Reducing the risks when using benzodiazepines to treat insomnia: A public health approach.

Benzodiazepines are widely used but can cause considerable harm, including sedation, addiction, falls, fractures, and cognitive impairment, especially with long-term use and in elderly patients. The authors propose a public health approach to reduce the potential for harm when using benzodiazepines to treat insomnia. Primary prevention involves judicious patient selection and patient education. Secondary prevention requires keeping the duration of use as short as possible according to guidelines. Tertiary prevention, for patients who have been taking a benzodiazepine for a long time, uses shared decision-making to introduce a gradual and carefully monitored taper.

Treating ADHD and Comorbid Anxiety in Children: A Guide for Clinical Practice.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is frequently comorbid with anxiety disorders with rates as high as 25% to 50% in children and adolescents. Despite various treatment options for ADHD symptoms, limited research addresses treatment in the context of comorbidity. This article seeks to provide a review of the evidence regarding treatment of this comorbid population. Distinct emotional, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms have been observed in this population, suggesting a need for tailored treatment. Despite common concerns about anxiety exacerbation, stimulant medications demonstrate good tolerability and good response in addressing symptoms. Atomoxetine has also demonstrated some benefit and good tolerability for treating this comorbid population. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors can be used as adjunctive treatment for anxiety but require careful monitoring of side effects. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an important treatment to improve anxiety symptoms in the absence of significant ADHD symptoms. Psychosocial interventions are also essential to improve outcomes.

Gabapentin for alcohol use disorder: A good option, or cause for concern?

The anticonvulsant drug gabapentin is used off-label to treat alcohol-related withdrawal, cravings, anxiety, and insomnia. Although it is well tolerated and has demonstrated efficacy for mild alcohol withdrawal and early abstinence, there is concern about its potential for abuse. Gabapentin should be prescribed only as a second-line alternative to standard therapies, and only after screening for opioid or other prescription drug abuse to determine if heightened monitoring is warranted. Clinicians should be aware of gabapentin's limitations for treating alcohol use disorder and be attentive to emerging data on risks and benefits.

Buprenorphine Overdose in Young Children: An Underappreciated Risk.

The escalation of the opioid crisis has led to an increase in the treatment of opioid use disorder. In particular, recent legislation has allowed for office-based treatment with buprenorphine, a partial µ-opioid agonist that is believed to be safer than methadone due to a ceiling effect on respiratory depression in adults. An increasing number of children are being exposed to buprenorphine as more adults in US households receive take-home prescriptions. The ceiling effect seen in adults does not seem to apply to young children, and intoxication with severe symptoms including fatalities can occur. This article outlines the pharmacology of buprenorphine and reviews the current literature on overdose in children. We conclude with practical recommendations for limiting potential exposure and damage to children from accidental buprenorphine overdose.

Prescribing Opioid Replacement Therapy in U.S. Correctional Settings.

Opioid addiction is a chronic, relapsing disorder associated with criminality, unemployment, infectious diseases, and legal problems. Such addictions are typically over-represented in correctional populations. Inmates with untreated opioid addiction often relapse shortly after release into the community, thereby increasing the risk of overdose, serious illnesses (HIV, hepatitis C) and psychosocial problems (e.g., crimes, recidivism, and reincarceration). There are three U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved medications for the treatment of opioid use disorder: methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone. Opioid replacement therapies (ORTs) are associated with significant benefits, including reducing the incidences of HIV, criminality, and opioid-related mortality. However, most opioid-dependent Americans who are incarcerated are forced to discontinue ORT upon prison entry. This article offers a rationale for providing ORT to addicted prisoners while incarcerated and providing appointments with outpatient providers for continued treatment.

Use and misuse of opioid agonists in opioid addiction.

Although methadone (an opioid agonist) and buprenorphine (a partial opioid agonist) have evidence to support their use in treating opioid use disorder, they remain misunderstood and underutilized. In this article, we outline the risks and benefits of using these drugs as maintenance therapy in opioid-dependent patients.

Universal precautions to reduce stimulant misuse in treating adult ADHD.

In the United States, stimulants remain the approved pharmacotherapy of choice for adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Many patients respond to these drugs, but stimulants also have a significant potential for misuse. This article suggests the "universal precautions" approach to reducing these risks while promoting appropriate medication use.

