Why should an acupuncturist want to attend this symposium? Here are the reasons and objectives for each presentation!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
8-8:15am Welcome and Introductions by Allen Green, Chair
During his introductory remarks, Allen Green will establish the perimeters of this unique symposium, explaining what makes it different from other meetings about acupuncture and nutrition, and even other meetings about addiction. Professionals in Asian medicine who have worked in addiction will understand that here they will be introduced to a broadening of their experience, and those who have never worked in addiction will be introduced to the aspects that make it different than their more usual middle class self-motivated patient population.
Upon completion participants will be able to:
Recognize the paradigm under which this symposium was created making it different than others they have attended based on pharmaceutical or psychoanalytical models of treatment.
Name at least two presenters whose books and videotapes will offer further information to assist in brain repair of clients currently seen by the participant.
Session 1
8:15-9:40am Learning to Live Gracefully in the Moment: the Process of Recovery by Cardwell C. Nuckols, PhD
We launch the symposium with a theoretical overview by one of the addiction medicine's most respected presenters. Nuckols is the author of numerous popular texts distributed by Hazelden, the country's premier addiction publishing house. He speaks at over fifty different conferences yearly across the United States. At this conference, Nuckols will be presenting the psychosocial dimensions of work in the field of addiction. Any acupuncturist and care giver who has worked with qi will be attentive to the discussion of quantum physics, the connection of spirituality and healing, and the links between intention and effect. In a holistic model such as we employ in Asian medicine, this first lecture sets the stage for the hands-on work to follow.
Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to:
Discuss models of “upward” and “downward” causation.
Discuss the role of integration as it relates to transcendence.
Discuss the quantum physics phenomenon called “non locality”.
Discuss “the moment” as a spiritual phenomenon.
Session 1 continued
10-11:20am Nutritional Medicine for Addiction Treatment by Joan Mathews- Larson, PhD
Dr. Larson's presentation addresses the heart of this symposium, the use of targeted nutrition to alter brain chemistry. From Day One in acupuncture college we are taught to attend to the underlying need of the organism: is the fire true fire or false yang, indicating in reality deficient yin? When a client is exhibiting what appears as simple addictive behaviors, what could be the underlying cellular malnourishment that might be fueling the dysfunctional behavior? Since a Gallup Poll last August indicated one in five Americans has someone close and dear suffering from addiction, hardly a day will pass for a busy acupuncturist without talking to a patient who needs at the very least an acupuncturist who has a working knowledge of the field, if only for an intelligent referral. For those who are actually interested in the mind-body connection of Asian medicine and addiction, a working knowledge of the nutritional link is imperative. Dr. Larson will present practical information for practitioners wanting to support patient recovery with holistic nutrition.
Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to:
Name the two common denominators in alcohol/drug addiction: depression and anxiety.
Recognize the mode of action of antidepressant drugs on the brain involves halting normal reuptake of serotonin.
Discuss at least one pro and con of using psychiatric drugs to treat serotonin deficiency.
Name at least one common biochemical blueprint revealed in lab reports that is easily correctable with targeted nutrient therapy.
Session 1 continued
11:20AM-12:40PM Acupuncture for Addiction Treatment: Healing Through Relationship, Not Action by Michael Smith, MD
The third keynote speaker is the father of the five point acupuncture protocol used by addiction specialists worldwide. He started using ear points in the mid 1970s in his recovery program in the South Bronx, New York, and has brought Asian medicine treatment to Saudi Arabia, the Himalayas, Brazil, Australia, and everywhere in between. While Dr. Nuckols used a psychological perspective on the qi that is deficient and needs stimulation within addicts, Dr. Smith speaks to the core relationship between the addict and his/her soul; one which is linked and magnified through acupuncture needling. One doesn't have to be addicted to street drugs to benefit from acudetox, as anyone who can't stop eating cookies til the bag is empty, finishing the last quarter inch of their cigarette, or driving into the parking lot of at least one Starbucks a day will quickly discover. What Smith emphasizes is that healing is between the addict and him or herself, since there is no substance inside the needle. He allows the experience of acupuncture to teach addicts what power lies within them.
Upon completion of this training, participants will be able to:
Name four benefits of acupuncture in the treatment of addiction including but not limited to it's nonverbal; non-threatening; immediately calming; cost effective; useful to pregnant women, non-English speakers, resistant mandated clients, and clients in pain; useful even when the client is still using; and treats in one room at one time any drug of choice.
Describe acupuncture as the insertion of fine stainless steel needles of varying lengths and thicknesses into the body in predefined sites for the purpose of tension release, immune stimulation, and initiation of healing on a deep level.
Describe the location of acupuncture in most acudetox programs as being in the ears.
Recognize the benefit of acudetox therapy as its nonverbal receptive nature, allowing a feeling of something positive happening that is initiated from inside the client him/herself, rather than swallowed or injected.
Understand acupuncture to be adjunctive and supportive of counseling, 12 Step, and other psychosocial interventions.
Session 2 Breakaway
2-3:15pm Crime and Addiction: Simple Nutritional Changes, Major Successes by Barbara Reed Stitt, PhD
In the 1970's Barbara Reed was a probation officer who was sick and miserable, perhaps even dying, from a multitude of maladies. She changed her food, daily habits, and stress level and saved her life. Then she started on the lives of her probationers and was a featured guest on numerous talk shows and the subject of newspaper and magazine stories, because nutritional changes clearly changed the behavior of her offenders. In recent years she performed the same magic in the Appleton, Wisconsin school district, turning around the academic lives of high schoolers by simply changing their daily food fare. An acupuncturist and herbalist who wants to work in the field of addiction needs to know how the simplest lifestyle changes which are bread and butter to any holistic approach to living, and written large in the many ancient texts from China that detail a well balanced daily life, can make radical differences in the lives of patients and their families in modern day America.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Identify corn syrup particularly and sugar in general as a primary addictive substance.
Identify hypoglycemia, low blood sugar, as a factor in the mood swings, violent over-reactions, and depression of many criminals.
Identify heavy metal toxicity as a possible factor in behavior abnormalities and blood sugar imbalances.
