Addiction psych board exam

[Sirimboi]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Studying for addiction board exam now and sooo frustrated. There is no good preparation material. The board review course offered by AAAP is garbage and is in November (10 months before the board exam). Galanter book (which I am using now) is pretty much the only textbook in addiction psych, but the information is sooo diluted and poorly presented. Is not a textbook, but rather a collection of studies in each field. I understand the authors are "THE GUYS" in addiction psych, but the way they wrote the chapters is very weird. Each cites "ad nauseaum" their own studies, over and over and over again. If you expect to learn about CBT in CBT chapter you're in for a surprise. Is all about studies comapring CBT with other therapies, all studies done of course by author. Not a line about what actually is CBT and how is done.
Sorry to vent this here, but I'm walking into this exam without even knowing what information I am going to be tested on. I passed the general board exam last year easily just reading the Kauffman course a few times. No such thing here.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

There's only a few dozen docs taking this every other year, so it's not like preparing materials for the exam is going to make anyone a lot of money (or academic glory, for that matter).

You might look into taking ASAM's review course--lots of overlapping content, and possibly somewhat better designed and timed. But nevertheless, I didn't find the Addiction Psych board exam all that difficult, especially if you're working with patients in the area on some regular basis.

 

[strangeglove]

Principles of Addiction Medicine by Ries is more in depth about the medical part of addiction though perhaps still not a good place to learn CBT.

 

[Sirimboi]

The Addiction Psych board is every year, the Addiction Medicine is once every 2 years. But yeah, not worth developing a course or even a preparation book with the numbers of docs taking the exam...
I'm a full time inpatient attending on dual diagnostic unit at a top residency program, so I'm comfortable when it comes to diagnostic and common drugs. Is when it goes into therapies that I get anxious...

 

[imp3tigo]

The Addiction Psych board is every year, the Addiction Medicine is once every 2 years.

No, not true. Both addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry board exams are held every two years... and they happen to occur in the same year, including 2012.

Anyway, I'm in the same boat as you. I also find Galanter/Kleber to be pretty useless in a lot of ways, and a very painful and difficult read (not necessarily the content but the style or writing I suppose). The Ries book (Principles of Addiction Medicine) is a better text, and reads and feels like a text and not a collection of literature review chapters, but it is really long (more than twice the Galanter book). I would at least read the important chapters, including neurobiology chapter by Nora Volkow and the big topics (alcohol and cocaine especially, and if you have time, cannabis and stimulants).

Also, the Galanter book has a much more readable study guide that summarizes the important parts of all the chapters (in question/answer format with pretty detailed discussion) that I found to be pretty decent. I have been listening to the 2010 review course (8 hours of powerpoints with audio of the presentations too) which is hit and miss (smoking section is done by a psychologist who clearly doesn't understand the medical aspect of nicotine use and pharmacology, and the presentation is really not geared for board prep as the other chapters are... probably she used a presentation that she gives a lot... and the dual diagnosis and special populations presentation by Dr. Trevino is really hampered by his horrible presentation skills, but most of the sections are pretty good).

Anyway, I'm assuming that it won't be that hard and that the board review coarse and the study guide book will be sufficient, along with all the clinical experience I've gotten over the years through residency, fellowship, and post-training (I'm the medical director of a methadone program and work in a big addiction clinic as well).

Good luck with your preparation, I'm sure you'll pass!

 

[Sirimboi]

Done with the exam...
I have mixed feelings, like after any exam. 33% to 50% were straigh-forward, no brainers, the kind were you know the answer after the first line. Many were ambiguous and I could have gone either way between 2 answers, not because I did not know but because they were both correct. Many questions did not have the answer in Galanter book, seemed medicine oriented and were probably answered in Ries book. Maybe 5 out of total of 200 I just answered "C" as I had no idea of the answer (weird plants chewed by emigrants, etc).
If what I heard is correct, that you have to have a raw score of at least 60%, I'm good. I'll probably score in the 75% to 80%.

 

[strangeglove]

Khat. Weird plant chewed by immigrants.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Khat. Weird plant chewed by immigrants.

Also, when spelled Q-A-T, a useful scrabble/WWF word. 😀

 

[fjn2k4]

I just took addiction psych board as well on 8/28. I just finished a rigorous addiction psych fellowship in July and i thought the test was tough, fairly nit-picky and random. I felt more confident on general psych boards.

The only studying I did was listen to most of the AAAP lectures and reviewed the addiction lecture from beat the boards. I could not find questions to really study from. I think AAAP had questions but the person over the phone did not make them sound very helpful. So we'll see.

