The Therapist's Guide to Addiction Medicine. Barry Solof

question that arises often is, is it fair to tell patients about medications that they can’t get due to lack of insurance coverage? Therapists have a responsibility to let their clients know that these resources exist. Hopefully, with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in the United States, more people will have access to more and better insurance coverage and the care it pays for. Ideally, in my opinion, we would have a national health insurance plan like they have in all the other countries of the modern world. ASAM, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, has weighed in on this issue, and you can take a look at their position reports online.

      The issue of when and how to best utilize medication in the treatment of addiction and mental health conditions can be very complex. Addictive disorders are treatable brain diseases. Research is identifying the neurobiological mechanisms that are involved, and this increasing understanding will facilitate the development of effective targeted pharmacotherapies. An understanding of the neurobiology of addiction destigmatizes both the patient and the treatment and can help everyone understand the why and how of otherwise baffling symptoms. In an optimal world, counseling and psychopharmacology are integrated. Effective addiction treatment needs both.

      CHAPTER TWO NOTES

      4 National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Twin studies help define the role of genes in vulnerability to drug abuse” (1999), http://archives.drugabuse.gov/NIDA_Notes/NNVol14N4/Twins.html (accessed June 13, 2013).