Identify allergies as a factor in the maintenance of the criminal mind as well as poor school performance.
Session 3 Breakaway
2-3:15pm Outcomes of Acupuncture Addiction Treatment Worldwide by Michael Smith, MD
Smith is back for his second speech, this time outlining the reach of Chinese medicine across the world, detailing the benefits of acupuncture in drug treatment programs in the South Pacific, Caribbean, Middle East, Far East, South and Central America, and Europe. It's good to know that acupuncture for addiction isn't culturally specific, but can be just as successful along a dirt road in Pakistan as in a fashionable London clinic.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Define NADA (National Acupuncture Detoxification Association)
List at least two of NADA's core principles, including treatment on demand, treatment by trained Acupuncture Detox Specialists who may or may not be licensed acupuncturists, and treatment without personality of the acupuncturist being imposed on the treatment site, allowing the needles themselves to work the change in clients.
Discuss the barriers to treatment in at least two foreign countries and how treatment availability was improved by the introduction of acupuncture.
Recognize how prisons in England have integrated acupuncture into their treatment structure.
Session 4 Breakaway
2-3:15pm Tai Chi/Qi Gong: How Moving Meditations Prevent Relapse by Frank Gaviola, BA, 6th Dan
Frank Gaviola has been teaching tai chi at the Sacramento County Probation Department's Drug Court for several years. Concurrently he teaches tai chi and karate at local junior colleges, after being a world champion in his younger years. He has devoted the greater portion of his adult life to Asian martial arts, as sport, as defense, and as self-development. In recent years, scientific studies are proving the health benefits of tai chi, both in conjunction with conventional Western medicine as well as in lieu of it. A serious professional in the field of Asian medicine is expected to know the breadth of the field, even if that professional would rather sit at the computer and do research than actually "find stillness within movement." However, in the field of addiction, knowledge of the benefit of the martial arts is especially important, as it can be a passage way for a queasy administrator who isn't ready for needles, but understands that addicts desperately need the coordination of upper and lower body parts, movement and stillness present as one, and connecting of mind and energy that are core principles of this beautiful and increasingly accepted form of healing exercise.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Define the meaning of the Chinese word "chi" or "qi" as energy or the dynamic power of life.
Discuss the primary impact on the adrenal-hypothalamic-pituitary axis of meditation.
Discuss the primary impact on the adrenal-hypothalamic-pituitary axis of movement.
Remember in their mind and in their body kinesthetically a simple yet reliably stress-relieving movement of the hands accompanying a stable, flexible placement of the feet.
Session 5 Breakaway
3:15-4:30pm The Tully Hill Hospital Breakthrough: Developing a Successful Integrated In-Patient Addiction Treatment Program by Charles Gant, MD, PHD, NMD
This session will present the results of Dr. Charles Gant’s efforts in developing an in-patient treatment program which successfully combines nutritional protocols with more conventional addiction treatment. Dr. Gant will share details of the program, how he developed it, and what nutritional interventions are used. He will also report on the study performed by an outside evaluator showing this treatment to be highly effective even two years after graduation. As nutrition is well within the scope of practice of acupuncturists, this information is useful and valuable to practitioners working with addicted populations on their own or in an institutional setting as it allows the Asian medicine specialists to stay within their scope of practice and still bring more a holistic approach into traditional treatment programs.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Recall the fact a JCAH-approved 56-bed drug/alcohol detox and rehab facility in New York introduced amino acids, vitamins, and minerals into their daily treatment regimen.
Remember that an independent outside evaluator found more than 80 percent of Tully Hill patients who kept taking their nutrients remained drug and alcohol-free two years after completing treatment.
Discuss the "four myths about compulsive substance use" that include lack of will power, drugs/alcohol as the main cause of addiction, users as victims of a disease treatable by pharmaceuticals like pneumonia is treated by antibiotics, and constant struggle is a necessary part of ongoing recovery.
Name at least two institutionalized barriers to applying scientific knowledge of brain chemistry and nutrient-based brain repair to existing treatment programs and recognize at least two potential successful methods to overcome these barriers.
Session 6 Breakaway
3:15-4:30pm Needle-Free Acupuncture: Ear Seeds & Magnets by Lianne Audette, LAc
Lianne Audette is a California licensed acupuncturist and NADA trainer, who has taught dozens of acupuncturists how to help their clients, whether those clients are addicts or not, to feel greater peace of mind and the sense of self-reliance which comes from experiencing acupressure. Ear acupressure is a tool for busy acupuncturists who need a fast rebalancing themselves. It is a tool for anxiety-ridden addicts who need something to do for themselves besides pop a pill during the hours they are away from their program site. It is a way for clients to receive the benefit of acupuncture even if they are initially too afraid of needles to receive a full treatment. It is a way for professionals to effectively treat babies and children for emotional and physical ailments. It also teaches both patients and their caregivers a technique that empowers them in the days between visits to the acupuncturist.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Repeat in general terms the place of ear seeds in the history of acupuncture in America.
Recall the location of the "Shenmen", "Kidney", "Lung", "Liver", and "Brain Stem" sites on any ear.
Choose according to need the Vaccariae seed or a gold or silver magnet to use on the ear.
Teach a colleague or client how to clean an ear and apply seeds or magnets to the acu-sites.
Differentiate when not to use a seed or magnet and when their use could be beneficial for symptoms of ADD/ADHD, stress, or drug withdrawal.
Session 7
3:15-4:30pm Tapping Away Emotional Distress at Drug Court by Brad Yates, CHt
Acupressure has become the people's healing modality in recent years, creating interest in Asian medicine among people who otherwise would not have ever had the experience of needles or herbs. One vehicle for that interest has been the easy accessibility of techniques such as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), a convenient and quickly successful form of acupressure tapping accompanied by consciously focused attention on emotional and physical triggers of disease and discomfort. The acupressure helps the body rebalance the qi even in the face of previous triggers of energy blockage. The speed of relief helps convince even the most dedicated acupuncture-phobe that something about energy medicine does indeed work.
