MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Appalachian Addiction & Prescription Drug Abuse Conference brought recovery and counseling professional to Morgantown last week. The program was developed with the help of the West Virginia Board of Medicine, West Virginia Board of Osteopathic Medicine, West Virginia Board of Nursing, and the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy to address community needs during the opioid crisis.
Dr. Brad Hall is the President/Executive Director of the West Virginia Society of Addiction Medicine, he says we are in a crisis but things are improving.
“Everybody knows we have an epidemic going on, but I believe West Virginia is also epidemic of the solution,” Hall said. “We’ve doing a lot of things right over the years, some of the numbers don’t quite reflect that, but it’s definitely going in the right direction and it’s exemplified by this conference.”
Some highlights of the conference were an update of the current situation, anti-stigma efforts, 12-step programs, responding to addiction, cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, addiction & pregnancy, anxiety and ADHD, marijuana, social media gaming and internet addiction and an update on state-level legislation.
Hall said,”Part of addiction, whether it’s sex, drugs, rock-n-roll, TV, gaming, iPhone and other behaviors is somewhat of an attempt to fix an internal hole with an external solution.”
In addition to traditional treatments, the value of spirituality was presented as way to find peace in difficult life situations. Hall says spirituality gives people an understanding that enables them to put difficult situations into perspective.