Alcohol and Alcohol Use Disorder
Course #66564 -
- Participation Instructions
- Review the course material online or in print.
- Complete the course evaluation.
- Review your Transcript to view and print your Certificate of Completion. Your date of completion will be the date (Pacific Time) the course was electronically submitted for credit, with no exceptions. Partial credit is not available.
No substance, legal or illegal, has a more paradoxical mythology than alcohol. It is undeniably one of the most widely and safely used intoxicants in the world; however, it is also potent and dangerous, both from a psychologic and physiologic viewpoint. Alcohol is currently responsible for more deaths and personal destruction than any other known substance of abuse, with the exception of tobacco. All of this is known with scientific certainty. Alcohol is legal, easily obtained, and supported by a multi-billion-dollar worldwide industry. Alcohol consumption reduces social inhibitions and produces pleasure and a sense of well-being. It also can have some rather impressive positive medical effects, such as a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. This course will include core competencies related to alcohol use and abuse as well as knowledge, assessment, and treatment-based competencies.
- INTRODUCTION
- HISTORY
- CURRENT ESTIMATES OF ALCOHOL USE
- BENEFITS
- RISK AND PROTECTIVE FACTORS
- ALCOHOL USE DISORDER
- COMPLICATIONS
- OTHER PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS ASSOCIATED WITH ALCOHOL USE DISORDERS
- DETECTING ALCOHOL USE DISORDERS
- BRIEF INTERVENTION
- TREATMENT
- CONCLUSION
- RESOURCES
- Works Cited
- Evidence-Based Practice Recommendations Citations
This intermediate course is designed for psychologists involved in the treatment or care of patients who consume alcohol.
The purpose of this course is to address the ongoing alcohol competency educational needs of practicing psychologists. The material will include core competencies as well as knowledge, assessment, and treatment-based competencies.
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Review facts about the history, costs, and prevalence of alcohol use and abuse.
- Define moderate drinking and take a history of alcohol use as defined by the standard drink equivalency.
- Identify benefits reported in the literature for moderate alcohol consumption.
- Distinguish between genetic and environmental risk and protective factors for developing alcohol problems.
- Describe clinical characteristics of alcohol use disorder, intoxication, and withdrawal.
- List complications associated with alcohol use disorders.
- Recognize mental health diagnoses associated with alcohol use disorders.
- Discuss screening instruments for detecting alcohol use disorders, including considerations for non-English-proficient patients.
- Explain brief intervention efficacy and techniques.
- Describe and evaluate treatment modalities.
Mark S. Gold, MD, DFASAM, DLFAPA, is a teacher of the year, translational researcher, author, mentor, and inventor best known for his work on the brain systems underlying the effects of opiate drugs, cocaine, and food. Dr. Gold was a Professor, Eminent Scholar, Distinguished Professor, Distinguished Alumni Professor, Chairman, and Emeritus Eminent Scholar during his 25 years at the University of Florida. He was a Founding Director of the McKnight Brain Institute and a pioneering neuroscience-addiction researcher funded by the NIH-NIDA-Pharma, whose work helped to de-stigmatize addictions and mainstream addiction education and treatment. He also developed and taught courses and training programs at the University of Florida for undergraduates and medical students.
He is an author and inventor who has published more than 1,000 peer-reviewed scientific articles, 20 text books, popular-general audience books, and physician practice guidelines. Dr. Gold was co-inventor of the use of clonidine in opioid withdrawal and the dopamine hypothesis for cocaine addiction and anhedonia. Both revolutionized how neuroscientists and physicians thought about drugs of abuse, addiction, and the brain. He pioneered the use of clonidine and lofexidine, which became the first non-opioid medication-assisted therapies. His first academic appointment was at Yale University School of Medicine in 1978. Working with Dr. Herb Kleber, he advanced his noradrenergic hyperactivity theory of opioid withdrawal and the use of clonidine and lofexidine to ameliorate these signs and symptoms. During this time, Dr. Gold and Dr. Kleber also worked on rapid detoxification with naloxone and induction on to naltrexone.
Dr. Gold has been awarded many state and national awards for research and service over his long career. He has been awarded major national awards for his neuroscience research including the annual Foundations Fund Prize for the most important research in Psychiatry, the DEA 30 Years of Service Pin (2014), the American Foundation for Addiction Research’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2014), the McGovern Award for Lifetime Achievement (2015) for the most important contributions to the understanding and treatment of addiction, the National Leadership Award (NAATP) from addiction treatment providers for helping understand that addiction is a disease of the brain, the DARE Lifetime Achievement Award for volunteer and prevention efforts, the Silver Anvil from the PR Society of America for anti-drug prevention ads, the PRIDE and DARE awards for his career in research and prevention (2015), and the PATH Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2016) as one of the “fathers” of addiction medicine and MAT presented to him by President Obama’s White House Drug Czar Michael Botticelli. He was awarded Distinguished Alumni Awards at Yale University, the University of Florida, and Washington University and the Wall of Fame at the University of Florida College of Medicine. Gold was appointed by the University President to two terms as the University’s overall Distinguished Professor, allowing him to mentor students and faculty from every college and institute. The University of Florida College of Medicine’s White Coat Ceremony for new medical students is named in his honor.
Since his retirement as a full-time academic in 2014, Dr. Gold has continued his teaching, mentoring, research, and writing as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University and an active member of the Clinical Council at the Washington University School of Medicine’s Public Health Institute. He regularly lectures at medical schools and grand rounds around the country and at international and national scientific meetings on his career and on bench-to-bedside science in eating disorders, psychiatry, obesity, and addictions. He continues on the Faculty at the University of Florida College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry as an Emeritus Distinguished Professor. He has traveled extensively to help many states develop prevention, education, and treatment approaches to the opioid crisis.
Contributing faculty, Mark S. Gold, MD, DFASAM, DLFAPA, has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Margaret Donohue, PhD
The division planner has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Sarah Campbell
The Director of Development and Academic Affairs has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
The purpose of NetCE is to provide challenging curricula to assist healthcare professionals to raise their levels of expertise while fulfilling their continuing education requirements, thereby improving the quality of healthcare.
Our contributing faculty members have taken care to ensure that the information and recommendations are accurate and compatible with the standards generally accepted at the time of publication. The publisher disclaims any liability, loss or damage incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents. Participants are cautioned about the potential risk of using limited knowledge when integrating new techniques into practice.
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The role of implicit biases on healthcare outcomes has become a concern, as there is some evidence that implicit biases contribute to health disparities, professionals' attitudes toward and interactions with patients, quality of care, diagnoses, and treatment decisions. This may produce differences in help-seeking, diagnoses, and ultimately treatments and interventions. Implicit biases may also unwittingly produce professional behaviors, attitudes, and interactions that reduce patients' trust and comfort with their provider, leading to earlier termination of visits and/or reduced adherence and follow-up. Disadvantaged groups are marginalized in the healthcare system and vulnerable on multiple levels; health professionals' implicit biases can further exacerbate these existing disadvantages.
Interventions or strategies designed to reduce implicit bias may be categorized as change-based or control-based. Change-based interventions focus on reducing or changing cognitive associations underlying implicit biases. These interventions might include challenging stereotypes. Conversely, control-based interventions involve reducing the effects of the implicit bias on the individual's behaviors. These strategies include increasing awareness of biased thoughts and responses. The two types of interventions are not mutually exclusive and may be used synergistically.