Addiction-treatment - Articles - Page 5

Tips on Marijuana Use Disorder

March 20, 2019

Regardless of where you practice, you'll increasingly hear patients acknowledging regular marijuana (MJ) use, sometimes as a "medical treatment" for conditions ranging from back pain to ADHD. You might want to remind your patients that, whether legal or not, marijuana is still a drug with potential negative consequences. Here are...

Is your patient hooked on Vicodin? Try this

March 19, 2019

I don't specialize in addiction treatment, but occasionally I do have patients who tell me they've been overusing prescription narcotics. For example, I once treated a woman for depression who was dependent on Vicodin that was originally prescribed after surgery by her OB/GYN. Over the years she had tried...

Introducing CRAFT: A Non-Confrontational Intervention We Can Recommend to Families

January 1, 2019

Thomas Jordan, MD, MPH.

Thomas Jordan, MD, MPH. Contributing writer to the Carlat newsletters. Dr. Jordan has disclosed that he has no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

How should families help their loved ones who are struggling with addiction? Should they be accommodating, firm, or confrontational? The Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) approach is a good strategy that you should become familiar with. Before we describe CRAFT, though, you should know about two other frequently used approaches to helping family members intervene: The Johnson Institute intervention and Al-Anon.

Becoming a Board-Certified Addiction Clinician

January 1, 2019

Michael Weaver, MD, FASAM

Michael Weaver, MD, FASAM

Professor and medical director at the Center for Neurobehavioral Research on Addictions at the University of Texas Medical School. Author of Addiction Treatment (Carlat Publishing, 2017). Dr. Weaver has disclosed that he has no relevant financial or other interests in any commercial companies pertaining to this educational activity.

Patients with addiction are common in psychiatric or any other practice. You’re going to see patients who have these issues, so it’s good to be prepared and able to focus on treating addiction, as well as to be part of a growing group of specialists.

Alcohol-Induced Blackouts

October 4, 2018

The recent Senate hearings regarding Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh have brought up the topic of alcohol overuse, and especially the issue of the alcoholic blackout. This post covers what alcohol-induced blackouts are and aren’t, and how to differentiate them from simply passing out from too much alcohol.Alcohol is a...

Screening Adolescent Patients for Substance Use

July 19, 2018

Adolescents are generally healthy, and they don’t tend to present with pancreatitis or other adult diseases that can be possible clues to a substance use issue. A lot of times adolescents with SUDs don’t hit the surface until they have a legal or a school consequence.The following is some advice...