From the perspective of the professional in the field of Asian medicine, in a society where the number one prescribed drug is Vicodin, a highly addictive narcotic, acupuncturists with an eye to responding to the needs of the society in which they practice will welcome continuing education that helps them offer their pain patients a way to help themselves in the days or weeks between acupuncture visits. Once the patient has experienced acupuncture, learning the EFT routine is a comfortable extension of the same energy pathway theory. Tapping the points is a way for children and babies to receive treatment from the loving hands of their guardians and parents. Even four year olds have been known to tap on the acupressure points and relieve itching, pain, or other discomforts.
For acupuncturists who are not interested in doing the EFT process themselves, it is still valuable for them to at least become familiar with it, as more and more highly regarded doctors such as Christiane Northrup and Joseph Mercola enthusiastsically recommend it. And for the professionals in Asian medicine who are working in drug treatment programs, EFT is a quick and satisfying method to reach the hard-to-reach uncommunicative sufferer of PTSD, be it a vet with war memories or a woman with a long history of abuse behind her.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Discuss the identification of "energy medicine" by the National Institutes of Health as a system of care based on the supposition that emotional and physical distress are the results of disturbances in the body's electromagnetic energy field.
Identify a personal problem on a "subjective units of distress" scale and at least once have experienced the reduction in intensity of that problem after following the EFT protocol.
Explain how the thwarting of limbic hyperarousal is connected to extinguishing conditioned responses by Emotional Freedom Technique's tapping on acupressure points.
Identify the points on the upper body that are tapped when applying EFT to shift targeted emotional response patterns.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Session 8
7-8am Qi Gong Exercise by Bradley Gilbert, MMQ
Brad Gilbert is a Master of Medical Qi Gong who began his studies in acupuncture at the Five Branches Institute in Santa Cruz, California. He has produced a videotape on qi gong and has taught the subject in the Greater Sacramento Area to the general public, and specifically to the clients at the Sacramento County Probation Department's Drug Court, for the past several years.
Since scientific studies in America, Europe, and China have proven the physical and psychological benefits of qi gong, including shorter hospitalization, reduced use of asthma drugs, reduced hypertension, improved sense of wellbeing, and improved immune system function, even professionals in the field of Asian medicine who aren't interested in the usefulness of qi gong in an addictions program will find a lecture and demonstration on qi gong exercise of benefit individually and professionally.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Define the name "qi gong" and recognize it as a form of Chinese healing arts.
Remember at least one anecdote from Drug Court revealing client experiences using qi gong as a method of stress reduction.
Reproduce at least one three-move sequence that provides an experience of the therapeutic benefit of qi gong exercise.
Name three benefits of qi gong exercise on the mental and physical health of clients in drug treatment programs, including reducing high blood pressure, reduced use of asthma medication, shorter duration of hospitalization, enhancing immune system response, and measurable reduction of drug dosages.
Session 9
8-9am The Neurobiology of Addiction: Genomics and Reward Deficiency Syndrome by Kenneth Blum, PhD
It is well accepted among acupuncturists that their needles stimulate release of the neurotransmitters endorphin and enkephalin, but what does this really mean? How many acupuncturists are familiar with the term meso-limbic structures, or even the other neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin with might also be influenced by their needle insertions?
Ken Blum is a pharmacogeneticist who coined the expression Reward Deficiency Syndrome and was a chief investigator on a team which was one of the first to identify a genetic basis for alcoholism. Blum's work is a synthesis of brain repair research and allows the nonscientist to understand the connections between impulsive, compulsive, and addictive behaviors. In Blum's lively lectures, the most up to date neurochemical and genetic discoveries become understandable and applicable to everyday life. In fact, he explains the exact nutrients that influence the production of dopamine, the brain's major reward biochemical, and how anyone can make choices of food and supplements to influence behavior and thinking. An acupuncturist who is used to influencing behavior and thinking with herbs and nutrition from a Chinese perspective will find the Blum lecture a validation of yin-yang theory and a fascinating exposure to the most current reseearch in how the brain functions and how malnutrition and maladaptation coupled with drug use can damage nature's finest invention.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Identify the term Reward Deficiency Syndrome as an umbrella designation for the biochemical cause of impulsive, compulsive, addictive behaviors as it relates to neurotransmitter deficiency.
Describe why the drug seeking behavior of individuals with neurotransmitter-deficient brain cells in the meso-limbic system is qualitatively different and needs different intervention from the drug seeking of individuals who are good candidates for motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy and other conventional talk-based treatments.
Discuss what Blum means by DNA mediated polymorphism and the relationship between the DrD2 gene and Reward Deficiency Syndrome.
Identify at least two easily obtainable natural substances that can promote the synthesis of serotonin and dopamine and reduce the destruction of dopamine.
Session 10 Breakaway
9:40-10:45am The Prefrontal Cortices: Pursuing Pleasure While Staying Within the Rules of Society by Cardwell C. Nuckols, PhD
Nuckols brings the scientific discoveries of brain function to bear on addiction treatment. What are we influencing when we treat the prefrontal cortices with our needles and energy medicine techniques? And how do these brain parts play into the whole picture of psychosocial conditioning? As professionals who intend for our patients to feel better physically and emotionally, we need to know where those emotions are banked inside and how our social fabric holds them in check, so as better to return conscious control to the owner and conscious control to the healer we expect ourselves to be.
Upon completion of this course participants will be able to:
Describe the functions of the three prefrontal cortices.
Discuss the impact of trauma and/or early alcohol/drug use on these crucial areas of the brain.
Discuss how the therapeutic relationship, working thru “therapeutic ruptures”, and other positive connections can facilitate “growing up.”
Session 11 Breakaway
9:40-10:45 Needling Dual Diagnosis Patients (Including the Smokers) by Elizabeth Stuyt, MD
Libby Stuyt is a psychiatrist who inserts ear needles in her patients in an in-patient mental health and addictions treatment program in Colorado. She insists her patients stop smoking, which is already unique among treatment providers. She adamantly supports and advocates her patients receiving acupuncture.
When acupuncturists decide to propose a treatment program in their local addictions treatment facility, it would help them in their pitch to have heard and taken notes on how Dr. Stuyt convinced her superiors to accept acupuncture and smoking cessation in their publicly financed state supported institution.
