I thought I was done, but here are a couple more smart takes. Both support maintenance but appreciate the article raising awareness of important problems. From The Institute Blog: And as the articles (and the comment section) demonstrate, the use of buprenorphine to treat addiction and prevent substance use-related harms is messy. Interlacing text and video, … Continue reading NY Times / Suboxone redux
Tag: Pharmaceutical drug
no hint of opinion here
To me, the most important line in the NY Times Suboxone series was this one, "[Dr. Sullivan] considered opioid addiction "a hopeless disease'". We believe that maintenance approaches are rooted in the belief that most opiate addicts are not capable of recovering in the same manner that doctors recover. Most of the arguments for maintenance treatments … Continue reading no hint of opinion here
Addiction Treatment With a Dark Side
The NY Times has a new piece on Suboxone. First, on its blockbuster status: Suboxone is the blockbuster drug most people have never heard of. Surpassing well-known medications like Viagra and Adderall, it generated $1.55 billion in United States sales last year, its success fueled by an exploding opioid abuse epidemic and the embrace of federal officials … Continue reading Addiction Treatment With a Dark Side
NIMH acknowledges that antipsychotics worsen prospects for long term recovery
Thomas Insel, the Director of the National Institute on Mental Health comments on a recent study of the long term effects of antipsychotic maintenance for schizophrenics. The study looked at patients who discontinued antipsychotics compared to those who were maintained on antipsychotics. ...by seven years, the discontinuation group had achieved twice the functional recovery rate: … Continue reading NIMH acknowledges that antipsychotics worsen prospects for long term recovery
3 fold preference for talk-therapy
I swear I don't go looking for this stuff. This post from the British Psychological Society just popped up in my feed reader: A line was crossed in 2005 as anti-depressant medication became the most widely prescribed class of drug in the USA. ... "It is unclear why the shift toward pharmacologic and away from … Continue reading 3 fold preference for talk-therapy
how do you want your loved one to return?
Anna David has an interview with Earl Hightower that really gets at the informed consent issues I've been talking about here. AD: Should the parents just accept the first recommendation or should they ask for more? EH: I think the first question they should ask should be one they ask themselves, which is how they … Continue reading how do you want your loved one to return?
Buprenorphine + therapy = ?
Ian McLoone directs us to another study (the 4th in a row) finding that buprenorphine patients receive no benefit from added behavioral treatments. Where does this leave us? We've seen criticism of the devolution of methadone maintenance (MMT) into dosing clinics with calls for a new recovery orientation to MMT and a return to methadone being … Continue reading Buprenorphine + therapy = ?
no hint of opinion here
From an article about a new report on medications for opiate treatment: The report also examined studies that evaluated buprenorphine, methadone, injectable naltrexone, and oral naltrexone and concluded a benefit in patient outcomes as well as costs. "I can say with no hint of opinion here, it's simple fact, they are all effective," McLellan said. … Continue reading no hint of opinion here
NAATP launches counteroffensive to medication push
This is very welcome news: Frustrated that medication-assisted treatment is coming across as the addiction field’s standard of care simply because drug company studies are dominating the research landscape, a group of some of the most prominent leaders in treatment administration is vowing to fight back. These leaders have enlisted the help of another heavy … Continue reading NAATP launches counteroffensive to medication push
Hazelden to start opioid maintenance
This has gotten a lot of attention [emphasis mine]: ...for the first time, Hazelden will begin providing medication-assisted treatment for people hooked on heroin or opioid painkillers, starting at its Center City, Minnesota facility and expanding across its treatment network in five states in 2013. This so-called maintenance therapy differs from simply detoxifying addicts until … Continue reading Hazelden to start opioid maintenance
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