Anxiety and Substance Use Disorders
In this webinar, Petros Levounis, MD, MA, will highlight the management of anxiety disorders in the context of substance use. Assessment, diagnosis, and treatment options will be discussed, including SSRIs, other antidepressants, benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepine anxiolytics, and psychotherapy. The presentation will also review management approaches when anxiety symptoms do not respond to initial treatment. At the end of the presentation, clinicians should feel more confident in their ability to effectively diagnose and manage anxiety co-occurring with substance use disorders.
Objectives:
List three anxiety disorders that commonly co-occur with substance use disorders
Describe the role of SSRIs and other antidepressants in the management of anxiety disorders
Explain the appropriate use of benzodiazepines and non-benzodiazepine anxiolytics in the management of anxiety disorders
Audience:
Prescribing clinicians and their teams
Continuing Medical Education
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of the Maine Medical Education Trust and CCSME. The Maine Medical Education Trust is accredited by the Maine Medical Association Committee on Continuing Medical Education and Accreditation to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The Maine Medical Education Trust designates this regularly scheduled series for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Contact Hours
1 contact hour for social workers, licensed clinical professional counselors, and behavioral health professionals
1 Category I contact hour for psychologists are provided. CCSME is a pre-approved sponsor and provider of Professional Education Activities for Psychologists.
1 contact hour CHES. CCSME is a designated provider of continuing education contact hours (CECH) in health education by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc.
1 contact hour pending for alcohol and drug counselors from the board of alcohol and drug counselors
Speaker
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Petros LevounisMD, MAPetros Levounis, MD, MA, serves as professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and associate dean at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He is also the chief of service at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, director of the Northern New Jersey Medication Assisted Treatment Center of Excellence, and president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Levounis came to Rutgers from Columbia University where he served as director of the Addiction Institute of New York from 2002 to 2013.
Dr. Levounis is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University where he studied chemistry and biophysics before receiving his medical education at Stanford University School of Medicine and the Medical College of Pennsylvania. During medical school, he researched the effects of social class on patient-physician relationships in Oxford, England, and received an MA degree in sociology from Stanford. In 1994, he moved to New York City to train in psychiatry at the New York State Psychiatric Institute of Columbia University. He graduated from Columbia earning the National Institute of Mental Health Outstanding Resident Award and went on to complete his fellowship in addiction psychiatry at New York University.
Dr. Levounis has written numerous articles, monographs, and book chapters; has lectured extensively on addiction topics throughout the United States and abroad; and has been interviewed by CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, FOX, The Martha Stewart Radio Show, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, among others.
Dr. Levounis has served on the boards of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and the American Board of Addiction Medicine, and from 2005 to 2009 chaired the national Committee on Addiction Treatment of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Dr. Levounis is a Betty Ford Scholar, a recipient of the Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists’ Distinguished Service Award and the ASAM Educator of the Year Award, and a distinguished fellow of the APA and ASAM. In 2017, he was elected as an honorary member of the World Psychiatric Association.
Dr. Levounis has published fourteen books including the self-help paperback “Sober Siblings: How to Help Your Alcoholic Brother or Sister—and Not Lose Yourself,” the textbook of “Substance Dependence and Co-Occurring Psychiatric Disorders,” “Motivational Interviewing for Clinical Practice,” “The Behavioral Addictions,” “Becoming Mindful,” “LGBTQ Mental Health: The Spectrum of Gender and Sexuality,” “Office-Based Buprenorphine Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder,” now in its second edition, and “Technological Addictions.” Dr. Levounis is currently working on the first textbook of Nature Therapy, which is going to be available in 2023. His books have been translated into French, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Dr. Levounis is married to actor Lukas Hassel and lives in New York City.
