Addiction Medicine and Addiction Psychiatry in America: Commonalities in the Medical Treatment of Addiction

Abstract

Two competing medical disciplines treat addiction in the United States: addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry. Addiction medicine seeks recognition from the American Board of Medical Specialties whereas addiction psychiatry holds this high-level medical status, a mission that suggests a substantive distinction between addiction medicine physicians and addiction psychiatrists that does not exist. As this article shows, leading addiction medicine physicians and addiction psychiatrists agree on the definition of addiction and that drug treatment is an “art” which requires a multimethod approach. Despite this extensive accord, addiction medicine physicians and addiction psychiatrists draw sharp distinctions between addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry to serve historical, economic, and professional interests, revealing the importance to both disciplines of recognition from the American Board of Medical Specialties and thus jurisdiction over the medical treatment of addiction.