Mark Schenker on addiction, part 1: What is addiction

Mark Schenker defines addiction and talks about his integrative model.


Mark Schenker is a licensed psychologist with 40 years of experience working with patients with substance use disorders. Dr. Schenker has written “A Clinician’s Guide to Twelve-Step Recovery” (Norton, 2009) and the chapter “Addiction Treatment Settings” for the APA Handbook of Clinical Psychology (APA, 2016). He has taught and supervised clinicians at universities and treatment programs, and has presented nationally and internationally (well, Toronto). He received the 2017 “Addiction Professional of the Year” award from the Caron Foundation, and a Presidential Citation from APA Division 50 in 2018, where he has served on the Board of Directors. He hosted a monthly Clinical Conference Call on behalf of Division 50, featuring speakers and callers from around the world. He is committed to training clinicians to address the problem of addiction in their practices. Dr. Schenker maintains a practice outside of Philadelphia with a focus on addiction psychology and family/couples therapy. See website.


Published June 2021