CalSouthern’s own Doctoral Program Psychology Faculty Mentor, Dr. Bob Weathers, recently presented two workshops to the American Pharmacists Association at their annual Institute on Alcoholism and Drug Dependencies, held this year on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
As most know, there is an absolutely devastating opioid addiction epidemic sweeping the land. Dr. Weathers, himself, works actively every week in providing in-person and online recovery coaching and education to clients both locally and from around the world, most struggling with a severe addiction to alcohol, heroin, and/or methamphetamine.
For the conference, Dr. Weathers presented the kick-off training workshop of the entire, multi-day experience. His title: “Finding Grace: An Introduction to Addiction, Shame, Stigma, and Recovery.” Dr. Weathers has devoted the past 6 years to studying the above topic, and you are welcome to view his related, CalSouthern Master Lecture Series presentation, entitled Recovery Without Shame and Stigma, here in the university’s video archives.
The bottom line? Shame and stigma pose the greatest psychological barriers to sustained, successful recovery from addiction, and if not addressed proactively, contribute to further secrecy around active addiction, leading, far too often, directly to death.
One key for coaches, counselors, and therapists working with addiction (as well as those individuals in recovery and their loved ones) are to correct what psychology calls the fundamental attribution error. The latter attributes addiction to some fundamental flaw in the addict’s character (a dispositional attribution) rather than factoring in the incredibly debilitating impact of active addiction (extending often into the early months of recovery) on any human brain (a situational attribution).
Shame (“I am bad”) paralyzes forward progress; whereas rightful guilt (“I did something bad”) frees up the potential for change. The difference is immense: “I may have done something very wrong (getting addicted), but I’m not somehow fundamentally flawed. Furthermore, I do, with expert help, need to change my behavior and mend those relationships which have been injured and traumatized by active addiction.” In other words: there is hope!
Dr. Weathers’ second presentation to this group of 400 pharmacists from across the nation was entitled “Bridging the Gap: Integrating Family Therapy and Addiction Counseling.” Here Dr. Weathers focused on the tremendous value there is to accessing support from family and loved ones in the process of addiction recovery. To this end, marriage and family therapists bring a unique, systemic lens, and all associated resources, to working with recovering individuals and their loved ones.
One caveat, however: it is incumbent on all mental health professionals, including family therapists, to educate themselves thoroughly about the monumental impact of addiction, first on the brain, and then on one’s relationships. With this understanding firmly in hand, family therapists may then sequence their interventions thoughtfully and strategically to match where the recovering client may be, as well as provide crucial, scientifically-based education to this individual and his/her loved ones.
Moving too fast toward more advanced relational goals, when the recovering addict’s brain is still in PAWS (post-acute withdrawal syndrome), is contraindicated. The work of healing relationships necessitates mutual vulnerability; vulnerability requires safety in the relationship; and that safety typically takes a while to return, even after active addiction ceases, as the former addict’s brain gradually stabilizes (post-PAWS) and regains emotional, cognitive, and behavioral reliability.
By all reports, Dr. Weathers’ presentations were incredibly well-received, with one pharmacist offering: “I’ve been licensed for over 32 years, and heard a lot of speakers at these conferences, but never anybody who could introduce ‘touchy-feely’ psychology in a way that we (whose backgrounds are in hard science) could truly hear.” He continued: “I’m so glad that every single person here got a chance to hear you bring psychology to the pharmacy.”
Think about this, if you are currently a learner studying Psychology at CalSouthern: you have an opportunity, just like Dr. Weathers, to bring a similar message of skill and hope to other disciplines (in this case, pharmacy) that they might otherwise not hear.
As for his first encounter of this scope with national pharmacists, Dr. Weathers reported this: “There is also such a profound, omnipresent awareness within the pharmacy of the huge responsibility that goes with administering prescription medications, all the more so in light of the current opioid epidemic. Really powerful to witness such commitment, integrity, and radical ownership first-hand!”
Dr. Weathers, on the heels of this conference’s presentations, was immediately invited to present the above information to schools of pharmacy in Philadelphia, Oklahoma City, and perhaps most meaningfully, in West Virginia, where the per-capita mortality rate due to opioid overdoses is highest in the nation.
“We can make a difference,” Dr. Weathers insists. “And you, our CalSouthern learners and graduates, can be a major part of that change.”
For anyone interested in more information on topics, such as those above, please also see Dr. Weathers’ freely available online resources:
Website, including blog and video archives, as well as contact information:
http://www.drbobweathers.com/
Two weekly podcasts:
http://integralrecoveryinstitute.com/podcast/