Certificate in Addiction Medicine from The American Society of Addiction Medicine.

I invested my time in the expert track certificate program in Addiction Medicine offered by the American Society of Addiction Medicine - ASAM for many reasons.

The three courses in the series are A Survey of Substance Abuse Disorder, The Neurobiology of Addiction, and Understanding The Impact of Stigma On Addiction Treatment.

This program has allowed me to have a better understanding of a disease that has impacted me because substance use disorder has been prevalent within my own family, and among the many people who have crossed my path both personally and professionally throughout my lifetime.

In the United States Military, consuming substances in excess has often been looked at as part of the culture because caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol are what keep the machine running and are socially accepted just like the red, white, and blue. However, MANY military brothers and sisters out there struggle with these particular socially accepted vices, among many others.

The sentiment that I try to convey to mental health professionals and those who have not served in the military is that we were trained to do a job. If that job took us to the most violent and austere places around the globe, we did our job because that is what we were trained to do. On the other hand, we were never taught how to return to the world and function in society after doing our job.

Even interactions with your own friends and family present a challenge.

Military Veterans are probably the most diverse community on the planet. Veterans come in all colors, shapes, and sizes; from all walks of life, and our abilities and disabilities tip the global scale. Whether the veteran served in combat or not, military service is a heavy burden to bare once you return home because unless you walked the walk, you would never understand. It does not matter if you are a family member, a partner, or a best friend, you will never get the boots or the path that every veteran has walked.

Substance Abuse Disorder and other forms of addiction plague 1 in 10 veterans. The rate among Active Duty Military Members is much higher; though, mostly unreported due to non-treatment, or a common theme in military behavioral health is to under-diagnose the military member and treat symptoms as opposed to the source all in an effort of retention.

Active Duty deployments are well-known to be associated with smoking initiation, unhealthy binge drinking, excessive drug use, and risky behaviors. I have seen this first-hand while on my own active duty deployments or as I watch my peers suffer as a result of their own actions. These behaviors are a significant problem that does follow you home and become the source of contention in most, if not all of your relationships.

Military Behavioral Health providers are known to start the service member on several medications to treat the symptoms not the source; anxiety, sleep and circadian rhythm disorders, depression, substance abuse, high-blood pressure, GI issues, sexual dysfunction, etc.

It may sound like I’m talking directly to some of you because this “package” has become the standard, especially among active duty male service members.

The most important component that is missing from “the package” is regularly scheduled behavioral therapy so that the member is being actively treated and monitored by their behavioral health team.

The end result is that the military member continues on their path of consuming all the wrong things whether it be substances or other impulses like excessive consumption of shopping, video games, pornography, sexual partner or emotional and/or physical relationships (people), gambling, or seeking external validation through “helping”.

Essentially the military member continues on their path of destruction all the while mixing toxic behaviors and substances with prescription medication.

As a United States Service Member or Military Veteran, you do not have to wait until you leave active duty or hit rock bottom to seek out and receive the appropriate healthcare that you need.

Quality of life for yourself and your own military family is available right now.

All it takes is for you to move past the stigma, take your first step, and ask for help.

You and your military family will thank you later.

Knowledge is Power.

This program from the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), I learned the knowledge and skills necessary to treat patients with substance use disorders, the neurobiology of substance use disorders, the biological, psychological, and social factors that produce a risk for addiction, and how stigma affects a patients with substance use disorders.

About the author:

“Melanie began attending Harvard in 2020 to complete a Graduate Certificate in Human Behavior with a specialization in Neuropsychology. Boling’s research has examined extreme environments and how they can have a potential negative impact on humans operating in the extreme environment. During her time at Harvard, she has built a mental wellness tool called a psychological field kit. Implementing these tools will allow an individual to thrive in an extreme environment while mitigating negative variables such as abnormal human behavior which can play a role in team degradation.”