option, that will be recommended and supported.
What Is the Difference Between Addiction Treatment and Rehab?
Addiction treatment describes clinical care as a whole: psychiatric assessment, diagnosis, medication management, psychological therapy, relapse prevention and follow-up. Rehab usually refers to a structured residential or intensive programme delivered over a fixed period in a dedicated facility.
This service provides consultant psychiatrist-led addiction assessment and treatment — not residential rehabilitation. For some people, outpatient psychiatric care is the right level of support. For others, a residential programme or medically supervised detoxification is safer. The assessment is what determines which.
Addiction and Mental Health
Addiction and psychiatric illness frequently travel together. Anxiety, depression, PTSD, ADHD and bipolar disorder can all influence how and why someone uses a substance, and sustained use can worsen every one of those conditions in turn. Sleep problems and alcohol use commonly reinforce each other in both directions.
A psychiatric assessment looks at this whole picture. If anxiety is driving evening drinking, treating the drinking alone is unlikely to hold. If longstanding attention and impulsivity difficulties are part of the pattern, an ADHD assessment may be a necessary part of understanding it. This dual perspective is the core advantage of psychiatrist-led addiction care over generic programmes.
Private Addiction Treatment in London
Prof. Ahmed El-Missiry provides private psychiatric care across London, with consultations associated with the Marylebone, Finsbury Park and Harley Street locations, subject to availability.
Appointments are usually available without long waiting times, and consultations are confidential. For patients travelling into central London, the Harley Street and Marylebone locations are close to Oxford Circus, Baker Street and Regent’s Park; Finsbury Park serves north London and the surrounding boroughs.
Online Addiction Treatment Across the UK
Secure video consultations are available across the UK for patients who cannot attend in person. Online care can include pre-assessment screening, full psychiatric assessment, treatment recommendations and follow-up review.
Online treatment is not suitable for everyone. Where there is significant physical dependence, a history of complicated withdrawal, serious physical illness or acute risk, face-to-face assessment or urgent local services will be recommended instead. Suitability is confirmed during pre-assessment.
When Addiction Requires Urgent Medical Help
Some forms of withdrawal are medically dangerous. This applies particularly to alcohol and to benzodiazepines, where stopping abruptly without medical support can cause serious harm. NHS guidance warns that severe alcohol withdrawal can involve seizures, confusion and hallucinations, and that people who are dependent should not stop suddenly without medical advice.
Seek urgent help — NHS 111, 999 or your nearest A&E — if you or someone else experiences:
- Seizures or fitting
- Severe confusion, agitation or hallucinations
- Loss of consciousness or unresponsiveness
- Severe vomiting, chest pain or difficulty breathing
- A suspected overdose
- Thoughts of suicide or immediate risk of harm to self or others
A private outpatient appointment is not the right route in an emergency. If you are in immediate danger, contact emergency services first.
Fees & Insurance
Addiction assessment — £250, 45–50 minutes. Follow-up appointment fees are confirmed at the time of booking.
Klarna interest-free instalments are available for eligible appointments.
Recognised insurers: Aviva, AXA Health, Preferred Health Care Ltd., Vitality Health, Bupa UK, WPA, Allianz Worldwide Care. Pre-authorisation is required using GMC Number 06032945.
Frequently Asked Questions About Addiction Treatment
What is an addiction assessment?
A psychiatrist-led assessment that explores your substance use or addictive behaviour, physical and mental health, personal history, previous treatment and current circumstances, in order to identify what support is clinically appropriate.
Can a psychiatrist treat addiction?
Yes. Psychiatrists are medically qualified doctors who can assess addiction and any associated mental health condition, consider medication where clinically appropriate, and coordinate onward care.
What happens during an addiction assessment?
The consultation typically covers current use or behaviour, previous attempts to change, cravings and withdrawal symptoms, medical and psychiatric history, risk, and the impact on daily life. You then receive a formulation and a treatment plan.
Do I need an assessment before treatment?
Usually yes. Treatment should follow from your individual clinical needs, history and risk profile rather than a standard programme applied to everyone.
Do you provide private addiction treatment in London?
Yes. Consultations are associated with London locations including Marylebone, Finsbury Park and Harley Street, subject to appointment availability.
Can addiction treatment be done online?
Secure online psychiatric consultations are available across the UK where clinically appropriate. Some situations require face-to-face assessment or a different level of care.
Can addiction occur alongside another mental health condition?
Frequently. Anxiety, depression, PTSD, ADHD, bipolar disorder and OCD all commonly co-occur with addiction, which is why a psychiatric assessment considers the wider picture.
Does addiction treatment always involve medication?
No. Medication is one possible element and is considered according to diagnosis, symptoms, medical history and clinical need.
Is addiction treatment confidential?
Private consultations are confidential within applicable professional, legal and safeguarding obligations.
What should I do if someone is experiencing severe withdrawal?
Treat it as a medical emergency. Severe symptoms such as seizures, marked confusion or hallucinations need urgent medical assessment through 999 or A&E, not a routine appointment.
Clinical Guidance & Further Information
- NHS — Alcohol-use disorder
- NHS — Find alcohol addiction support services
- NICE — Alcohol-use disorders: diagnosis, assessment and management (CG115)
- Royal College of Psychiatrists — information on alcohol, drugs and mental health
Related reading on this site: When Should You See a Private Psychiatrist? Signs to Look Out For
Book a private addiction assessment
London clinics and online across the UK · £250 · 45–50 minutes