Dr. Debra Barnett, Coalition Recovery’s 4x Board Certified Psychiatrist, talks to ABC News about her work for Coalition Recovery and the importance Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) has on success rates in substance abuse treatment.
Medication-Assisted Treatment has been proven to increase retention rates for individuals in treatment. Retention rates are also a direct relation to success as the longer a person stays in treatment, the better their chances for success. Dr. Barnett talks about two types of medications, one for alcohol and another for opioids as these are two very common substance use disorders today.
Unfortunately, because MAT is relatively new (within the last 20 years), many treatment centers have not adopted utilizing medication while in treatment despite its impact and benefit towards people in treatment. There tends to be a stigma that it is replacing one drug with another but this is simply not true. The drugs prescribed during MAT are heavily regulated and have an extremely low capacity for abuse. In fact, studies show a substantial amount of people end up in recovery than abuse drugs while on MAT. When such an amazing and effective tool is at our disposal with very little side effects, it would be foolish not to use it.
Dr. Debra Barnett, who has been awarded the practitioner of the year (2018) by the Florida psychiatric board, will be returning to Tampa’s ABC’s Morning Blend to talk with Natalie further about how Coalition Recovery is utilizing the latest advancements in addiction medicine.
