Hard Truths About Addiction | Keith Humphreys, PhD

Addiction is often misunderstood not just by the public, but also by clinicians. It challenges us as individuals, families, and communities. To understand addiction is to understand not only human behavior and neuroscience, but also social networks, public policies, and bioethics. Our guest on this episode, Keith Humphreys, PhD, is a psychologist who specializes in addiction and has served on the White House Commission on Drug Free Communities during the Bush administration, and as Senior Policy Advisor to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy during the Obama administration. His research on recovery support systems like Alcoholics Anonymous and on the opioid crisis has shaped how we understand addiction recovery.

Over the course of our conversation, Dr. Humphreys shares how he became interested in addiction medicine, what happens to our brains when we become addicted, the difficulty of balancing interventions with a respect for patient autonomy, why social networks can be powerful tools in addiction recovery, possible solutions to the opioid crisis, and how clinicians can better establish trust with patients facing addiction.

In this episode, you’ll hear about: 

2:36 - How Dr. Humphreys became interested in studying the psychology of addiction 

4:34 - The neuroscience of addiction 

9:15 - Whether addictive behavior is a matter of personal choice 

16:27 - How clinicians can address patients who do not yet recognize their addiction as a problem

21:36 - What GLP-1 inhibitors can tell us about the mechanisms of addiction 

26:07 - The benefits of peer support groups (like Alcoholics Anonymous) for addiction recovery

32:55 - Dr. Humphreys' work on drug policy 

37:32 - The rise of the opioid crisis

43:05 - Policy models to address substance abuse

48:24 - How medical professionals who are struggling with addiction can seek help 

51:25 - Dr. Humphreys' advice for clinicians on how to connect with patients who are struggling with addiction 

Dr. Keith Humphreys can be found on Twitter/X at @KeithNHumphreys.

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