Opioids
Shell Shock and PTSD: A Tale of Two Diagnoses
Ever since human beings first went to war, the people who fight in those wars have sustained not only physical wounds but also psychological wounds, which may spare the body but scar the mind. And for almost as long as human beings have been waging war, societies have struggled with two fundamental questions about these psychological wounds. First, how do we identify and define these unseen wounds, wounds that lead to the type of consequences that defy simple physiologic explanation? Second, given that some people clearly return from war with psychological issues that impair their ability to function, how do we justly compensate those who experience these psychological wounds (an issue that becomes particularly salient as the number of people affected increases)?Chronic Pain and Mental Health Disorders: Shared Neural Mechanisms, Epidemiology, and Treatment
Chronic pain and mental health disorders are common in the general population, and epidemiological studies suggest that a bidirectional relationship exists between these 2 conditions. The observations from functional imaging studies suggest that this bidirectional relationship is due in part to shared neural mechanisms. In addition to depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders, individuals with chronic pain are at risk of other mental health problems including suicide and cigarette smoking and many have sustained sexual violence.Incidence and Risk Factors for Progression From Short-term to Episodic or Long-term Opioid Prescribing: A Population-Based Study
To determine what proportion of a geographically defined population who receive new opioid prescriptions progresses to episodic or long-term patterns of opioid prescribing and to explore the clinical characteristics associated with patterns of opioid prescribing.
