Lloyd Sederer, M.D.: A Leader In Public Health Discusses The Future Of Addiction Treatment

Lloyd Sederer, M.D., is currently an adjunct professor at the Columbia University School of Public Health. He has won many top awards in the field of psychiatry, and he has served as a leader in the field of public health in New York for the past two decades. In the 90s, Dr. Sederer was the chief psychiatrist at McLean hospital, the psychiatric teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School. He has published thirteen books, and he has published hundreds of articles in top medical journals and newspapers.What is the future of the treatment of addiction? According to Dr. Lloyd Sederer, the path to saving more lives from addiction going forward will involve providing better access to the tools that we already have. We already have harm reduction strategies, including the opioid overdose rescue drug, naloxone. And, we have effective medication-assisted treatments for opioid use disorder and alcohol use disorder.Our understanding of the functioning of the brain is more advanced than ever before in history. A wide variety of therapies can be applied to target various regions of the brain that are affected by addiction. In addition to existing medications and therapies, there are also new medical treatments on the horizon, including the drug, psilocybin. With psilocybin, an existing, ancient form of medical therapy is being brought up to date with current medical science. Safe, synthetic forms of the drug have been studied in major research centers with promising results.Just as important as therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, and contingency management, and medications, such as methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone, are the forming of relationships to promote abstinence and recovery.Dr. Sederer believes that, to be successful in helping people to recover from active addiction, we must meet them where they are and understand why they are using drugs or alcohol. Drugs serve a purpose for people who use them and it is important to start from there and work towards helping them find healthy replacements for drugs when they are ready.In our talk, Dr. Sederer and I discuss two of his recent books. We talk about “Ink-Stained for Life” and “The Addiction Solution.” Both books are fascinating and I highly recommend them to my audience.“Ink-Stained for Life” is a collection of fourteen stories and essays relating Dr. Sederer’s early life as a child in The Bronx to his adult life and the present, in 2020. The book demonstrates the improbable nature of the path from living as a child, on the streets of New York City, to being a leader in public health in the State of New York. The book shares Dr. Sederer’s philosophies on life with discussions about topics such as intelligence and genius, wealth and struggling in the middle class, Judaism and being Jewish without living as an observant Jew, living in New York City, being the leader of a world-class psychiatric hospital, working in the world of public health in New York City and New York State, addiction treatment and much more.Please visit Dr. Sederer here: https://www.askdrlloyd.com/Please visit our podcast website here: https://therehab.com/And Dr. Leeds’ website here: https://drleeds.com.Thank you!