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Researchers Use Mindfulness And Precision Medicine To Tackle Alcohol Abuse

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University Showcase 10/18 Fri 8a: New Mexico leads the nation in alcohol-related mortality and around the world alcohol use disorder is a leading cause of preventable death. On this episode, Regents’ Professor Katie Witkiewitz talks about new trends in research and treatment of alcohol use disorder.

Katie Witkiewitz

Witkiewitz is with the University of New Mexico Department of Psychology and Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions. She and her colleagues are exploring what works in treating the disorder and developing new interventions. Those include mindfulness training and precision medicine. 

In the U.S. alone, alcohol causes approximately 88,000 deaths annually. The economic costs are also huge -- about $249 billion each year in the United States. Witkiewitz and her colleagues including Distinguished Professor of Psychology Barbara McCrady and Associate Professor Eric Claus from the Mind Research Network, are also looking for volunteers to participate in a new study.

Additional Resources:

Latest research by Katie Witkiewitz and her colleagues at UNM and Brown University

Study seeks participants who want to change their drinking

UNM Alcohol Specialty Clinic

UNM Psychlogy Clinic

Rethinking Drinking from National Institutes of Health

Alcohol treatment navigator

Society of Addiction Psychology

 

 

Megan has been a journalist for 25 years and worked at business weeklies in San Antonio, New Orleans and Albuquerque. She first came to KUNM as a phone volunteer on the pledge drive in 2005. That led to volunteering on Women’s Focus, Weekend Edition and the Global Music Show. She was then hired as Morning Edition host in 2015, then the All Things Considered host in 2018. Megan was hired as News Director in 2021.
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