Educational Activities Archives

This module provides clinicians with tools to screen and diagnose patients with psychiatric illnesses and discusses how to treat common psychiatric comorbidities in patients with co-occurring substance use disorders. Covered topics include the epidemiology of co-occurring psychiatric illness and substance use disorders, comorbidity theories, clinical relevance, and diagnostic and treatment implications. The module utilizes three case vignettes to highlight specific diagnostic and treatment challenges and provides up-to-date treatment recommendations.

Opioid use disorder (OUD) can be a fatal addiction with complex implications for new and/or expecting mothers. OUD challenges can lead to many complications for mother and child, including low birth weight, clinical challenges with medical dosing and increased risk of accidental death. In the U.S. alone, a baby is born passively dependent every 15 minutes. To ensure best health outcomes for both mother and child, policies must allow engagement in evidence-based treatment and protect clients from legal ramifications. Hear from a physician, clinic director and an individual with lived experience to broaden understandings about the treatment and policy landscape for pregnant and postpartum women with OUD.

Escalation of perinatal opioid overdose and mortality has become a national public health concern. Prescription opioids are considered a gateway drug to misuse and dependency of other illicit drugs such as fentanyl and heroin. This study explored the 1) the pain-related experiences, 2) the social-ecological factors and experiences, and 3) the healthcare-related experiences of perinatal women who used or misused prescription opioids. The women’s shared experiences provided insights regarding how socio-ecologic and healthcare-related factors intersected with their pain experiences, which will be presented in three major themes of the study. This intersection was collectively identified as contributing to their initiation and perpetuation of misuse which hindered their journey to recovery and motherhood.

Half of all people with a substance use disorder (SUD) have chronic pain, and more than a third have a co-occurring psychiatric disorder. The ongoing opioid crisis is a case in point, where physical and emotional pain fuel opioid addiction and continue to drive countless deaths of despair to this day. Unfortunately, there are few evidence-based therapies that can simultaneously treat this complex comorbidity. To meet this need, Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) was generated through a decade-long treatment development process funded by the National Institutes of Health. Rooted in affective neuroscience, MORE unites mindfulness training, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and principles from positive psychology into an integrative therapy designed to target addiction, stress, and pain. This session will detail the theory underlying MORE, research data demonstrating MORE’s effectiveness, and unique clinical skills integral to this novel treatment. MORE has been tested in 11 clinical trials funded by more than $40 million in federal research grants. In the largest trial of MORE (250 patients with opioid misuse/OUD), MORE decreased opioid misuse by 45% by 9-month follow-up, more than doubling the effect of standard therapy. MORE also significantly decreased chronic pain, distress, depression, and PTSD. In addition, MORE has been shown to improve outcomes among people receiving medication assisted treatment. Neuroscience shows that MORE decreases the extent to which the brain is triggered by drug cues, while increasing brain responses to natural, healthy rewards. MORE is now being disseminated across the U.S. This dissemination effort is urgently needed, in light of the opioid settlement monies that are now reaching the states to help alleviate the opioid crisis.

“ADAA is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention, treatment, and cure of anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, and co-occurring disorders through the alignment of science, treatment, and education.”

This guide provides clinicians with questions to begin discussions with adult patients about mental illness, substance use disorders, or both. It includes resources for patients who need an evaluation after a positive screening.