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Description:
This talk will provide an overview of the addiction relapse process, how addiction is particularly difficult to treat because of the relapse cycle, and how mindfulness skills may be used to increase awareness of triggers and automatic reactions in the service of reducing the risk of addictive behavior relapse. Dr. Witkiewitz will provide a review of outcomes from randomized clinical trials of mindfulness-based relapse prevention and will describe her ongoing work using adaptations of mindfulness-based interventions to increase dissemination and implementation in community settings. The talk will also discuss the importance of precision medicine in the treatment of addiction and how treating addiction is critical for public health and prevention.
About the Presenter:
Dr. Katie Witkiewitz is a Regents’ Professor of Psychology at the University of New Mexico with a joint appointment at the Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions. She is a licensed clinical psychologist and has worked extensively on the development of a theoretical model of biopsychosocial influences on substance use relapse. She has been conducting research on mindfulness-based interventions for addiction since 2002 and has recently been working in the clinic to adapt mindfulness-based interventions for real-world settings, including adaptations to the number of sessions and how the treatment is delivered. She has conducted numerous empirical studies on the efficacy and effectiveness of mindfulness-based relapse prevention as a treatment for substance use disorders, prediction of relapse following treatment for alcohol and drug use disorders, and mechanisms of successful treatment outcomes following mindfulness-based interventions to prevent alcohol and drug use relapse. To date, Dr. Witkiewitz has authored 5 books and over 190 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, and she has given over 75 presentations and invited talks. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Institute on Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, totaling over $22 million in research funding since 2004.
