Update: Is Watching 13 Reasons Why Bad for Teens?

Topics: Bullying | Contagion | Media | Prevention | Research Update | Risk | Suicidality | Suicide | teens

Review of: Niederkrotenthaler T et al, JAMA Psychiatry 2019. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.0922 Several studies have examined whether Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why is good or bad for teens. Results have been mixed. In the CCPR March/April 2019 issue, we reported a study finding that most suicidal ideation decreased after watching the first season of

Primer: Physical Examination in Addiction Practice

Topics: Addiction | Medical Comorbidities | Prevention | Substance Use | Substance use disorders

Patients with substance use disorders (SUD) often have unaddressed medical issues. As addiction providers, we may be a patient’s only line of contact with health care personnel. Thus, keeping an eye out for medical problems could help reduce associated complications and even save a life. This article will take you through the sections of a basic physi

Screening and Prophylaxis of Infectious Diseases in Addiction Practice

Topics: Addiction | Addiction Treatment | Hepatitis | HIV | Medical Comorbidities | Prevention | Substance Use | Substance use disorders

CATR: Can you tell us about your background? Dr. Springer: I’m an infectious disease doctor who is addiction medicine board certified as well. My background clinically is treating HIV and infectious diseases, as well as opioid use disorder (OUD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD). My research is about how to best integrate infectious disease and OUD trea

PrEP: Introduction to the Basics

Topics: Addiction | Addiction Treatment | HIV | Medical Comorbidities | Medication | Pharmacology | Prevention | Substance Use | Substance use disorders

Great strides have been made in HIV treatment and prevention during the last 2 decades, resulting in falling numbers of new HIV infections during that time span. But since 2013, the rate of new infections has mostly plateaued at just under 40,000 new infections per year (www.hiv.gov). Those at highest risk of infection remain men who have sex with men,

Stigmatizing Smoking: An Effective Deterrent?

Topics: Prevention | Public health | Stigma | Tobacco use disorder

Review of: Cortland CI et al, Addiction 2019;114:1842–1848 Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death, disease, and disability in the United States. Among the $50 million the American government spends each year on tobacco cessation efforts, part of that money is spent on public service campaigns that work to shame or stigmatize smok

Predicting and Preventing Fatal Opioid Overdoses

Topics: Opioid epidemic | Overdose | Prevention

Review of: Larochelle MR et al, Drug and Alcohol Depend 2019;204:107537 The epidemic of opioid-related deaths has been declared a public health emergency. Research has already described risk factors—or “touchpoints”—associated with an increased risk of opioid overdose: for example, certain clinical scenarios or incarceration. What’s less cl

Harm Reduction Strategies—A Primer

Topics: Free Articles | Hepatitis | HIV | Opioid epidemic | Overdose | Prevention

As is frequently the case with chronic diseases, cure is often neither possible nor an appropriate goal in addiction treatment. That’s where the concept of “harm reduction” comes in. Such strategies can help prevent death, serious injury, or other negative consequences of substance use in patients who are continuing to use drugs or struggle with a

The Clinician’s Role: Reducing Harm Among People Who Use Drugs

Topics: Hepatitis | HIV | Opioid epidemic | Overdose | Prevention

CATR: You came out with a book last September called Getting Wrecked: Women, Incarceration, and the American Opioid Crisis (University of California Press). What lessons from your book might be relevant to the practicing clinician? Dr. Sue: The book is based on my PhD work in sociocultural and medical anthropology. I spent a lot of time in Massachusett

How to Talk to Patients About the Risk of Opioid Overdose

Topics: Hepatitis | HIV | Opioid epidemic | Overdose | Prevention

There were 47,600 deaths due to opioid-related overdoses in 2017. Put another way, in the time it’ll take you to read this issue of CATR, almost 5 Americans will die from an opioid overdose (www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/statedeaths.html). One important way to reduce risk is by empowering patients with the knowledge, skills, and tools to prevent and m

Psychotherapy and Medication in Recurrent Depression

Topics: Brief psychotherapy | Deprescribing | Depression | Depressive Disorder | Prevention | Psychotherapy | Therapy during medication appointment | Therapy with Med Management | Treatment-Resistant Depression

TCPR: When depression is recurrent, we usually continue the antidepressant indefinitely. Has that practice come under challenge? Dr. Fava: Yes. Antidepressant drugs are certainly important during the depressive episode, but what we are starting to question is whether they are as effective in preventing relapse. A meta-analysis from 12 years ago found t