For an interesting article on new behavioral approaches to treat addictions, see the following article. It’s unfortunate my former coauthor does not discuss the use of medications to assist addiction treatment. To view Maia Szalavitz’s article, click here.
Raymond F Anton, Hugh Myrick, Tara M Wright, Patricia K Latham, Alicia M Baros, L Randolph Waid, Patrick K Randall American Journal of Psychiatry 2011, 168 (7): 709-17 OBJECTIVE: Naltrexone, an efficacious medication for alcohol dependence, does not work for everyone. Symptoms such as insomnia and mood instability that are most evident during early abstinence might respond better to a…
While expanding the number of patients physicians can treat under Buprenorphine can be beneficial, it has the potential to indirectly create ‘pill mills’ where doctors write prescriptions for patients, but patients do not receive addiction treatment. For the full article describing the Obama Administration’s decision to increase the number of patients physicians can treat with Suboxone, click here.
Heroin abuse has been increasing drastically throughout the past decade. Pennsylvania has been hit hard with the number of deaths from heroin abuse tripling since the start of the 21st century. The following link leads to an article that provides shocking statistics about the heroin crisis in Pennsylvania. Click here.
Maria A Sullivan, Adam Bisaga, Andrew Glass, Kaitlyn Mishlen, Martina Pavlicova, Kenneth M Carpenter, John J Mariani, Frances R Levin, Edward V Nunes BACKGROUND: Adherence to oral naltrexone has been poor and can be improved somewhat with behavioral therapy. We compared behavioral naltrexone therapy (BNT) to compliance enhancement (CE) and tested efficacy of single-dose injection naltrexone (XR-NTX; 384 mg) with…
Amy W Helstrom, Frederick C Blow, Valerie Slaymaker, Henry R Kranzler, Shirley Leong, David Oslin AIMS: The role of craving for alcohol as a response to alcohol treatment is not well understood. We examined daily diary ratings of craving over the course of 28 days among individuals participating in an inpatient substance abuse treatment program. METHODS: Participants were alcohol dependent…
Elias Aboujaoude, Wael O Salame CNS Drugs 2016 July 11 Addiction is a major public health problem with few efficacious and safe treatments. The goal of this review is to provide an evidence-based assessment of the therapeutic role of the opioid antagonist naltrexone across the addiction spectrum-substance-based and behavioral. The PubMed database was searched for randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials…
by ASAM Staff | July 13, 2016 July 13, 2016 – Today, the United States Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA). The Senate vote follows a similar near-unanimous vote in the House of Representatives last week and will send the bill to the President’s desk for his signature. The American Society of Addiction Medicine…
It’s estimated that approximately 1% of the world’s population is diagnosed with schizophrenia, while the prevalence in the United States is slightly higher with an estimated 1.2% of the population diagnosed with the illness. That’s about 3.2 million Americans as of 2009, with an expected 100,000 people diagnosed annually – or 7.2 in every 1,000 people. For the full article…