 

[imp3tigo]

I just took addiction psych board as well on 8/28. I just finished a rigorous addiction psych fellowship in July and i thought the test was tough, fairly nit-picky and random. I felt more confident on general psych boards.

Yep, I also took the boards on 8/28 and thought it was overall pretty tough and with a lot of those nit picky and random questions. There were a fair number of extremely obvious questions though (e.g. important pathway in addiction projects from the VTA to the... NAc... duh!). I would recommend reading all the "medical/non-therapy" chapters in the Ries book for anyone taking the test in the future because they are pretty high yield. Very little on modern neurobiological theories though (e.g. incentive salience, etc.). All the epidemiology questions seemed to be from NESARC.

I felt that a lot of the questions were just poorly written as well, unlike the questions from general psych boards. Whereas I felt the general psych boards (I was in the last class to have oral boards, so part I) was really easy and I felt that I aced it when I left the testing center (and took only half the allotted time) but not so much with this one. I just hope I passed.

 

[Sirimboi]

What metabolite detected in urine is going to tell you if the patient has been taking the Disulfiram? Could not find the answer anywhere.

 

[imp3tigo]

What metabolite detected in urine is going to tell you if the patient has been taking the Disulfiram? Could not find the answer anywhere.

Carbon Disulfide/Disulphide, although I think that it's detected in the breath (that's what I remember from the question as well). Luckily I guessed correctly on that one.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17156169

 

[Sirimboi]

Results are in...I passed. So did 2 other friends I know. The scores are on their way by regular mail, but I don't really care about it.
Can't believe I'm done FOREVER with hours long multiple choice exams!

 

[PikminOC]

What is the advantage of getting this addiction certification (besides knowledge of course)?

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Results are in...I passed. So did 2 other friends I know. The scores are on their way by regular mail, but I don't really care about it.
Can't believe I'm done FOREVER with hours long multiple choice exams!

You misspelled "...for 10 more years...".

 

[imp3tigo]

Results are in...I passed. So did 2 other friends I know. The scores are on their way by regular mail, but I don't really care about it.
Can't believe I'm done FOREVER with hours long multiple choice exams!

Congrats! I passed also. I got an 84% overall score, but I was surprised that the passing cutoff was only 65%. Pass rate must have been in the 90s.

I wish I had signed up for addiction medicine this year too, but I missed the sign up deadline. I'll take that two years from now...

 

[imp3tigo]

What is the advantage of getting this addiction certification (besides knowledge of course)?

Well, you can tell everyone that you're a board-certified addiction psychiatrist of course. 😎

Practically though, it gives you recognition and status as an addiction expert, which opens up job opportunities in the substance abuse field and should boost your salary as well.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Well, you can tell everyone that you're a board-certified addiction psychiatrist of course. 😎

Practically though, it gives you recognition and status as an addiction expert, which opens up job opportunities in the substance abuse field

Yes.

...and should boost your salary as well.

And No.

 

[PikminOC]

That's all I needed to know...

 

[toothless rufus]

Well, you can tell everyone that you're a board-certified addiction psychiatrist of course. 😎

Practically though, it gives you recognition and status as an addiction expert, which opens up job opportunities in the substance abuse fieldand should boost your salary as well.

Is the fellowship required? I was under the impression its not absolutely necessary for these jobs.

 

[imp3tigo]

Is the fellowship required? I was under the impression its not absolutely necessary for these jobs.

No, you don't need addiction psych/medicine fellowships or board certification (if grandfathered in) to get addiction jobs, even as medical directors at methadone clinics. However, you will have an inside track at better addictions jobs in major cities or academic (or affiliated) institutions. If you work for the VA, a fellowship will increase your salary as well.

 

[PikminOC]

No, you don't need addiction psych/medicine fellowships or board certification (if grandfathered in) to get addiction jobs, even as medical directors at methadone clinics. However, you will have an inside track at better addictions jobs in major cities or academic (or affiliated) institutions. If you work for the VA, a fellowship will increase your salary as well.

Aha!

 

[toothless rufus]

No, you don't need addiction psych/medicine fellowships or board certification (if grandfathered in) to get addiction jobs, even as medical directors at methadone clinics. However, you will have an inside track at better addictions jobs in major cities or academic (or affiliated) institutions. If you work for the VA, a fellowship will increase your salary as well.

Is there an end date set for grandfathering? What are the requirements?

 

[billypilgrim37]

You have to have your equivalent of one year of full-time addiction work as an attending completed by this year, but you have until I think 2017 to take the exam. So, no resident graduating this year or later will be able to be grandfathered in or take the ASAM exam. The AAAP is not grandfathering.