Does mindfulness meditation improve attention in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder?

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) manifests by high levels of inattention, impulsiveness and hyperactivity. ADHD starts in childhood and results in impairments that continue into adulthood. While hyperactivity declines over time, inattention and executive function difficulties persist, leading to functional deficits. Adolescents and adults with ADHD have pervasive impairment in interpersonal and family relationships. They may develop addiction, delinquent behavior and comorbid psychiatric disorders. Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment, persistent residual symptoms are common, highlighting the need for novel treatment strategies. Mindfulness training, derived from Eastern meditation practices, may improve self-regulation of attention. It may also be a useful strategy to augment standard ADHD treatments and may be used as a potential tool to reduce impairments in patients with residual symptoms of ADHD. Clinically, this would manifest by an increased ability to suppress task-unrelated thoughts and distractions resulting in improved attention, completion of tasks and potential improvement in occupational and social function.

Parenting teens with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: challenges and opportunities.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) presents in childhood with inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity and is associated with functional impairments. These children tend to display a variety of disruptive behaviors, which may worsen in adolescence. Teens with ADHD may show high levels of defiance, posing significant challenges for parents. Early efforts to understand parenting in the context of teen ADHD reveal high levels of parental stress and reactivity in response to the teen's ADHD symptoms. Subsequent research recognized that some of these parents have ADHD or other psychopathology that may contribute to maladaptive parenting. However, some parents adjust and demonstrate optimism and resilience in the face of their teens' ADHD. Recent research has identified parental factors (eg, emotional intelligence) and interventions (eg, mindfulness training) that may improve parenting/teen relationships and the developmental outcomes of teens. This article explores parenting teens with ADHD with a focus on these novel interventions.

Are motivation deficits underestimated in patients with ADHD? A review of the literature.

AIMS: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by impaired inhibition, inattention, and altered sensitivity to rewards. Behavioral studies support the presence of motivational disturbances as a distinct component of ADHD. Functional magnetic resonance imaging is a technology now used to research the brain circuitry underlying motivation. These studies indicate that individuals with ADHD exhibit hyporesponsitivity of the dopamine neurons in the ventral and dorsal striata in response to rewarding stimuli. Our article reviews the research examining interactions between external motivation and the responses of individuals with ADHD, from both neurobiologic and clinical perspectives. METHODS: A PubMed search of studies written in English between 2000 and 2012 with keywords ADHD and motivation was conducted. RESULTS: Motivational processes are examined using behavioral and neurobiologic paradigms. Behavioral studies show altered processing of reinforcement and incentives in children with ADHD. These children respond more impulsively to rewards and choose small, immediate rewards over larger, delayed incentives. Interestingly, a high intensity of reinforcement is effective in improving task performance in children with ADHD. Pharmacotherapy may also improve task persistence in these children. CONCLUSION: Previous studies suggest that a clinical approach using interventions to improve motivational processes in patients with ADHD may improve outcomes as children with ADHD transition into adolescence and adulthood.

Cancer pain in the opioid-addicted patient: can we treat it right?

Although cancer elicits an array of physical and emotional symptoms, pain is often identified as the most distressing. Cancer pain may result from the primary tumor, metastasis, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or medical comorbidities. Although treatment with opioid analgesics is accepted as appropriate therapy for cancer-related pain, under treatment may persist among certain patients. Opioid-addicted individuals represent a challenging and heterogeneous population to treat. Addiction is linked to psychopathology and antisocial behaviors (eg, lying) which often complicate evaluation. Chronic exposure to opioids may lead to physiologic dependence and its correlates, tolerance and hyperalgesia. Given the variability and subjectivity of the cancer pain experience, there are no objective measures which capture the adequacy of pain control. Thus, when faced with complaints of uncontrolled pain, clinicians must consider a differential diagnosis of tolerance, disease progression, addiction, pseudoaddiction, chemical coping, or even criminal behavior. This article explores the cognitive, behavioral, and physiological correlates of opioid addiction that may impact cancer pain management. It also discusses risk reduction strategies for opioid misuse and research directions that may lead to improved clinical outcomes in these patients.