General population surveys report that ~75% of individuals with a substance use disorder (SUD) have experienced trauma at some point in their lives. Rates are even higher among clinical samples of individuals seeking SUD treatment with up to 95% of clients reporting exposure, including more than 50% having had childhood maltreatment. Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy is an emerging evidence-based, trauma-sensitive approach to treating addiction and sustaining recovery from SUD. With more than 12,000 trained IFS therapists in the US, the IFS approach is spreading rapidly. The presenters will review the existing research literature, explaining the level of evidence currently available while also highlighting the evidence gaps where future research is needed. This interactive workshop will present up-to-date data from individual and group-based IFS intervention studies for numerous conditions, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and SUD, including clinical trial pilot data that demonstrate promising therapeutic effects from group-based IFS for targeting symptoms of PTSD, disassociation, complex trauma, depression, anxiety, and substance craving (Schuman-Olivier, et al., 2024). Research data will clarify the psychological mechanisms that IFS psychotherapeutic techniques commonly engage, including both the well-known (i.e., emotion regulation, self-compassion, decentering, acceptance) and the novel (i.e., warm non-dual awareness). Participants will witness case-based examples with both live in-person and video demonstrations of innovative techniques. Presenters with demonstrate key skills for applying IFS principles to resolving ambivalence, developing adaptive emotion regulation strategies, and unburdening shame during addictions treatment. Participants will learn basic principles and steps for integrating IFS into addictions treatment and recovery.
Zev Schuman-Olivier, MD, Chairperson, Presenter
Zev Schuman-Olivier, MD is an Associate Professor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a board-certified addiction psychiatrist. He is Director of Addiction Research and the Founding Center Director of the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion (CMC) at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA). He is a faculty affiliate of the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, a NIDA-funded center of excellence at Dartmouth. He previously served as Medical Director for Outpatient Addiction Services and as Director of Addiction Psychiatry Residency Education at CHA for 5 years. He has been involved in clinical care of patients with chronic pain, substance use and mental health disorders both in mental health, primary care, and addiction recovery settings, with a research focus on behavioral interventions like mindfulness and compassion-based interventions. He has received funding through more than fifteen federal research grants, including the following: NCCIH, NIDA, NIMH, NCI, CDC, as well as the NIH Science of Behavior Change Initiative, NIH Helping End Addiction Long-term [HEAL], and NIH Behavioral Research to Improve Medication-Based Treatment [BRIM] program. He is a co-investigator on a NIMH P50 ALACRITY center grant focused on equitable mental health delivery for racial, ethnic, and linguistic minority youth. He is the Director of the Clinical Core for the NCCIH P01 Program Project grant focused on integrating mindfulness and transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation for chronic pain. He was the principal investigator of the Mindful-OBOT study, which recruited patients prescribed buprenorphine for OUD from 16 states. He is the principal investigator of the Program for Alleviating and Resolving Trauma and Stress (PARTS) study. He has been a member of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP) for 15 years and received the AAAP Young Investigator Award in 2010.
Dilara Ally, PhD, Presenter
I am the Richard C. Schwartz Clinical Research Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion at the Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School. I came to clinical research and practice with a PhD in Statistical Genetics and extensive data science and quantitative-based research experience within the life sciences industry. After more than a decade in biotech, I completed an MSW at Smith College, in Northampton MA. I have a clinical background working with minoritized communities, veterans, refugees, and ovarian cancer patients, with a clinical focus in complex trauma, depression, and anxiety. Her research is focused on understanding efficacy of Internal Family Systems (IFS) as a frontline treatment for PTSD/trauma, prosocial psychological mechanisms of action (e.g. perspective taking, acceptance, etc), and the potential of IFS for sociopolitical transformation. Her work aims to elucidate the ways in which alterations to the capacity to understand and attribute mental states to oneself/others influences the trajectory of trauma symptoms. Dr Ally's projects integrate machine learning and artificial intelligence as a way to center the patient voice and promote equity-based trauma intervention research.
Charles Silberstein, MD, Presenter
Addiction psychiatrist Charles Silberstein has been training in, practicing, teaching, and writing about Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) since 2012. He was a consultant on a member of the cast of the film, Recovery In Practice: Kathleen's Story, shown at the AAAP in 2019. That film demonstrated three models of psychotherapy, including: IFS, AEDP, and Mindfulness with Kathleen, a physician in recovery from Alcohol Use Disorder. Dr. Silberstein is the medical director at Martha's Vineyard Community Services and writes a periodic column in The Martha's Vineyard Times on issues related to mental health. His professional publications include research and chapters related to neuropsychological aspects of HIV infection, opioid dependence, psychoneuroimmunology, psychiatry, and spirituality.
Sanchit Maruti, MD, Presenter
Dr. Sanchit Maruti, MD, MS is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont. He is also an Attending Psychiatrist and Medical Director of the In-patient Psychiatry Service at the University of Vermont Medical Center. His clinical focus is on working with acutely ill patients and those with co-occurring disorders. His research interests are in the areas of risk assessment and quality improvement. He is the Course Director of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP) Addictions and their Treatments Course and serves on the Board of Directors for the AAAP.