The American Opioid Epidemic

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. -- Publisher.