Upon completion of this course participants will be able to:
Describe at least two studies of the benefits of acupuncture in mental health treatment.
Describe at least two psychiatric diagnoses that this presenter has seen treated with acupuncture with good results.
Name at least three conditions or emotions that are helped by acupuncture, including excessive stress, insomnia, anger, pain, anxiety, and lack of a sense of wellbeing.
Describe the benefit this presenter has found in treating cigarette smoking within the context of a 90-day inpatient dual diagnosis treatment program.
Session 12 Breakaway
9:40-10:45am EMDR: Integrating Hemispheres in Addiction and PTSD Treatment by Nancy J. Smyth, PhD
Smyth is Dean of the School of Social Work and a professor in the social work department at the University at Buffalo, NY. She is also an associate research scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions in Buffalo. She has used Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) for a number of years in her specialty of treating coexisting psychiatric and substance abuse disorders. She has found it a useful tool to help clients integrate the two hemispheres of the brain in a way that allows relief and release from trauma-induced anxiety disorders. The acupuncturists who listen to her lecture on EMDR will learn the link between downregulation of limbic sensitivity and improved cortical function, which is also a goal of the acupuncturist treating severely distressed individuals in a private practice as well as an addictions setting.
In today's urban environment, stress, distress, chronic abuse in childhood, domestic violence, and the anxiety of financial insecurity are so intertwined with pain syndromes that it would be difficult indeed to find a working professional in the field of Asian medicine who didn't have a need for more knowledge about pharmaceutical-free, neurologically-based treatments of pain and emotional distress. Even if individual acupuncturists do not use EMDR in their own practice, understanding the mechanism of action of this treatment will help them more fully understand what works in a clinical setting and why. In the case of an acupuncturist who is working in an addictions treatment program, knowing the spectrum of possibilities for collaboration will help that acupuncturist truly be an integral part of the clinical team.
Upon completion of this course participants will be able to:
Identify the amygdala and limbic system as a mediator of response to traumatic events and thoughts.
Name the core aspects of an EMDR session with a client.
Recognize the link using EMDR between the down regulation of limbic sensitivity and facilitated integration of higher cortical function in cases of PTSD.
In cases of addiction, name at least two situations where EMDR might work better than conventional psychotherapy.
Session 13 Breakaway
11:15am-12:30pm Substitute Addictions to Coffee, Sugar, and Tobacco: Eliminating the Top Causes of Relapse and Death in Recovery by Julia Ross, MA, MFT
CARA, the sponsoring organization for this symposium, has hired Julia Ross to give two in-services to our acupuncture staff over the past few years, and hosted a workshop of hers alone in which we gave CEUs through the California State Acupuncture Board in 2004. She is one of the most prominent of clinicians integrating acupuncture and nutrition. She runs a day treatment program, Recovery Systems in Mill Valley, California. The paperback version of her bestselling The Mood Cure informs our acupuncture staff what supplements they ought to be giving the clients at Drug Court, and what contraindications to look for. In this lecture Ross will clarify for the non-nutritionist how brain chemistry is influenced by neurotransmitter receptor sites and how these common addictive substances are involved as "gateway drugs" to heavier drugs such as marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin. Any acupuncturist who has patients coming in for stopping smoking, or weight loss, or anxiety disorders, will want to hear this lecture. And, any acupuncturist who works in a substance abuse treatment setting will find immediate applicability of her Friday lecture come Monday morning. It won't only explain the connection of brain and drug, it will offer easy solutions in over-the-counter nutraceuticals that will satisfy the brain's demand for neurotransmitter receptor site relief, i.e. 5-HTP to satisfy the need for serotonin, L-tyrosine to satisfy the need for dopamine, DL-phenylalanine to satisfy the demand for endorphins (and to enhance the experience of acupuncture), and GABA to satisfy the need for GABA.
Upon completion of this course participants will be able to:
Recognize the neurotransmitter deficiencies involved in cravings for coffee (catecholamines), sugar (serotonin and GABA), and tobacco (both stimulatory and sedating neurotransmitters).
Discuss the core scientific explanation for coffee, sugar, and tobacco being used as substitute addictions.
Name the most commonly available over-the-counter neurotransmitter and receptor site- generating nutrients that will quickly reduce cravings for coffee, sugar, and tobacco.
Discuss the relationship between relapse and death and untreated addictions to coffee, sugar, and tobacco.
Session 14 Breakaway
11:15am-12:30pm How Cranial Electrical Stimulation (CES) Helps Vets and Native Americans Recover From PTSD and Alcoholism by Clark Inkanish, ICADC
When acupuncturists in California (my only point of reference) were trained in the days I attended SAMRA University of Health Sciences in Los Angeles, we were required to listen to lessons that described the work and scope of practice of dentists, naturopaths, podiatrists, physicians, and other health care colleagues so we would have a point of reference for referral and a base of information to speak like an educated colleague when discussing a patient being treated in common. An acupuncturist who may never in her own practice employ a cranial electrical stimulation machine ought to still be given the opportunity to learn about the science behind it, the clinical experience of drug treatment providers who swear by it, and the connection between Asian medical concepts of neurostimulation and the cross-hemisphere stimulation of the FDA-approved device. Clark Inkanish (Wichita, Cheyenne, Cadoo) had the usual disastrous recidivism in TK Wolf, Inc., his alcoholism treatment program in Tulsa, Oklahoma, until he added nutrition and the CES machine. The nutrition component will be well-described by many at this conference, but at this symposium only Inkanish is sharing his experience using the small compact machine, which is about a third the size of a typical electrical stimulator with the alligator clamps familiar to acupuncturists. The CES is a useful adjunct to pain relief treatment with needles and helps clients lose cravings for drugs when its clips are placed on the ear lobes to move its power directly into the brain.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Describe the simple scientific explanation for how electrical stimulation to the two hemispheres of the brain by attaching a probe to each earlobe of a nine volt battery-charged machine could influence cravings for drugs and alcohol and reduce feels of depression.
