(310) 470-1534
Katherine Watkins, MD
Female Psychiatrist
(310) 470-1534
Katherine Watkins, MD
Female Psychiatrist
Posted on: November 21, 2017
By Katherine E. Watkins, M.D., M.S.H.S.
Katherine E. Watkins is a Santa Monica psychiatrist and senior natural scientist at the RAND Corporation. The overall goal of her research is to improve the quality of care for individuals with behavioral health disorders, by developing, implementing, and evaluating innovative treatments and treatment models of health care delivery.
Let’s start with the good news. In recent years there has been a decline in alcohol-related traffic fatalities across the United States. How much of a decline? How about an impressive 40 percent over the last 20 years. There are many factors contributing to this success story, including:
Despite the trend, the hard data still causes alarm. (more…)
Posted in: Public Policy
Posted on: October 28, 2017
Collaborative Care for Opioid and Alcohol Use Disorders in Primary Care
By Katherine E. Watkins, M.D., M.S.H.S.
Katherine E. Watkins is a Santa Monica psychiatrist and senior natural scientist at the RAND Corporation. The overall goal of her research is to improve the quality of care for individuals with behavioral health disorders, by developing, implementing, and evaluating innovative treatments and treatment models of health care delivery.
In August, 2017 I, along with a number of my colleagues, published a research paper titled “Collaborative Care for Opioid and Alcohol Use Disorders in Primary Care”in the Journal of the American Medical Association-Internal Medicine. (more…)
Posted in: Public Policy
Posted on: October 25, 2016
Veterans have a high frequency of serious mental and substance use disorders. The return of US service members with symptoms indicative of serious mental disorders has focused attention on the difficulties of providing high-quality treatment to this population. Although returning service members are only 4.1 percent of the total veteran population, their complex psychological needs have made delivering high-quality treatment for mental and substance use disorders a national priority. (more…)
Posted in: Co-Occurring Disorders, Public Policy
Posted on: June 20, 2016
News & Insights From Santa Monica Psychiatrist Katherine Watkins, M.D.
In 2006, I co-wrote a research paper, “An Update on Adolescent Drug Use: What Schools Counselors Need to Know,”with research underwritten by the BEST Foundation for a Drug-Free Tomorrow. While recently reviewing the paper, I realized that its information was still quite relevant.
In writing the paper, I and my co-authors had a simple premise: School counselors need to have accurate and age-appropriate prevention education information in order to counsel teens on drug use. The article presented developmentally specific prevention materials for the most important emerging substances of abuse: Ecstasy, methamphetamine, cough and cold medications, prescription opiates and stimulants, and the “date rape” drugs. Because developing appropriate materials required understanding how adolescents develop, we adopted an expert-panel approach, supplemented with a literature review and teen focus groups.
If you would like to read the original article in its entirety, please download the PDF here.
Posted in: Public Policy
Posted on: April 20, 2016
News & Insights From Santa Monica Psychiatrist Katherine Watkins, M.D.
Whatever your political views about The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), it clearly stands as one of the most ambitious expansion and regulatory overhauls of the U.S. health care system in our country’s history.
In terms of significance, it ranks right with the implementation of Medicare and Medicaid. (more…)
Posted in: Public Policy
Posted on: March 23, 2016
News & Insights From Santa Monica Psychiatrist Katherine Watkins, M.D.
Along with my work as a board-certified practicing psychiatrist, I am a senior natural scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. In that capacity, I often write research papers on a variety of topics, including public policy. In 2014, I published this Opinion piece in the the Orange County Register. At that time, I pointed out that the significant problem of people driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) often involves psychiatric problems. Despite this fact, the state of California has developed programs that focus on education, not psychiatric treatment.
The following is the article in full. (more…)
Posted in: Public Policy
Psychiatrist: West Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Culver City