How Experience With Addiction Informs Patient Treatment

In the final installment of Psychiatric Times’ interview with Christopher Schenewerk, MD, he discussed his time in rehab and how it has informed his practice.

“I entered rehab in St Charles, Missouri, called Center Point, and that is my sobriety date, November 8, 2018,” Schenewerk said. He did a 4 week program including detox and residential, which is typical in the Midwest. He says there is not much past 4 weeks in his area.

“While I was there, the therapists were fascinated. They don’t get many doctors coming in there, and so it was neat. They took the time with me,” Schenewerk said of his time at Center Point. The doctors introduced him to the 12 step program and getting a sponsor. However, his therapist told him at the end of his 4 weeks that he would be more successful in a 90 day program. From Center Point he moved to a facility in San Diego and did another 2 months.

During his time in San Diego, he found a sponsor and made it to step 5 before going home in February. He started an alcoholics anonymous (AA) group in his area to remain accountable with a person he met in rehab who lived 6 miles from him. The Three Amigos group meets on Friday’s at 6 PM, with a crowd of about 30 to 40 people.

Schenewerk became medical director of Illinois Recovery Center and started Walking Together, a program aimed at getting addicts help after coming into the hospital and experiencing withdrawal. “We treat them with peer support, kind of like a detox, but it's a little more than that, and then we try to get them directly from the hospital to inpatient if they if we feel they need it or at least set up with myself and my partner in crime, Angela, who I met in rehab. She takes care of all the women in our group,” Schenewerk said.

He said he started Vivitrol (naltrexone) to help with the cravings, and he uses a lot of naltrexone when treating patients for their addiction. “Naltrexone works great, but we tell them to this is this is the band aid. This is just supposed to help, help some of the symptoms. It's not a cure,” Schenewerk said.