OBJECTIVES Methadone is the most frequently prescribed medication for the treatment of opioid dependence in the U.S., and questions relating to appropriate dosing of methadone remain an important issue. Given accumulating evidence suggesting an elevated prevalence of personality pathology in opioid dependent populations, as well as evidence of an association between Cluster B characteristics an...

Physical-dependence-based theories of addiction regard compulsive drug taking as the behavioral manifestation of a desperate need to relieve aversive autonomic withdrawal symptoms. In the present article, the withdrawal-relief paradigm, or opiate model of addiction, is critically examined in the light of recent experimental and clinical evidence for various addictive drugs. It is concluded that...

Implication for health policy/practice/research/medical education: Today, methadone maintenance treatment (MMT), is one of the most common treatments for opioid dependence, and Governments are making great efforts to expand MMT service centers. With Increase the number of these centers, their problems are more pronounced. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the performance and characteristi...

introduction: x chromosome inactivation (xci) is a process during which one of the two x chromosomes in female human is silenced leading to equal gene expression with males who have only one x chromosome. here we have investigated xci ratio in females with opioid addiction to see whether xci skewness in women could be a risk factor for opioid addiction. methods: 30 adult females meeting dsm iv ...

Opiate and cocaine addictions are major social and medical problems that impose a significant burden on society. Despite the size and scope of these problems, there are few effective treatments for these addictions. Methadone maintenance is an effective and most widely used treatment for opiate addiction, allowing normalization of many physiological abnormalities caused by chronic use of short-...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Use of non-prescribed drugs during treatment for opiate addiction reduces treatment success, creating a need for effective interventions. This review aimed to assess the efficacy of contingency management, a behavioural treatment that uses rewards to encourage desired behaviours, for treating non-prescribed drug use during opiate addiction treatment. METHODS A systematic s...

The study of neuronal adaptations induced by opiate drugs is particularly relevant today given their widespread prescription and nonprescription use. Although much is known about the acute actions of such drugs on the nervous system, a great deal of work remains to fully understand their chronic effects. Here, we focus on longer-lasting adaptations that occur in two catecholaminergic brain regi...

Medication-assisted treatment for opiate addiction is cost-effective. This proposition is supported by scientific literature; the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy concur. The implications of this evidence for public policymakers, however, require an understanding of the meaning of the term “cost-effecti...