Discuss the psychosocial and economic barriers to integrating the small machines into daily addictions treatment programs.
Retell the early history of the use of the CES machines in mental health settings in the 20th century and the current status of the machines with the FDA.
Discuss the unique characteristics of the Native American population that makes using the CES machine particularly effective and when it should be avoided.
Discuss the unique characteristics of the veterans of Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other recent wars that make using the CES unit particularly effective and when it should be avoided.
Session 15 Breakaway
11:15am-12:30pm Rx-ercise! An Alternative Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention and Treatment Choice by Brenda Marshall, EdD
Movement is as much a part of Asian medical care as herbs and needles. Movement is inherent in tai chi, qi gong, and the panoply of martial arts that were developed in ancient days in China and elsewhere in the Far East. Movement is a rare and special adjunct treatment in substance abuse clinics, but not for want of scientific verification that movement relaxes the nervous system, reduces anxiety, improves immune function, increases self-esteem, allows a gentle reintroduction of the person to his or her own body which has been abused and ignored for so long, and allows a healthy means of coping with uncomfortable emotions such as anger and fear.
Movement is an excellent adjunct to the quiet of acupuncture treatment, and Dr. Brenda Marshall, a movement specialist, will offer a useful perspective to the acupuncturist who hasn't considered adding movement to the recommended protocols for substance abuse clinical care.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Discuss the brain-body connection especially in terms of neurotransmitters that allows exercise to become a justifiable component of any comprehensive addiction treatment program.
Recall at least two scientific papers that found physical movement enhances the work of counseling and 12 Step curricula in an addiction treatment program.
Name at least two benefits of exercise particularly for youth who are using drugs to self-medicate depression, cope with anger, and moderate feelings of low self-esteem.
Describe the shift from the typical "stages of change" progression from precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, adjustment, and maintenance to action, contemplation, preparation, adjustment, and maintenance which is a jump-start to positive, proactive change.
Session 16 Breakaway
2-3pm Intravenous-Oral Nutrient Therapy by James Braly, MD and Merlene Miller
Acupuncturists and Asian health care professionals at this lecture will learn how intravenous-oral nutrient therapy can rapidly reduce the severity of chronic abstinence symptoms, increase responsiveness of the patient to psychosocial interventions, and help prevent relapse. Clinical studies will be presented comparing the effectiveness of this combination therapy to that of treatment using oral supplementation alone. It is valuable to acupuncturists working with addicts to be familiar with and have an understanding of effective natural and complementary treatments that are being used in successful substance abuse clinics around the United States. In some cases, such as IV-oral nutrients, the adjunct treatment may be used concurrently with acupuncture treatment as is the case in programs such as Bridging the Gaps in Winchester, VA. This class will also advance acupuncturists’ understanding of nutrition as the lecturers explain the reasons for each ingredient they use in their IV and oral formulas.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Describe a scientific study comparing the end results of giving oral supplementation to giving intravenous supplements as well as oral to similar groups of addicted clients.
Discuss the physiology of the addict that lends itself to benefiting from the swift administration of nutrients through an intravenous drip.
Compare and contrast the benefit of IV supplementation on different pharmaceuticals and street drugs.
Name at least two goals of IV-oral nutrient supplementation, including reducing severity of abstinence symptoms, increasing responsiveness to psychosocial interventions, improving quality of sobriety, and preventing relapse.
Session 17 Breakaway
2-3pm Eliminating Depression, Anxiety, Insomnia, and Other Neurotransmitter Defiency Symptoms With Targeted Nutritional Supplements by Hyla Cass, MD
Medication, with its attendant side effects, should be used only as a last resort in recovery according to this psychiatrist from Los Angeles. Exposés on television and in the papers in the past year have spotlighted the grossest of misleading advertising by manufacturers who knew all along that their drugs for common emotional complaints led to greater likelihood of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and suicide. Adding insult to injury, the newest psychotropic medications sell for a hundred times the cost of the old drugs they replace.
Patients who show up at the door of a professional in Asian medicine expect a holistic perspective that offers an alternative to pharmaceuticals. In this lecture Dr. Cass will explain how diet, supplements and lifestyle changes can eliminate cravings and mood problems and enhance behavioral interventions, even acupuncture. This experienced lecturer will present nutrient protocols that can substitute for and be used along with medication, as well as to safely transition patients off of medication. To be a full partner in medical care, the acupuncturist needs to have the vocabulary to speak with physicians as well as the patients themselves. By listening to this lecture, the acupuncturist will have the opportunity to learn about both the medications the patient is avoiding by coming to the acupuncture office, and the alternative natural therapies that work along with acupuncture to make the holistic approach to mental health issues a safe and successful marriage.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Discuss the increasing use of medication to treat addictions from the perspective of its economic and psychosocial impact on the field of addiction treatment.
Name common over-the-counter supplements that can be used as a first line of treatment in cases of depression, anxiety, insomnia, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, panic attacks, and other frequently encountered symptoms of neurotransmitter deficiencies.
Discuss the contraindications for the use of nutrients in cases of depression, anxiety, insomnia, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and panic attacks.
Name at least three considerations a nonphysician ought to keep in mind when your clients are in the process of transitioning, with the blessings of their primary medical provider, from reliance on psychotropic drugs to psychotropic nutraceuticals.
Session 18 Breakaway
2-3pm Eliminating PTSD with EFT: Simple Tapping, Successful Results by Patricia Farrell, CHt
This is the second hour of EFT offered at this symposium, to allow those who attended a different breakaway session and missed Session 7 the chance to experience the unique and swift success of this acupressure protocol.
At the Sacramento Drug Court where we teach the addicted clients to do EFT acupressure in an hour's class each week, we believe the tapping contributes to the ease with which our clients accept daily acupuncture. The one enhances the effect and understanding of the other. Clients use the tapping outside the program to deal with anger and fear, insomnia and disappointment. They learn to tap before reaching for a drug to alter their inner landscape. As explained before, acupressure opens the world of Asian medicine to a wider group of people who are not yet ready for needle insertion. And yet, they quickly feel the relief that we all know is possible when qi moves into spaces where it was previously blocked. As an acupuncturist eager for the world to embrace Chinese medicine, it's a joy to watch both children and adults learn the acupressure points, tap on them, and then report to me their visceral feeling of a shift, pain relief, itching relieved, anxiety relieved. For those acupuncturists entering drug treatment work, EFT is a powerful pre-treatment ally for those patients anxious, irritable, jumpy, and impatient.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Describe the acupressure roots of Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).
