The Changing Face of Addiction

Patients at the Herrington Recovery Center at Rogers Memorial Hospital have the opportunity to work one-on-one with a physician who is helping to re-define addiction medicine, leading the way to help make scientifically tested treatment the standard of care for everyone looking to break free of an addiction.

Herrington's patients already receive the forward-thinking approach being championed by Michael M. Miller, MD, FASAM, FAPA, the center's medical director. The way he talks about treatment is already framed around the biological, spiritual and societal natures of addiction medicine.

He's also working to bring it to the world. In the past week, Dr. Miller has appeared more than thirty times in various news reports on the changing face of addictions, in publications like USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, the L.A. Times, and the Toronto Sun.

The American Society of Addiction Medicine announced last week that they would be adopting a definition of addiction that will move the focus of addiction treatment away from one based on external behaviors.

"Addiction is about a lot more than people behaving badly," said Dr. Miller. "At its core, addiction isn't just a social problem or a moral problem or a criminal problem. It's about underlying neurology, not outward actions."

Speaking on a radio talk show in Baltimore, Miller said: "The brains of people with addiction are really functioning differently than the brains of people who don't have addiction," he said. "What this definition does is say that [addiction is] a chronic disease, it is a bio-psycho-social condition, and that it's going to take time to recover.

"Treatment is very effective when it comes in the proper dose and duration."

Rogers is a comprehensive psychiatric hospital, nationally recognized for specialty residential treatment programs for addiction, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety for children, teens and adults. To begin an admission or referral, request a screening online.