objective: in spite of introduction of novel drugs, obsessive-compulsive disorder (ocd) has still found no suitable treatment. on the other hand, high rates of co-morbidity of ocd with bipolar spectrum disorders are increasingly recognized. mood switching and development of rapid cycling with antidepressants are significant problems in these patients. from this viewpoint, introducing a non-anti...

In patients with alcohol dependence and a recent history of drinking to intoxication, is treatment with naltrexone for 3 or 12 months in addition to standardized psy-chosocial treatment more effective than placebo for reducing alcohol consumption? Randomized {allocation concealed*} †, blinded (participants and health care providers),* controlled trial with 52-week follow-up. 15 Veterans Affairs...

Opioid use, especially injecting heroin use, makes a substantial contribution to premature mortality [1]. In North America, western Europe and Australia, untreated opioid users’ mortality risk can be 1–2% annually, generally more than 10 times higher than the general population [1]. Overdose is a major cause of death prior to long-term cessation of injection/opioid use (contributing to 50–80% o...

In March 2010, Orexigen(R) Therapeutics submitted a new drug application (NDA) for approval of naltrexone sustained release (SR)/bupropion SR (Contrave(R)) for the treatment of obesity in the US. The tablet contains naltrexone SR 32 mg and bupropion SR 360 mg. The drug has been tested in four randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase III trials and the co-primary endpoints were met in...

CONTEXT Rapid opioid detoxification with opioid antagonist induction using general anesthesia has emerged as an expensive, potentially dangerous, unproven approach to treat opioid dependence. OBJECTIVE To determine how anesthesia-assisted detoxification with rapid antagonist induction for heroin dependence compared with 2 alternative detoxification and antagonist induction methods. DESIGN, ...

Alcohol addiction is one of the most common and devastating diseases in the world. Given the tremendous heterogeneity of alcohol-addicted individuals, it is unlikely that one medication will help nearly all patients. Thus, there is a clear need to develop predictors of response to existing medications. Naltrexone is a μ-opioid receptor antagonist, which has been approved in the United States fo...

Fetishism is a paraphilic sexual disorder characterized by recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges or behaviors involving the use of nonliving objects. We describe a case of fetishism with comorbid alcohol and cannabis dependence. A 40-year-old man was presented with sexual fantasies and urges toward women's undergarments since the age of 25 years. He had fetish behavior ev...

This study investigated the role of the endogenous opioid system in maternal and affiliative behavior of group-living rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) mothers with a history of abusive parenting. Eighteen mothers received an injection of the opioid antagonist naltrexone or saline for 5 days per week for the first 4 weeks of the infant's life. After treatment, mother-infant pairs were focally obs...

Morphine, a mu-opiate agonist, and ethylketazocine, a kappa-opiate agonist, produce distinct behavioral, pharmacologic, and biochemical effects. In the mouse, large doses of morphine produce convulsions that are usually lethal and that cannot be blocked by naltrexone, whereas ethylketazocine produces nonlethal clonic convulsions that can be blocked by naltrexone. Moreover, mice made tolerant to...