Episode 54 - Abigail Batchelder, PhD, MPH, on the critical impact of stigma reduction on decreasing barriers to mental health treatment for those battling substance use disorders

Abigail Batchelder, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Director of Behavioral Medicine Program for Stigma and Substance Use Research and Assistant Professor in Psychology, Harvard Medical School, as well as the Director of the Substance Use Scientific Working Group, at Harvard University's Center for AIDS Research.

What grabbed my attention of the research article, The shame spiral of addiction: Negative self-conscious emotion and substance use, was the succinct conclusion of, "Shame and guilt are barriers to reducing stimulant use, and expanded efforts are needed to mitigate the deleterious effects of these self-conscious emotions in recovery from a stimulant use disorder." This is what so many of us learn in the Recovery process and, as relayed in the podcast, is cited so many times in our 12 Step mantras: reduce the shame to increase your progress towards healing.

I listen to Abby and have hope that the system we've built to react to substance use disorders can instead shift towards addressing the root cause of so many addiction challenges we face in our world today: mental health. Thank you for listening.

1:40 - Introduction to Abby, her work as a Harvard Researcher and her role at Massachusetts's General Hospital
2:30 - Abby's CAFLIN Distinguished Scholar Award
4:00 - Shame and the impact on Recovery
5:15 - Strategies for bringing evidenced based mental health care to people who have limited access
5:30 - The convoluted misconception that one has to deal with substance use disorder prior to obtaining mental health support (both can be addressed conjointly), and the danger of not intervening with both strategies (harm reduction).
8:00 - The impact of self-compassion during intervention and Project Matter
9:00 - Bringing concepts of intervention to the population, based on self compassion, to mitigate, 'When I feel bad about myself, I use more.'
12:15 - Gathering patterns from the communities Abby serves
16:45 - Shame's manifestation and the impact of self-compassion
17:15 - The complexity of addiction and recovery, how external shame impacts that complexity, and leaning towards humanizing addiction to facilitate recovery
18:15 - Othering
23:15 - Abby's Portfolio of study and community engagement
25:45 - The Trail of Truth
26:45 -  How Abby's lab is on the front line of the addiction community
31:45 - The type of interventions Abby is focused on creating that fit with the community Abby and her colleagues serve

Thank you for listening and please visit www.siblinghoodofrecovery.com for free resources, links to organizations, groups and individuals who can offer help in the Journey of Recovery towards healing from substance use disorders. If you like this Podcast, please leave a rating on wherever you're listening. It will help to get the word out.

If there is one message I can leave you with, the best you can offer your loved one battling addiction is love and a healthier you.

Walk gently, my friend.