The Addiction Psychiatrist as Dual Diagnosis Physician: A Profession in Great Need and Greatly Needed

Abstract

Addiction is the number one cause of premature illness and death in the U.S., especially among people with mental illness. Yet American medicine lacks sufficient workforce capacity, expertise, training, infrastructure, and research to support treatment for people with co-occurring addictions and mental illness. This essay argues that the addiction psychiatrist is essential in dual diagnosis care.

Keywords:

• addiction psychiatry
• physician workforce shortages
• public health crisis

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Support for the time required for researching and authoring this manuscript was provided by NIAAA-R01-AA020396 (E. A. Engleman, PI), on which the author is a co-investigator, and the Indiana University Department of Psychiatry. The author would like to thank Dr. E. A. Engleman and J. E. Chambers for their constructive input on this manuscript.