With over 40 years of substance abuse research under her belt, Barbara McCrady visited Binghamton University to lecture on the evolution of alcohol and drug treatment.
McCrady, a distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions at the University of New Mexico, was the speaker of the second annual Stephen A. Lisman Annual Lecture in Clinical Psychology, which was established last year to honor Lisman’s 43 years of contributions to BU as a professor before he retired in 2014.
Students and faculty gathered in Old University Union on Monday afternoon to hear her lecture, titled “Alcohol and Other Drug Problems: How Lessons from Clinicians and Researchers are Shaping Treatment.” McCrady outlined the history of alcohol treatment and care for alcohol dependency, and also shared her own research.
She said that after prohibition ended in 1933, there was no treatment system in place for alcohol dependency because there was no prior need for it. In 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), a fellowship created to fight alcoholism, was born.
“After the prohibition was repealed, people suffering from alcohol dependency began to seek out help,” McCrady said. “It was then that a meeting took place between two gentlemen who realized that through their shared experience of alcoholism, they might be able to both recover, and as a result, Alcoholics Anonymous was established.”
McCrady noted that it wasn’t until the 1970s that different platforms of research, such as classical conditioning, operant conditioning and family assistance models, began to pave the road forward in battling alcohol dependency.
During that time, McCrady began to conduct and unveil her own methods of research.
“We started developing and tested what we called alcohol behavioral couple therapy,” McCrady said. “Our model of treatment focused on the primary intimate relationship between the person with the drinking problem and their partner. The model was based on cognitive behavior therapy for distressed relationships, and it consisted of three main pieces: maintaining abstinence, helping partners [of the person with the drinking problem] to learn to support positive change and to improve overall relationships.”
McCrady said the next step is discovering what actually drives success in treatment. In one study she conducted at Brown University, the treatment of alcohol behavioral couple therapy offered promising results: When people stay abstinent, they could maintain success after treatment, and the couple stayed together with a relationship that was maybe even stronger.
“What we found is that people who are attending Alcoholics Anonymous in general are more likely to remain abstinent, so maybe we should start applying our research — couple’s therapy — to AA,” McCrady said.
According to Lisman, McCrady was an easy choice to invite not only because of her research, but also because of her pursuit of molding scientific research into practice.
“We try to bring in speakers who have something to say about the research and the research side of important topics that have a strong clinical component and that are relevant to the lives of people and students,” Lisman said. “She is eminent in her field and has a reputation of excellence with students.”
Aimee Moreno, a junior majoring in psychology, came not only to learn about a field they are conducting research on, but to also show support for their former professor.
“I’m interested in the field of substance abuse of alcoholism and its incorporation into psychology,” said Moreno. “The two of us are doing research in that field of study, so when we heard a lecture was being given on it, it seemed like a great opportunity.”