Perform the 9-step acupressure tapping protocol on someone else.
Recount a personal experience with the protocol.
Recognize at least one section of the brain that is involved in the stress-relieving mind-body response to this protocol.
Recall at least one scientific research report studying the effectiveness of EFT as a stress relieving protocol.
Session 19 Breakaway
3-4pm Dual Diagnosis: Mental Illness As a Nutritional Deficiency Disease by Joan Mathews-Larson, PhD
In states where acupuncturists are legally allowed to order tests for patients, which ones are the most valuable for people with symptoms of addiction? And what are the most common nutritional deficiencies and imbalances that lead to mental illness? Joan Mathews-Larson, author of Depression-Free, Naturally, will explain the body's logical expression of nutrient deficiencies which Western medicine has pigeonholed as isolated diseases. For example, fifty years ago one of Mathews-Larson's mentors, Abram Hoffer MD, PhD, proved in multiple placebo controlled double blind experiments that schizophrenia is actually a form of pellagra and easily cured with adequate doses of vitamins, especially niacin and vitamin C.
Depression, according to the World Health Organization, is the leading cause of disability and in the United States has reached epidemic proportions. According to at least one investigative journalist, Robert Whitaker, writing in Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry in 2005 (vol.7 #1), "it is our drug-based paradigm of care that is fueling this epidemic." Thus, listening to Mathews-Larson's protocols with over-the-counter supplements to correct imbalanced brain chemistry becomes an education that not only those in the addictions field, but every holistic practitioner and doctor of Asian medicine, will appreciate and use on a daily basis.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Name four of the most common nutrition-related causes for mental illness symptoms.
Name at least two of the most useful laboratory tests that will reveal the actual biochemical basis for mental illness symptoms.
Discuss the orthomolecular theory of mental illness in which a disordered biochemistry given the substrates it needs to function adequately will self-correct and resolve prior to pharmaceutical intervention.
Name three common pharmaceuticals given to patients with mental illness symptoms and the actual neurochemical abnormality that is masked by the drug.
Name the four most common nutrients used to treat patients with mental illness.
Session 20 Breakaway
3-4pm The Stressed-Out Co: Holistic Approaches to Addictive Family Members by Christina Veselak, MS, LMFT
A "co" is easily identified by any professional in the field of addiction as a "co-dependent" and in this lecture the co-dependent is analyzed and found physically a wreck. Christina Veselak, who runs a holistic drug treatment program called Relapse Prevention Services in Aurora, Colorado, describes for those who usually see only the addict the chaos and disaster left in the addict's family wake. In fact it is the co-dependent who is likely to walk into the acupuncturist's door, with back pains and digestive disturbances and headaches and menstrual difficulties, emotional lability and serious conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.
An acupuncturist, even an acupuncturist who already works in the substance abuse field, isn't trained to see the entire family dynamic as the patient. Yet, in this lecture Veselak explains how she uses nutrition to treat the entire family and shift the usual emotional and physical distress in a wholesome direction. Her lecture will explain how long term stress affects the physiology of the children of drug users as well as the co-dependent partner. She will offer multiple possible self-care and relaxation techniques an acupuncturist can teach patients along with the stress relieving results obtained by needles alone.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Discuss the physical deterioration that frequently occurs in family members of an addict, forcing the codependent to seek medical care.
Name at least three symptoms that lead the codependent or children of the addict to seek medical care, including depression, headaches, back pain, anxiety, IBS, cancer, acting out in school, poor grades, and poor social relationships.
Describe at least two ways a medical professional, school personnel, or a counselor could successfully intercede with the codependent once these symptoms are correctly interpreted and the addictive family dynamic is revealed.
Explain in simple terms what happens to the stressed brain and body of the codependent that leads him or her to these symptoms.
List at least four targeted nutritional supplements that can help the codependent in conjunction with codependency education, self-care and relaxation techniques, and trauma reduction.
Session 21 Breakaway
3-4pm The Pleasure Trap: Food As a Tool of Recovery by Douglas Lisle, PhD
Doug Lisle is a clinical psychologist and expert in the connection of brain neurochemistry and food. In my months in Nanjing at the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine I was taught the TCM approach to food as medicine, and remember how our professor pointed out the individual foods to be eaten in response to specific physical conditions. Food is a tool of Asian medicine, and also of holistic Western medicine. What Lisle will do is give the scientific underpinning of such an approach and place food cravings in their rightful place along the spectrum of addictive behaviors.
How does our brain lead us astray into superficial choices of food that fit into the spectrum of addictive behaviors, and how can we shift our choices so our meals satisfy us at an even more core level? How have innate motivational processes been subverted by modern technological society and caused us to suffer from diseases of civilization unknown to the citizens of more modestly fed cultures? And what advice can an acupuncturist give to patients who have lost their way in the maze of poor food choices? Lisle will provide the answers.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Describe in simple scientific terms how the brain is wired to seek pleasure, avoid pain, and conserve energy.
Discuss how previously needed motivational processes have been subverted by modern technological society and contribute to cravings and addictions.
List at least two modern diseases that result from unconsciously following the pre-wired ancestral directives in this modern age.
Name at least two methods to reverse the domination of the cravings for pleasure, while enhancing feelings of wellbeing using appropriate choices of food leading to needed shifts in motivational processes as a primary change agent.
Session 22 Breakaway
4:30-5:30pm The Hidden History of Addiction Treatment: How We Found the Stool's Third Leg by Stan Stokes, MS, CCDC
People with a smattering of knowledge about addiction have heard about Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12 Step programs such as Overeaters Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. These programs beginning with AA in 1935 are based on a spiritual foundation of giving over one's power to a higher authority. Although some people find that process offensive (see Banquet Speaker below) at least it offers the addict a spiritual leg to stand on.
