Can Changing How We Think about Addiction Lead to More Effective Treatment?

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March 14, 2022

The United States is experiencing an addiction crisis with historic levels of drug overdose deaths, prompting increased urgency to treat addiction with both evidence and empathy. During this episode of the Business Group on Health Podcast, we speak with Dr. Carl Erik Fisher, an addiction psychiatrist who came to this area of specialty after facing his own addiction crisis. Dr. Fisher discusses his new book, The Urge: Our History of Addiction, which sheds light on the intersecting causes of addiction and offers a call to action for a more nuanced way to address it. He also describes why he believes calling addiction a disease can be a “double edged sword” and how we should be thinking about it - and treating it - instead.

SPEAKERS

Carl Erik Fisher, MD | Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Columbia University, Author of The Urge: Our History of Addiction

Ellen Kelsay | President & CEO, Business Group on Health

Download transcript.

Duration 38 min

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