A licensed clinical psychologist in Los Angeles, California backs a multi-pronged approach to deal with addiction.
Doctor Ramani Durvasula was in Chatham on Thursday for a conference about addictions awareness and was asked if harm reduction programs work or if counselling is enough to treat addiction.
Doctor Durvasula told CK News Today it's all needed, from harm reduction programs, to counselling, to more mental health support, and more affordable housing.
The doctor said we need a huge fundamental shift in addiction treatment because the current model focuses too much on sobriety and not enough on personality.
Doctor Durvasula said "mal-adaptive personalities" or behaviors that stop people from adapting to new or difficult circumstances won't change and a new and better model is needed to get more people to recover from addiction.
She said clinicians have their work cut out for them, but they shouldn't despair.
"I'm hoping that after today that at a minimum all of the therapists will feel more self compassion, feel a greater sense of understanding, but also understand that this is an uphill climb. Doesn't mean it's fully impossible, but to have more realistic expectations," said Doctor Durvasula.
Durvasula noted drug use disorder is genetic and addiction is a public health crisis.
"There is no magic pill, there is no magic prevention program. This is about supporting parents and families at early childhood. We just can't focus on helping the addict. Its how do we create environments that are creating lessons and risks for addiction," she said.
She said addiction is a disease, emphasizing it is not a lifestyle choice and it's not a mistake.
"Lapsing and relapsing is a part of addiction treatment. Instead of viewing it as a fail, every lapse and relapse is a place to learn. What was happening, how do we help a person redouble their commitment to this, how do we help a person take personal accountability," Durvasula said.
Doctor Durvasula's expertise is on the impact of narcissism and high conflict, entitled, antagonistic personality styles on human relationships, mental health, and society at large.
The doctor told a room of about 180 service providers and treatment workers how to account for antagonistic personality styles when working with clients experiencing addiction, gave an overview of antagonistic personality styles and best practices for treatment, and talked about the impact of antagonist personality styles and addiction on close relationships and family.
She also shared her knowledge on how to prevent clinician burnout while treating clients diagnosed with this personality style.
