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Caring for Yourself: Learning to Live with a Substance Use Disorder
Substance use and misuse have reached epidemic proportions across the United States. In a 2020 survey, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) estimated that more than 40 million individuals across the country over the age of 12 have a substance use disorder, with...
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Focus on Addiction Psychiatry: An Interview with Petros Levounis, MD, President of the American Psychiatric Association (APA)
The following are excerpts of an August 21, 2023, conversation with Petros Levounis, MD, current President of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). This interview has been edited for clarity. Rachel Fernbach: First congratulations on your new position as President of the American...
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Substance Use Disorders: Frequency and Treatment for People with Serious Mental Illness
Throughout its history, America has attempted to punish substance users as a means to encourage their abstinence. These attempts have included imprisonment, fines, and forced rehabilitation programs, often sentenced at a higher rate to people of color (Volkow, 2023). Punishments like these often...
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Reducing Stigma Through Harm Reduction Interventions
Services for the UnderServed (S:US) is one the largest community-based health and human services organizations in New York State that works intentionally daily to right societal imbalances by providing comprehensive and culturally responsive services. The pandemic has deepened many of the...
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Early Mental Health Screening and Intervention Could Halt Addiction Epidemic
The epidemic of substance use disorder (SUD) has become a plague on our society, resulting in countless deaths, overwhelming our health care and justice systems, and taking a terrible toll on the families of those suffering from this disease. While billions of dollars have been poured into...
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Using the Partnership to End Addiction’s Online Risk Assessment Tool to Assess and Combat Children’s Risk of Developing Addiction
As a society, we’re well versed in the factors that can increase our risk for diseases like cancer and diabetes. But what about risk factors for addiction? Addiction, like diabetes and cancer, is a disease. And as a disease, it is caused by a combination of many different factors:...
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A Family’s Recovery Journey, An Interview with Jorge R. Petit, MD
Services for the UnderServed (S:US) is a nonprofit organization that plays a critical role in the health and wellbeing of more than 37,000 of New York City’s most vulnerable individuals and families each year, helping them overcome complex and challenging life circumstances. At S:US, we...
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What Can Families Expect After Drug Rehab?
The first step when a loved one leaves rehab is to determine if they are serious about sobriety. Worrying or constant monitoring doesn’t help. But, pretending everything is OK, because you want it to be OK, is even more harmful. Walk the thin line of being supportive, yet aware and ready to...
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NY State Department of Health Warns the Public in Central New York About Alarming Increase In Opioid Overdoses
Providers and Public Encouraged to Take Advantage of New Standing Order, Allowing New Yorkers to Get Naloxone Without a Prescription On August 26, 2022, The New York State Department of Health has been made aware of a rapid increase in opioid-related overdoses in the Central New York region....
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Percentage of Overdose Deaths Involving Methadone Declined Between January 2019 and August 2021
National data indicate COVID-era treatment expansion was not associated with harms, add evidence to support take-home treatment for opioid use disorder The percentage of methadone-involved overdose deaths relative to all drug overdose deaths declined from January 2019 to August 2021, according...
