From the Street to the Prescription Pad: Psychedelics Return to Psychiatry

Topics: Practice Tools and Tips | Psychopharmacology | Psychotherapy | Substance Abuse

You’ve been treating Bob, a 37-year-old combat veteran with refractory PTSD, for the past 15 years. After two psychotherapists gave him a club drug, he returns to your office reporting he’s been symptom-free for two months. Jean, a 67-year-old woman you’ve been treating for anxiety associated with stage 4 breast cancer, tells you that after ­inge

MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Topics: Practice Tools and Tips | Psychopharmacology | Psychotherapy | Substance Abuse

Ms. Petitt’s manages the program that selects and trains researchers for the MDMA-assisted psychotherapy protocols MAPS Public Benefit Corporation is conducting. The program has reviewed 300 applicants, and is in the midst of training 80 people who will work on therapy teams for Phase 3 trials. In addition to the training program, Ms. Petitt has also

A Kratom Update

Topics: Addiction | News of Note | Substance Abuse

If you have not yet heard of kratom (usually pronounced kray-tom or krah-tom), consider this an introduction to an herbal supplement that will likely be popping up in your newsfeeds with increasing frequency. Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is a tropical evergreen tree in the coffee family that has been used for centuries in Southeast Asia to boost energy a

Identifying and Deterring Drug Abuse and Diversion via PDMPs

Topics: Practice Tools and Tips | Substance Abuse

David is a 30-year-old male referred by the department of corrections after spending two years in jail for drug possession. On interview, he says he has “extreme social anxiety” that’s kept him out of work for several years. He also cites difficulty concentrating due to “adult ADD.” He looks relaxed and comfortable, and says he can’t recall

Managing Drug-Seeking Patients

Topics: Practice Tools and Tips | Substance Abuse

CATR: What’s your initial approach to patients who ask for controlled substances? Dr. Raskin: First, it’s important to exclude the possibility that someone may have an unrecognized or undertreated medical condition. In an addiction treatment setting, this has often been done before the patient sees you, but in other settings it can be more chall

Tales from the History of Psychiatry: Opium, an Ancient Psychotropic

Topics: Addiction | Substance Abuse

These days, opiates are primarily prescribed to treat pain. But there is a long history of using opiates to treat depression and other mental illness. Starting in the 700s, Arabian cultures used opium in mental hospitals in Baghdad, Damascus, Fez, and Cairo that also incorporated milieu therapy such as music, reading, and sexual stimulation. In the Vict

Evaluating and Treating Pain in Psychiatric Patients

Topics: Addiction | Practice Tools and Tips | Psychopharmacology Tips | Psychotherapy | Substance Abuse

TCPR: Dr. Clark, recently a local pain clinic asked me if I wanted to do some psychiatric consultation there. I ended up declining, partly because I really didn’t know what I was supposed to do as a psychiatrist working in a pain clinic. Can you provide some insight? Dr. Clark: I think psychiatrists are being underutilized in chronic pain managemen

Vilazodone Not Effective for Cannabis Dependence

Topics: Addiction | Practice Tools and Tips | Psychopharmacology Tips | Research Updates | Substance Abuse

Combining Alcohol With Caffeinated Energy Drinks Leads to Increased Alcohol Consumption

Topics: Addiction | Research Updates | Substance Abuse

Applying Dialectical Behavior Therapy to Addiction

Topics: Addiction | Cognitive Behavioral Therapy | Practice Tools and Tips | Substance Abuse

Motivational Interviewing: Ten Tips

Topics: Addiction | Practice Tools and Tips | Substance Abuse

1. Be curious, not an expert. Training and expertise can get in the way of our really hearing the client’s story. For example, a client says “I don’t think my drinking is a problem.” Some of us are indoctrinated in the concept that denial is a part of the addiction problem—and in this case we might automatically interpret this statement as de

Using Motivational Interviewing in Your Practice

Topics: Addiction | Cognitive Behavioral Therapy | Substance Abuse

Synthetic THC and Antihypertensive Provide Little Benefit for Cannabis Dependence

Topics: Addiction | Substance Abuse

Addiction and Family: What You Need to Know

Topics: Addiction | Free Articles | Substance Abuse

George F. Koob, PhD, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), doesn’t like the word “codependency,” and he likes the word “enabling” even less. “Codependency is a pejorative word, and it implies that someone else is at fault—and one of the major components of Alcoholics Anonymous is to take full responsib

Alcohol Addiction: The Role of Families in Treating Patients

Topics: Addiction | Substance Abuse

Intranasal Naloxone Product Approved by FDA

Topics: Addiction | Substance Abuse

How Psychiatrists Can Use AA to Help Their Patients

Topics: Addiction | Substance Abuse

The influence of the Twelve Steps recovery program of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is pervasive, but many psychiatrists treating patients with alcohol use—or other substance use—disorders may be unaware of exactly how it can help them in their work. There are more than 50,000 AA meetings a week nationwide. Meetings are free, easily accessible, and u

The Twelve Steps Explained

Topics: Addiction | Free Articles | Substance Abuse

Step 1: The surrender  “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.” The first step may happen on the first day a patient gets into treatment, or it may be what brings the patient to treatment. But much of the time, this step requires help: Someone needs to ask the questions to make the patient understand

Psychiatrists and the Twelve Steps

Topics: Addiction | Substance Abuse

The Latest in Designer Drugs

Topics: Addiction | Practice Tools and Tips | Substance Abuse

Over the past several years, the explosion of “designer drugs”—so named because they are designed to evade regulation and law enforcement—has continued unabated. Like fashion designers who work perennially to make last year’s wardrobe obsolete, chemists in sophisticated laboratories add continuously to the vast number of “novel psychoactive