The American Opioid Epidemic: From Patient Care to Public Health

The American Opioid Epidemic: From Patient Care to Public Health provides
practicing psychiatrists, trainees, and other mental health professionals with
the latest information on opioid addiction, including misuse of heroin and other
illicit opioids, the role of prescription analgesic opioids, and recent overdose
trends. Although highly effective in relieving acute pain, opioids can cause
untold damage to people's lives, health, and social structures. Recognizing the
efficacy of these drugs when prescribed appropriately, the editors call not for
eliminating access or for incarcerating those who are addicted, but for changing
the patterns of prescribing and use. The crisis is analyzed by expert
contributors from a wide variety of perspectives; they address issues of
epidemiology and toxicology, prevention and harm reduction, and common
comorbidities. Stressing that prevention and treatment do work, expert
contributors provide down-to-earth, public-health-focused strategies that
clinicians and public health workers alike will find indispensable. Moreover,
the use of clinical vignettes and key chapter points help ground the reader and
highlight the most important concepts.The book is comprehensive in its
exploration of all facets of the crisis: A thorough overview of prescription
opioids is presented, including descriptions of the agents and their
physiological effects, details on the origins of the opioid prescription use and
misuse epidemic, current national trends in the nonmedical use of these
prescription medications, and the consequences of long-term use of prescription
opioids, such as the risk of initiating use of heroin and other illegal
opioids. Screening, assessment, and treatment planning for opioid use disorder
is explored in detail, as is the pathophysiology, clinical signs, and management
of opioid withdrawal. The epidemiology, pathophysiology, and toxicology of
opioid-related overdose are covered, guiding clinicians in key principles of
overdose management-from evaluation to treatment to prevention. Readers will
learn about the pharmacology and clinical use of the main opioid overdose
reversal agent, naloxone, as well as the toxic profiles of the most common
opioids implicated in overdose deaths. The social determinants of the opioid
epidemic are addressed from historical, demographic, and socioeconomic
perspectives, as well as the pharmaceutical marketing-related, regulatory, and
governmental policy-oriented factors that shape health disparities around opioid
addiction and its consequences. Harm reduction programs, including syringe
access programs, overdose prevention education (including naloxone training and
dispensing), education for safe injection practices, and facilitating access to
opioid agonist treatment, are thoroughly explored. Harm reduction strategies
that clinicians can use with individual patients are also discussed.

The
American Opioid Epidemic: From Patient Care to Public Health provides an
in-depth look at clinical and public health approaches to this epidemic from
both psychiatric and medical perspectives and gives mental health professionals
the big picture necessary to understand the epidemic, as well as the clinical
detail required to help patients avoid or overcome opioid addition.