Addiction is a complex experience. There are intricate interactions between predisposition, behaviors, thought patterns, coping skills, reward patterns, and withdrawal that make attaining and maintaining sobriety incredibly challenging.
General psychiatrists are trained to recognize, understand, and intervene in substance dependence issues. However, addiction psychiatrists have committed to extra training to increase their skills in helping those that struggle with substance dependence or other types of addiction behaviors.
After completing residency, addiction psychiatrists complete an additional year of training covering key topics:
The numerous social and biological contributors to addiction
The pharmacology and toxicology of common substances of abuse
Conditions that frequently co-present in those struggling with addiction
Pharmaceutical and psychotherapeutic treatments available for addiction
How one might approach treating addiction in special populations
The social, legal, and ethical issues surrounding addiction
Addiction psychiatrists can work in hospitals or in outpatient clinics. In my experience, the majority of addiction psychiatrists work in the outpatient setting, while CL psychiatrists more typically help contribute to the care plans of patients struggling with addiction while they are hospitalized.
Additionally, addiction psychiatrists may work in a medication management model, where they prescribe medications most helpful to those struggling with addiction, while the patient completes psychotherapy elsewhere. These clinics may follow an insurance pay model or a cash pay model.
Addiction psychiatry subspecialty certification is provided via the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN).
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