Integrative Harm Reduction Psychotherapy: The New “Addiction” Treatment Paradigm

In this course, Dr. Andrew Tatarsky (Ph.D.; Dir., Clinical Programming, Freedom Institute) cites statistics showing the incidence of Americans with substance use disorders who have either not gone to addiction treatment or who have not completed their addiction programs. Explaining the limitations of traditional abstinence-only treatment, Dr. Tatarsky instead proposes a paradigm shift to a harm reduction therapeutic regimen, whose principles and strategies he outlines, along with the seven therapeutic tasks of such an approach. He also discusses setting personally meaningful goals within the context of motivation, ambivalence, and readiness to change.