Addiction Treatment - Articles - Page 3

Expert Q&A

Navigating Cannabis Withdrawal

January 1, 2025

Alan J. Budney, PhD

Professor of Psychiatry; Professor of Biomedical Data Science; Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, NH.

Dr. Budney has served as a scientific advisor for Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Indivior Inc. Relevant financial relationships listed for the author have been mitigated.

Cannabis withdrawal is a largely underappreciated phenomenon that nonetheless interferes with many patients’ ability to stop using cannabis. Dr. Budney discusses some of the symptomatology of cannabis withdrawal and reviews how to discuss it with our patients.

Expert Q&A

Managing Withdrawal From Multiple Substances

January 1, 2025

Darius Rastegar, MD

Darius Rastegar, MD

Associate professor of medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.

Dr. Rastegar has no financial relationships with companies related to this material.

Substance use disorders are highly comorbid with one another and it is therefore common to have patients presenting for care withdrawing from multiple substances at one time. Here, Dr. Rastegar discusses how to assess patients with multiple withdrawal syndromes and how to treat them.

Clinical Update

Effective Management of Buprenorphine-Precipitated Opioid Withdrawal

January 1, 2025

Jaewon Lee, MD, MPH

Jaewon Lee, MD, MPH. PGY-2, psychiatry resident, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY.

Dr. Lee has no financial relationships with companies related to this material.

Buprenorphine is a first-line treatment for opioid use disorder, however, given buprenorphine to a patient who still has opioids in their system can precipitate severe withdrawal. Careful assessment of withdrawal can minimize the risk, but despite our best efforts, precipitated withdrawal can still occur. In this article, we review what to do for our patients experiencing buprenorphine-precipitated opioid withdrawal.

Clinical Update

Boost or Bust: Navigating the Risks of Prescription Stimulants

October 1, 2024

David Stiffler, MD and Noah Capurso, MD

David Stiffler, MD. Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Director of the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Center at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY.

Noah Capurso, MD, MHS. Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University, and Editor-in-Chief, The Carlat Addiction Treatment Report.

Drs. Stiffler and Capurso have no financial relationships with companies related to this material.

Prescription stimulants, while effective for treating ADHD, are widely taken without a prescription, particularly by young adults for cognitive enhancement, weight loss, and recreational purposes. This misuse poses serious risks, from developing stimulant use disorder to experiencing severe cardiovascular and psychiatric effects. In this article, you'll learn about the prevalence and patterns of stimulant misuse, its associated dangers, and tips on how to manage it in clinical practice.

Erratum

October 1, 2024

Research Update

How Do We Help Depressed Smokers Quit?

October 1, 2024

Justin Morales, MD and Deepti Anbarasan, MD

Justin Morales, MD, and Deepti Anbarasan, MD. Drs. Morales and Anbarasan have no financial relationships with companies related to this material.

Tobacco smoking and major depression are highly comorbid, and depressed patients usually have a tougher time quitting than their non-depressed counterparts. In this research study, investigators compared the efficacy of anti-smoking medications in those with depression. The results may surprise you.

Expert Q&A

Contingency Management for Stimulant Use Disorder

October 1, 2024

Dominick DePhilippis, PhD

Dominick DePhilippis, PhD

Deputy National Mental Health Director, Substance Use Disorders, Office of Mental Health, Veterans Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs.

Dr. DePhilippis has no financial relationships with companies related to this material.

Contingency management (CM) is a clinical approach that leverages principles of operant conditioning to treat stimulant use disorder. In this interview, Dr. DePhilippis explains how CM incentivizes recovery behaviors like abstinence with immediate rewards, making it an effective treatment tool. Learn how this evidence-based strategy works, why it’s considered the gold standard for treating stimulant use disorder, and the challenges of implementing CM in real-world settings.

Expert Q&A

Update on Stimulant Use Disorder

October 1, 2024

Brian Hurley, MD, MBA, FAPA, DFASAM

Brian Hurley, MD, MBA, FAPA, DFASAM

Addiction physician; President of the American Society for Addiction Medicine; Medical Director of the Bureau of Substance Abuse Prevention and Control, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA.

Dr. Hurley has no financial relationships with companies related to this material.

The interview with Dr. Hurley provides crucial insights into the world of psychostimulants, their misuse, and the emerging Fourth Wave of the Overdose Epidemic. Dr. Hurley discusses everything from the differences between stimulants like methamphetamine and cocaine to the importance of harm reduction strategies and evidence-based treatments for stimulant use disorder.

Clinical Update

Overview of Stimulants

October 1, 2024

Michael Weaver, MD, FASAM and Noah Capurso, MD

Michael Weaver, MD, DFASAM. Professor and Medical Director, Center for Neurobehavioral Research on Addiction at the University of Texas Medical School, Houston, TX.

Noah Capurso, MD, MHS. Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University, and Editor-in-Chief, The Carlat Addiction Treatment Report.

Drs. Weaver and Capurso have no financial relationships with companies related to this material.

This article offers an insightful overview of the pharmacology of various stimulant drugs, their potential for misuse, and the dangers they pose—especially with rising overdose rates due to contamination with fentanyl. Learn about the history, various classes of stimulants, and the treatments available for stimulant use disorder, as well as the crucial harm reduction strategies aimed at minimizing risks.