Opioids Related Content

Streamlined Approach To Equipping Medical Students With Naloxone

Naloxone is now the standard of care for reversing opioid overdoses. However, the stigma about naloxone among health care professionals poses a significant barrier to its distribution. In addition, even medical students who learn to prescribe it and train patients in its use may harbor uncertainty...

Everything You Need To Know About Substance Use Detox

Addiction is one of the biggest challenges facing society today. Countless people are turning to substances, including prescription medications and alcohol, to cope with stress, trauma, and symptoms of common disorders, such as depression. There is massive stigma around addiction, whether someone is...

Everything You Need To Know About Addiction

Addiction is not a sign of weakness, a character flaw, or a moral failure. It is a common condition that affects millions of people of all ages, backgrounds, and socioeconomic groups. And while there is no one cause of addiction, there is hope—it can be treated effectively.

Opioid Overdose Survivors Report Having Had Suicidal Motivations

Past studies found that motivation for suicide may contribute to opioid overdose deaths in people with opioid use disorder (OUD). In 2019, a research team at McLean Hospital found suicidal motivations are common just prior to nonfatal opioid overdose and occur along a continuum of severity. Hilary S...

Helping Patients and Families Navigate Addiction Treatment Services

When she is not working as the admissions coordinator at Fernside, Quinn Tremblay stays very busy. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, attending country concerts and sports events, and “making folks laugh.” She said that her Catahoula leopard dog Annie “always puts a smile on my face,”...

Improving Our Treatment Approach for Opioid Use Disorder

A new national study, directed in part by Roger D. Weiss, MD, chief of McLean Hospital’s Division of Alcohol, Drugs, and Addiction, aims to create a model to predict who can successfully wean off their medication for opioid use disorder while also exploring how to help patients to continue some form...

Video: Lecture – Dr. R. Kathryn McHugh Examines Addiction and Anxiety

Presented by R. Kathryn McHugh, PhD, McLean Hospital – McLean Forum lecture Nearly 20% of people with substance use disorders also have an anxiety disorder. Co-occurring anxiety and substance addiction are more prevalent in individuals with drug use disorders, such as opioid use disorder, as...

Division of Alcohol, Drugs, and Addiction: New Names Reflect Progress

We are pleased to announce important name changes for McLean’s Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse and its associated treatment program. As of Monday, March 2, 2020, the division will officially be known as the Division of Alcohol, Drugs, and Addiction and the umbrella treatment program will be known...

Video: Addiction & Mental Health – McLean in Mumbai

Speaker: Dr. Mohit Shah In February 2019, McLean Hospital, in collaboration with the N.S. Vahia Foundation, offered a weeklong lecture series hosted at the Nehru Science Center in Mumbai focused on educating the public and professionals about brain and mental health. Learn more: mclean.org/mumbai

Telling the Story of Addiction

“That’s the outfit I wore when I overdosed and when I was discharged from the emergency room–the last day I used and the first day of sobriety.” - Ava Grieco Ava Grieco’s canvas shows her floating through a blue sky, arms wide and stippled with needle marks. A chain anchors her to a hypodermic...

Opioid Addiction: Exploring Scientific Solutions

The ultimate solution to the opioid crisis is answering the question of what causes addiction and whether it is possible to treat it more effectively or even prevent it. That’s the challenge Elena H. Chartoff, PhD, is taking on in her laboratory. As director of the Neurobiology of Motivated Behavior...

On the Front Line of the Opioid Crisis

It was a problem we never used to speak about, something that afflicted those “down on their luck” or residents of “skid row” who could not cope with their lives. They dealt with those challenges with alcohol and drug misuse, the drug of choice frequently heroin. Today, addiction—particularly to...