Outcome measures for assessing clinical efficacy of cocaine addiction pharmacotherapy should reliably and accurately reflect the benefits of the treatment. A core battery of outcome measures has been proposed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and used by investigators for such trials. These measures include: (1) cocaine use by urinalysis, self-report, or both; (2) retention in treatment...

BACKGROUND A specific psychopathology of addiction has been proposed and described using the self-report symptom inventory (SCL-90), leading to a 5-factor aggregation of psychological/psychiatric symptoms: 'worthlessness and being trapped', 'somatic symptoms', 'sensitivity-psychoticism', 'panic-anxiety' and 'violence-suicide' in various populations of patients with heroin use disorder (HUD) and...

BACKGROUND Retention in Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) is superior to that of other therapies for opioid addiction, but with international retention rates around 50 % after 1 year of treatment, there remains a need for improved retention rates. AIMS This study aimed to explore the demographic and clinical factors predicting retention in MMT. METHODS Face-to-face surveys with MMT pati...

In this study, we analyzed the efficacy and feasibility of a community-based integrated heroin addiction treatment model in Chinese patients. The 210 heroin addicts belonging to six Chinese communities received an integrated biopsychosocial intervention that included pharmacological treatment, counseling and social assistance. High proportions of study participants were retained at the 12-month...

BACKGROUND Participation and to stay in a health program depends on many factors. One of these programs is Needle Exchange Program (NEP) in prisons. OBJECTIVES The current study aimed to evaluate the retention of injecting drug prisoners and find the related factors in Iran. PATIENTS AND METHODS This cohort study analyzed data about injecting drug male prisoners who were participated in NEP...

Abuse of opioids has become a public health crisis. The historic separation between the addiction and pain communities and a lack of training in medical education have made treatment difficult to provide, especially in primary care. The Co-occurring Disorders Clinic (COD) was established to treat patients with co-morbid chronic pain and addiction. This retrospective chart review reports results...

Pilot studies revealed promising results regarding crushing virtual cigarettes to reduce tobacco addiction. In this study, 91 regular smokers were randomly assigned to two treatment conditions that differ only by the action performed in the virtual environment: crushing virtual cigarettes or grasping virtual balls. All participants also received minimal psychosocial support from nurses during e...

BACKGROUND The aims were to identify predictors of treatment retention in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) clinics in Pearl River Delta, China. METHODS Retrospective longitudinal study. PARTICIPANTS 6 MMT clinics in rural and urban area were selected. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Stratified random sampling was employed, and the data were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival curves and life t...

BACKGROUND A significant number of individuals with co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders do not engage, stay, and/or complete residential treatment. Although prior research indicates that women and men differ in their substance abuse treatment experiences, our knowledge of individuals with co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders as well as those attending pr...