Counselors in addiction treatment programs have used a variety of styles of therapy with addicts, including aversion therapy, confrontation, isolation, motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, and others. These vary in how much power they place in the hands of the client and how much in the hands of the therapist, but they all are based on an assumption that the mind of the client is capable of rational thought. So mind and spirit have been handled in drug treatment programs for the past seventy years. Here's what is missing: the body, in the acupuncturist's holistic triad of body, mind, and spirit. That's what Stan Stokes is going to talk about. He runs one of the country's best in-patient holistic drug treatment programs, in Winchester Virginia. It includes daily acupuncture, nutritious food, intravenous and oral individualized amino acids and other nutrients, stress reduction techniques, group therapy, 12 Step meetings, individual therapy, and help transitioning back into the world.
Among other historical figures Stokes is going to talk about the founder of AA, Bill W. who discovered the power of nutrition and nutritional supplements to end his chronic insomnia and physical discomforts, though no one could save him from the ravages to his lungs of years of smoking. Nevertheless, Bill W. was so happy to be able to sleep and be out of pain he attempted to convince the medical establishment in AA to include nutrients as part of the AA protocol, but it was a sadly vain effort.
Nevertheless, individuals since Bill W. have discovered the power of nutrition to complement acupuncture when harnessing natural health care in the interest of addiction treatment. Stan Stokes will educate any acupuncturist entering the field as to the true history of addiction treatment.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Describe Bill W.'s use of vitamins B and C to cure his insomnia and discomfort.
Describe Bill W.'s campaign to convince Alcoholics Anonymous medical doctors to add nutrients to the AA program.
Discuss at least two reasons for the continued resistance within the recovery community to the use of nutritional supplements as an integral part of drug addiction treatment.
Describe how Stan Stokes discovered the benefit of adding nutrition to his treatment program in Virginia.
Session 23 Breakaway
4:30-5:30pm Enhancing Spirituality in Recovery: Neuroimaging and Neuronutrition by Charles Gant, MD, PhD, NMD
By the end of this symposium, the acupuncturist will be thoroughly familiar with the parts and functioning of the brain. Charles Gant is focusing on one specific area of the brain. He wants his listeners to understand that the neurophysiology of the frontal lobes makes them the prime source of empathy, prayer, compassion, and spiritual feelings. Conversely, those who are deficient in these feelings of oneness with other human beings and nature have a problem with their brain wiring system. Gant has good news: people in the throes of addiction can move out of their imposed isolation and torment and into a feeling of serenity after targeting that area of the brain with neuronutrient restoration. Why is this important to an acupuncturist? It is as important to an acupuncturist who is interested in working in addiction as to the counselor, the health educator, the administrator, the nurse, or any other professional who wants to see a qualitative change in the personality of the addict.
In some cases the acupuncturist will use a technique presented in this symposium and in other cases it is simply important for the acupuncturist to understand what others on the holistic team are doing and why, so that during Grand Rounds discussions of patients the acupuncturist can understand and contribute to the conversation. In other cases, an acupuncturist can use a targeted nutrient therapy such as this one as a part of his own treatment protocol to enhance the spiritual growth of his client.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Discuss the most difficult challenge for some people of integrating spirituality into their recovery program.
Name the part of the brain that has been identified through brain scans as the location of feelings of spirituality and the functions involved in meditation, prayer, empathy, and compassion.
Describe the connection between abnormalities in the brain's frontal lobe and neuronutrient restoration, naming the nutrients that might be useful.
Discuss how serenity and an end to the isolation of addiction might be a result of targeted nutritional repair.
Session 24 Breakaway
4:30-5:30pm 14 Clinically Proven Methods of Helping Your Patients Off Their Opiates by Paul Anderson, MD
If there is one place acupuncture shines in addiction treatment it is in its proven success in relieving pain. Paul Anderson runs a pain relief clinic both in Toronto, Canada, and in Marin County near San Francisco, California. He uses a multi-faceted approach to address whatever is the foundation of the individual's pain syndrome. Acupuncture, acupressure, massage, tai chi, cranial electrical stimulation, and mindfulness meditation are among the techniques he makes available to his patients.
Opiate-dependent patients are in desperate need of more endorphins. Acupuncture mediates endorphins. What else can acupuncturists recommend? They will learn plenty of adjunct therapeutic interventions in this lecture from someone who has seen hundreds of patients and can teach the practitioner of Asian medicine how to figure out which of the many possibilities in addition to acupuncture might help the individual patient feel better faster.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Remember at least 7 useful methods of helping opiate-dependent clients move themselves toward pain relief without pharmaceutical intervention.
Discuss the reasons for lack of general knowledge among physicians and other clinicians about the availability of nontoxic, natural methods of pain relief other than relying on addictive pharmaceuticals with other dangerous side effects.
Name the neurotransmitter most identified as deficient in people with chronic pain.
Recognize the need to both boost levels of endorphins and alter the triggers of the emotional tension that is frequently the root of physical pain.
Banquet Speaker
7-8pm A Wholistic Empowerment Approach to Healing from Trauma and Addiction by Charlotte Kasl, PhD
Charlotte Kasl has a doctorate in counseling psychology and became well known after publication of her book Many Roads, One Journey: Moving Beyond the 12 Steps (1992). She had already gained some notoriety for Women, Sex, and Addiction (1989, 1992). Now she is even more famous with a series titled If the Buddha Dated, If the Buddha Married, and If the Buddha Got Stuck,which focus on finding love, maintaining love, and managing change along a spiritual path.
