Join Katie for a live discussion on addiction medicine
No furries this time, sorry.
I’ll be on Substack Live with Dr. Joseph Volpicelli on Tuesday, October 14th, at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT.
Dr. Volpicelli is a professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the head of the Volpicelli Center and the Naltrexone Alliance. He’s also an MD/PhD whose research was instrumental in the FDA approval of naltrexone for the treatment of alcohol use disorder.
Dr. Volpicelli was an invaluable resource when I was working on my book, and besides the fact that he is really The Guy when it comes to this part of addiction medicine, he’s able to distill complex concepts so that even a podcaster can understand them. If you have any questions about addiction or addiction medicine, please post them below.
These conversations are usually for Primos only, but Dr. Volpicelli just joined Substack, and I want to welcome him with as large a group as possible, so Freemos can come too. You should get an email with instructions to join shortly before we go live. (This will not be a conversation about internet bullshit, so don’t embarrass me in front of the good doctor. He doesn’t need to know about my day job as an ABDL detective.)
See you then!
Does it work for stimulants?
Could you ask Dr. Voliocelli to discuss the difference between addiction and dependence?
These terms often used interchangeably, but I understand dependence involves replacing an endogenous substance with an external one, while addiction refers more to a set of behaviors that may or may not include dependence.
For example, when someone takes opioids, their natural (endogenous) opioid system can go offline, leading to physical dependence and withdrawal when the external source is stopped — that’s classical dependence, which may or may not involve addictive behaviors.
Is that distinction accurate, and does Naltrexone work on addiction, dependence, or both? I realize I’m simplifying a complex topic, but I still think it’s one worth exploring and clarifying and more people understood. Thanks!