Dr. Tonmoy Sharma discussed the importance of using measurement based assessment in assessing and treating addiction. In a recent interview with Dr. Judy Ho Tonmoy Sharma, CEO of Sovereign Health Group shared his thoughts on the need for a paradigm shift in the assessment and treatment of substance abuse and mental health in this country. Dr. Sharma stated that if we believe that is a brain disorder then let’s assess cognitive function and brain function from both a cognition and psychophysiology perspective. He gives as an example that just as a doctor looks at blood sugar in a diabetic patient, so too should we at how our brain waves are behaving when measuring a brain disorder. The tools to assess these are available, they are not that expensive and they are reimbursable by insurance carriers yet they are not in wide use. He believes strongly that assessment is crucial to successful treatment of people suffering from addiction. Research has shown that almost 80% of people have a dual diagnosis that is both substance abuse issues and mental health problems. Sovereign Health Group has the in-house expertise to treat both conditions. For instance, we might assess what is called the psychophysiology of the brain by doing a quantitative EEG. It is not as complicated. We can treat cognitive problems by cognitive remediation but again, let’s first do the assessment. Currently we say we want to change behavior but unless we change the way they think, the way their brains behave, their deficits and their decision making process we will not be able to change behavior. There is a problem in what is called executive function planning and decision making. Unless we help people with addiction improve their planning and decision making we are going to discharge them and they are going to do the same thing over and over again.
About Dr. Tonmoy Sharma, CEO, Sovereign Health Group. Over a career spanning 30 years Dr. Sharma has served primarily as an acclaimed researcher having led countless international mental health clinical research trials, taught and trained students as a neuro-scientist and served as author or co-author of more than 200 peer-reviewed published articles and five books on schizophrenia and mental illness. His entire career has been dedicated to putting his vast knowledge to further the mental health field with insights into pharmacology and cognitive impairment treatment. Dr Sharma recognizes that the substance abuse treatment community is heading towards an inevitable next step in its evolution to ensure it continues to improve the quality of patients’ treatment. Today Dr. Sharma is committed to tirelessly promote and call for measurement-based care (MBC) in the diagnosis and treatment of addiction and mental health cognitive impairments so that a national standard measurement scale for level of addiction, and normalcy symptoms can be identified to standardize care and standardize treatment. For more on Tonmoy Sharma, CEO of Sovereign Health Group go to LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonmoysharmaceo
A licensed and board certified clinical psychologist, Dr Judy Ho, Ph. D. offers her expertise on a variety of national television shows. Based in Los Angeles, she provides professional services in psychological testing and forensic expert work.
For more detailed information on Dr. Tonmoy Sharma, CEO of Sovereign Health Group go to LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonmoysharmaceo
