Substance Abuse

I am pleased to offer psychiatric treatment to individuals whose primary issue may be substance abuse, or when substance abuse is part of other mental health problems.  In my experience, I have found that most people struggling with misuse of drugs or alcohol are often also struggling with significant stressors, mood, or anxiety symptoms, and will use substances as a way to self-medicate.

I practice an individualized, harm-reduction, and motivational approach to patients struggling with substance abuse.  Once we have an idea of the significance of your substance use (including the type, amount, and frequency of your use; effects your use is having on your life and relationships; what is contributing to your use; possible physical health side effects), we will start to formulate a tailored plan to help you reduce or completely abstain from use.  Sometimes, it may be necessary for an individual to undergo a medically-supervised detoxfication (‘detox’) under intensive inpatient supervision, and then work on relapse prevention.

Currently, there are only FDA-approved medications for the treatment of alcohol and opiate (Vicodin, Oxycontin, heroin, etc.) dependence.  I am a certified prescriber of Suboxone, a newer oral medication for the maintenance treatment of opiate dependence in the office setting.

Regardless of whether medications are a part of your treatment to help reduce or abstain from substance abuse, I strongly encourage patients who are battling addiction to be engaged with me in psychotherapy and to also attend relevant groups (Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous), as this will offer you the best chance at achieving your recovery goals.