Nzinga Harrison, MD, is a board-certified physician with specialties in psychiatry and addiction medicine. She is also the Chief Medical Officer and cofounder of Eleanor Health, an innovative mental health and addiction treatment company. Dr. Harrison holds an adjunct faculty appointment at the Morehouse School of Medicine and sits on the Practice Management and Regulatory Affairs Committee for the American Society of Addiction Medicine. She has written a brilliant book called Un-Addiction that walks through 6 mind-changing conversations about addiction and recovery that could save a life.

My top takeaways from this conversation and Dr Harrison's book:

• Contrary to popular belief, 75% of people with substance use disorder do recover. And one-year relapse rates for high blood pressure and asthma are the same or higher than that for addiction.
• Upholding abstinence-only as the goal path for recovery from substance use disorder is dangerous. Instead, most people with substance use disorder recover to controlled use — and it's paramount to have them set their own recovery goals.
• Up to 60% of the risk for substance use disorder is inherited. 
• "Drug use is a choice. Substance use disorder is an illness."
• "...the more we can get away from this tough love, disconnection, shameful, stigmatizing approach that we've been trained in — the more we can get to compassionate boundaries for psychological, emotional, and physical safety — the faster we can get to recovery."

Trigger warning: In this episode, we talk about substance use disorders, adverse childhood experiences and mental illness.

Transcript here. Video conversation here.  

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If you or a loved one needs help for a mental health crisis in the US, don’t hesitate to call or text 988 — or reach them online here. Find other resources here, search for a treatment facility here, and find a therapist here. Here are resources specifically for LGBTQ people. If you’re a US-based clinician or health student dealing with “any issue, not just a crisis,” reach out to the Physicians Support ...