Survey Found More than 3/4 People Used Addictive Behavior as Coping Mechanism

Dawn Johnson, a psychiatric nurse practitioner at the Indiana Center For Recovery discusses a survey that found that 94% of people agree that substance and behavioral addictions mask underlying mental health issues and other findings. She also talks about medication failure and how the GeneSight test allows medical providers to swab the inside of their patient’s cheek to give providers information about a patient’s genetics. The test’s results report shows which medications may require dose adjustment, may be less likely to work, or may have an increased risk of side effects based on the patient’s DNA.

Dawn Johnson, MSN, APRN, FNP, PMHNP-BC, is a psychiatric nurse practitioner at Indiana Center for Recovery in the inpatient detox and residential facility in South Bend, Indiana. She joined the mental health care field later in life after losing her husband to complications of his mental illness and addictions. She has worked in dual diagnosis addictions for the past five years and her interest and training is in trauma-informed care. She received her masters of science in nursing both family nurse practitioner and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner) from Indiana University.