{"title":"The Concept of Treatment-Refractory Addiction: Implications for Addiction Treatment Systems and Research.","authors":"Edward V Nunes, A Thomas McLellan","doi":"10.1097/ADM.0000000000001350","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Abstract: </strong>The concept of treatment-refractory addiction, proposed by Eric Strain in this edition of the Journal, has the potential to invigorate the field of addiction treatment and research by focusing on a phenomenon that is familiar to any clinician treating patients with substance use disorders, namely, the patient who does not experience sufficient improvement from standard treatments. An analogy is drawn to the concept of treatment-resistant depression and the STAR*D study, which demonstrated an algorithmic approach to treatment, where if the first antidepressant medication tried did not result in remission from depression, subsequent trials of medications or cognitive behavioral therapy doubled the proportion of patients achieving remission. Recognizing treatment-refractory addiction challenges our field to develop analogous, stepwise, algorithmic approaches to treatment of substance use disorders, moving away from siloed treatment programs toward integrated treatment systems where alternative treatments are available, offering the kind of personalized, tailored forms of care used in the treatment of most other chronic illnesses. Like in STAR*D, research could focus on samples of patients who have not benefitted from initial trials of standard addiction treatments, addressing the key clinical question of what to do next when previous treatments fail.</p>","PeriodicalId":14744,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Addiction Medicine","volume":"18 5","pages":"477-479"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Addiction Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1097/ADM.0000000000001350","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/8/10 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"SUBSTANCE ABUSE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract: The concept of treatment-refractory addiction, proposed by Eric Strain in this edition of the Journal, has the potential to invigorate the field of addiction treatment and research by focusing on a phenomenon that is familiar to any clinician treating patients with substance use disorders, namely, the patient who does not experience sufficient improvement from standard treatments. An analogy is drawn to the concept of treatment-resistant depression and the STAR*D study, which demonstrated an algorithmic approach to treatment, where if the first antidepressant medication tried did not result in remission from depression, subsequent trials of medications or cognitive behavioral therapy doubled the proportion of patients achieving remission. Recognizing treatment-refractory addiction challenges our field to develop analogous, stepwise, algorithmic approaches to treatment of substance use disorders, moving away from siloed treatment programs toward integrated treatment systems where alternative treatments are available, offering the kind of personalized, tailored forms of care used in the treatment of most other chronic illnesses. Like in STAR*D, research could focus on samples of patients who have not benefitted from initial trials of standard addiction treatments, addressing the key clinical question of what to do next when previous treatments fail.
期刊介绍:
The mission of Journal of Addiction Medicine, the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, is to promote excellence in the practice of addiction medicine and in clinical research as well as to support Addiction Medicine as a mainstream medical sub-specialty.
Under the guidance of an esteemed Editorial Board, peer-reviewed articles published in the Journal focus on developments in addiction medicine as well as on treatment innovations and ethical, economic, forensic, and social topics including:
•addiction and substance use in pregnancy
•adolescent addiction and at-risk use
•the drug-exposed neonate
•pharmacology
•all psychoactive substances relevant to addiction, including alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, marijuana, opioids, stimulants and other prescription and illicit substances
•diagnosis
•neuroimaging techniques
•treatment of special populations
•treatment, early intervention and prevention of alcohol and drug use disorders
•methodological issues in addiction research
•pain and addiction, prescription drug use disorder
•co-occurring addiction, medical and psychiatric disorders
•pathological gambling disorder, sexual and other behavioral addictions
•pathophysiology of addiction
•behavioral and pharmacological treatments
•issues in graduate medical education
•recovery
•health services delivery
•ethical, legal and liability issues in addiction medicine practice
•drug testing
•self- and mutual-help.