Kevin McCauley – Addiction and Recovery Update 2020: The Latest Clinical Takeaways from Neuroscience Research

Outline

I. Addiction: a disorder of reward learning, decision-making and self-awareness

• Definitions of Addiction
  • The American Society of Addiction Medicine’s Definition of Addiction
  • The DSM-5 Symptomology of Addiction (Substance Use Disorder)
• The Five Current, Leading Neuroscientific Explanations of Addiction
  • Genetic Vulnerability (Blum)
  • Incentive-Sensitization (Robinson and Berridge)
  • Pathology of Memory and Learning (Kalivas)
  • Stress-induced Allostasis (Koob and LeMoal)
  • Pathology of Motivation and Choice (Volkow, Goldstein)
• The Debate about Addiction’s Definition as a Disease

II. Recent Advances in the Pathophysiology of Addiction

• Epigenetics: a new understanding of heritability of addiction & recovery
  • The Overkalix Study and transgenerational trauma transmission
  • Nicotine primes cocaine use (Kandel and Kandel)
• Psychoneuroimmunology: the Gut-Brain-Immune Loop
  • Inflammation and Psychiatric Disorders
  • The Role of Microglia in brain disease and repair
• Implications for the Disease Argument

III. Recovery Management: a Safety-based approach to sobriety

• Altering Health Disparities by Improving the Social Determinants of Health
• Professional Health Programs: What Makes a Good Aftercare Plan
  • Treatment and “Recovery Literacy”
  • Recovery Management Check-Ups
    • Active Linkage to Recovery-Oriented System of Care (ROSC)
  • Recovery Residences
  • Peer-based Sobriety Support (Kelly, Kaskutas)
  • Relapse Safety Planning
  • Urine Drug Testing (Monitoring)
  • Vocational Rehabilitation and The Collegiate Recovery Movement
  • Addiction Medicine Specialists
  • How Recovery Management informs Medication-Assisted Treatment
  • “Hedonic Rehabilitation”

Faculty

The Meadows

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Kevin McCauley, MD is a Senior Fellow at Meadows Behavioral Healthcare. He first became interested in the treatment of substance use disorders while serving as a Naval Flight Surgeon where he observed the US Navy’s policy of treating addiction as a safety (not a moral) issue, returning treated pilots to flight status under careful monitoring. Dr. McCauley wrote and directed two films: Memo to Self, exploring the concepts of recovery management, and Pleasure Unwoven, on neuroscience of addiction. He won the 2010 Michael Q. Ford Award for Journalism from the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers.

As a person in long-term recovery himself, Dr. McCauley is grateful for the many benefits he received to establish his sobriety and strives to make sure that people have access to the same benefits and opportunities. He is committed to understanding how addiction plays out in the lives of people from diverse races and different cultures, genders, and orientations, and hearing their unique perspectives of recovery. Although addiction can be a debilitating disease personally and spiritually, Dr. McCauley joins with his colleagues to treat people seeking sobriety with respect, preserve their dignity, and accompany them as they find their own path into recovery.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Kevin McCauley is director of program services at New Roads Treatment Center. He is the co-founder of the Institute for Addiction Study. Dr. McCauley receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc.
Non-financial: Kevin McCauley is no relevant nonfinancial relationship to disclose.