In her speech during our banquet Friday night, Kasl will focus on her belief that the best way to overcome a resistance to change is to overcome the tendency to demand that others change in a predetermined way. Kasl runs groups for traumatized women, and allows them to talk about anything, to "bring their whole selves in." It's a point of view that isn't always appreciated in conventional 12 Step-oriented programs, she says, but she isn't interested in following protocol, just allowing people to affirm themselves and their culture be it Native American or women's culture, and allow the energies that exist within the group to entrain and attune to one another. The doctor of Asian medicine recognizes the power of one person's energy to transform a group, and the power of the group to transform the individual. Because most treatment programs are based on the 12 Step approach, listening to Kasl's alternative approach broadens the gestalt in which the acupuncturist works. This allows him or her to recognize the current model as just one of many, and as the acupuncturist moves from program to program, influencing each by his or her contributions of ideas and perspectives, knowing the Kasl Wholistic Empowerment Approach makes the acupuncturist that much richer as a team builder and as a provider of advice in an addictions treatment setting.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Describe wholistic empowerment as a unique approach to trauma and addiction
Discuss the speaker's position that 12 Step programs reinforce institutionalized helplessness.
Link the related experiences of addictive behaviors, child abuse, sexual exploitation, sexism, racism, poverty, and homophobia with codependency and internalized oppression.
Name at least eight of the sixteen-steps in Kasl's program for personal growth and recovery.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Session 25
7-8am Yoga Exercise by Sadhu Singh Khalsa, LISW, MSW
Sadhu Singh Khalsa is a politically active social worker, former hospital administrator, and Mental Health Bureau Chief for the New Mexico Corrections Department. He has taught yoga in the context of addictions treatment for many years. He currently owns and runs a holistic treatment center called Healing the Warrior Program for returning veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This morning exercise hour will include explanations by Sadhu Singh on the health benefits of yoga, and the particular dynamic that occurs while clients do yoga in a drug treatment program. He will cover the question about perceived differences between Chinese martial arts and yoga.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Explain the difference between yoga and tai chi in terms of their country of origin.
Recall at least one scientific paper describing the physical benefit of yoga to people in recovery, linking yoga movement and breath to brain chemistry transformation.
Perform three simple asanas (positions) that feel comfortable and relaxing.
Repeat the general history of the use of yoga in state prisons and jails in Arizona.
Session 26
8-9:30am Methamphetamine and Marijuana: Successful Approaches to Unique Addictors by Julia Ross, MA, MFT
While methamphetamine is a major worry of criminal justice and child endangerment officials across the country, it is a marijuana user that a general practitioner of Asian medicine will more likely find in her office. One in twelve full-time workers in the United States confess to using illegal drugs, mostly marijuana, in the past month according to a recent study by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Julia Ross, founder of Recovery Systems in Mill Valley, California and author of The Mood Cure, has become an expert at using amino acids and other nutrients to correct the needy brain chemistry of a person on drugs. She will explain in this lecture the unique characteristics of the brain of a methamphetamine user that must be addressed if the user is to remain clean beyond graduation. Likewise, Ross will explain how a marijuana user might want the drug to fall asleep, or to stay awake, depending on the particular neurochemicals missing in his brain. And to successfully treat such a person, one must supplement with the appropriate nutraceutical. An acupuncturist is already familiar with this concept of treatment: If a person is deficient in qi, build the qi. If the person is excessive in heat, give cooling herbs. The acupuncturist who wants to work in the field of substance abuse is already educated in a point of view that will assist him in applying the Ross principles of nutrient-mediated brain restoration and repair.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Describe the brain neurotransmitters most likely deficient in persons attracted to the use of methamphetamine.
Describe the brain neurotransmitters most likely deficient in persons attracted to the use of marijuana and how a counselor or medical care provider might find out which of opposite-acting neurotransmitters might be needed in different marijuana users.
State confidently whether marijuana is or is not addictive.
Discuss the simplest treatments that make the biggest impact in the lives of methamphetamine and marijuana users.
Session 27
10-11:15am How We Successfully Introduced New Approaches Into Our Existing Treatment Programs, by Elizabeth Stuyt, MD; Carolyn Reuben, L.Ac.; Clark Inkanish, ICADH; and Stan Stokes, MS, CCDC.
Stuyt works with mental health dual diagnosis in-patients in Colorado; Reuben (me) works in Drug Court with court mandated day treatment clients in Sacramento, California; Clark Inkanish works with Native Americans in an outpatient center in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Stan Stokes works with a variety of people in his in-patient treatment facility in Winchester, Virginia. The panelists are coming together to offer a wide variety of experiences to listeners, and a variety of problem solving strategies. Having a strategy and knowing it worked for someone somewhere will be, we hope, an inspiration and offer directions through what might be intimidating new territory.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Describe at least two barriers to adding innovative nutrition and energy medicine-based treatments into existing programs and how these speakers overcame them.
Name at least one condition that existed in Sacramento's criminal justice environment that aided Carolyn in convincing judges and attorneys to initiate an acupuncture-based treatment program in that county.
Describe at least three ways acupuncture adds value to an existing substance abuse treatment program.
Name at least three nutrients used a on a regular basis in multiple nutrition-based treatment programs and why they are used.
Session 28
11:15am-12:20pm How To Integrate These Techniques Into YOUR program, by conference speakers divided into three groups
The acupuncturist gets a chance to ask me and other acupuncturists how we did it. The counselors can talk to counselors, and so on. We are there to serve not only on that day as their mentor and cheerleader, but on into the future, as participants employ the techniques they learned over the past two and a half days and find ways to bring the wealth of treatment options to their clients.
Starting small is one possibility. Our program that now includes daily acupuncture, daily nutrition, weekly tai chi, qi gong, yoga, and EFT, started with just acupuncture. Having a vision and sharing it helps let the administrators know when they find extra money, it can go to what an ordinary acupuncturist like me dreamed into being.
We in Asian medicine are the vanguard for a sea change in drug treatment in America, and this symposium is our clarion call.
Upon completion of this training participants will be able to:
Come up with the three major barriers and at least three useful strategies regarding adding nutrition and/or an energy-based treatment protocol in their particular addiction treatment and recovery setting.
Recognize their own experience, prejudices, or fears that are the basis for their own personal barriers to adding the presenters' methods of treatment to their own day to day work in the addictions field.
Describe in a brief paragraph the one new protocol most likely to be accepted in the near future by their program administration and Board.
Describe at least one example of how Bridging the Gaps in Winchester, VA integrates IV and oral nutrition, 12 Step, counseling, acupuncture, and stress reduction techniques into a comprehensive addictions treatment program.
