What is AAAP?

AAAP is an international professional membership organization founded in 1985 with approximately 1,000 members in the United States and around the world. The membership consists of psychiatrists who work with addiction in their practices, faculty at various academic institutions, non-psychiatrist professionals who are making a contribution to the field of addiction psychiatry, residents and medical students.

 

AAAP Mission Statement:

	Promote accessibility to highest quality treatment for all who need it;
	Promote excellence in clinical practice in addiction psychiatry;
	Educate the public to influence public policy regarding addictive illness;
	Provide continuing education for addiction professionals;
	Disseminate new information in the field of addiction psychiatry; and
	Encourage research on the etiology, prevention, identification, and treatment of the addictions

Issues of general interest to the membership include:

 

	Assuring that new discoveries, research findings and technologies in the area of addictions become available to patients and are applied to clinical practice
	With comorbidity at approximately 50%, assuring that every patient with an addictive disorder has a psychiatric evaluation to assure accuracy of diagnosis and proper treatment
	Exploring the relationships of addiction psychiatrists to reimbursement systems, to managed care and to third and fourth party payers
	Maintenance of quality control and risk management in an era emphasizing cost containment
	Relationship between psychiatrists and primary care physicians in treating the addicted as well as dually diagnosed patient
	Support for adequate research funding in the addictions