Dr. Eric Garland, PhD, LCSW is Distinguished Endowed Chair in Research, Distinguished Professor, and Associate Dean for Research in the University of Utah College of Social Work and Director of the Center on Mindfulness and Integrative Health Intervention Development (C-MIIND). Dr. Garland is the developer of an innovative mindfulness-based therapy founded on insights derived from affective neuroscience, called Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE). He has published more than 250 scientific manuscripts and received more than $80 million in research grants to conduct clinical trials of mindfulness for addiction and chronic pain. In recognition of his expertise, Dr. Garland was appointed by NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins to the NIH HEAL Multi-Disciplinary Working Group to help guide the $2+ billion HEAL initiative to use science to halt the opioid crisis. In a recent bibliometric analysis of mindfulness research published over the past 55 years, Dr. Garland was found to be the most prolific author of mindfulness research in the world.
Dr. Garland will present the clinical approach and research evidence behind Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE), an innovative, neuroscience-informed, evidence-based psychotherapy tested in over 12 randomized clinical trials funded by more than $70 million in federal research grants. Dr. Garland will describe how MORE simultaneously targets addictive behavior, emotion dysregulation, and chronic pain by integrating complementary aspects of mindfulness training, CBT, and positive psychology into a structured treatment designed to change brain reward system function. MORE has been shown to reduce opioid misuse by 45%, nearly tripling the effect of standard supportive group therapy.