Does Addiction Treatment Work? - February 2018

Dawn Farm Addiction and Recovery Education Series

"Does Addiction Treatment Work?" was presented on February 20, 2018; by Dr. Carl Christensen, MD, Ph.D., D-FASAM. Recent publications purport to define research-supported definitive truths about the root causes of addiction and efficacy of treatment modalities; however, conclusions are conflicting and have been subject to divergent interpretations. Dr. Christensen will review the recent criticisms of treatment for addiction including Twelve Step, residential, and medication assisted therapy, the scientific studies that do and do not support their use and other controversial issues. The presentation will include a short discussion of naloxone resuscitation. This program is part of the Dawn Farm Education Series, a FREE, annual education series developed to provide accurate, helpful, hopeful, practical, current information about chemical dependency, recovery, family and related issues. The Education Series is organized by Dawn Farm, a non-profit community of programs providing a continuum of chemical dependency services. For information, please see http://www.dawnfarm.org/programs/education-series.

About the presenter: Dr. Carl Christensen, MD, Ph.D., D-FASAM Dr. Christensen is a Clinical Associate Professor at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and has a private medical practice in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dr. Christensen specializes in the treatment of addiction and of chronic pain, especially pelvic pain. He obtained his MD and PhD in Biochemistry at Wayne State University School of Medicine and did his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Hutzel Hospital. He then completed a Fellowship in Gynecologic Oncology at Duke University Medical Center. He is certified in Addiction Medicine and is a Fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

Dr. Christensen is the current Medical Director of the James Wardell Women’s Recovery Center and the Medical Director at the Tolan Medical Research Clinic in the Department of Psychiatry at WSU. He is also the Medical Director for Dawn Farm, and a member of the Advisory Board of Families Against Narcotics in Wayne County Michigan. He is the past president of the Michigan Society of Addiction Medicine and the current Medical Director of the Michigan Health Professional Recovery Program, and was Associate Residency Director of the OB Gyn Residency at the Wayne State University School of Medicine until 2012.

Dr. Christensen has received numerous teaching awards. He has been named one of the “Top Docs” in Addiction Medicine in Hour Magazine since 2006.