Please note this is an online course.

Trainer: Charles Atkins, MD

Over eight-million Americans meet criteria for co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders. This includes the executive with obsessive-compulsive disorder who drinks a fifth of hard liquor a day, to the homeless person who smokes cannabis heavily and has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals with a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, to the 35-year-old mother with PTSD and a life-threatening opioid habit. These are the people most likely to seek mental health and/or substance use services. But when we come to the discussion of medication for co-occurring disorders, there is a paucity of studies. Indeed, what might work for someone’s alcohol or tobacco problem could worsen their depression or psychosis or vice versa.

This module presents a practical and integrated approach to the assessment and treatment of co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, with a focus on pharmacologic interventions and adjunctive strategies (clinical, peer, and otherwise) that will help move people forward in the direction of their goals and aspirations. Medication assisted treatment will be reviewed briefly for alcohol, opioids, and nicotine.

This training consists of Part 7 of the Psychopharmacology: Truth, Recovery & Wellness series with Dr. Charles Atkins. Although you are welcome to take more than one course, you are not required to take all 8 sessions, nor are you required to take them in consecutive order.