Citation

Paulozzi LJ, Weisler RH, Patkar AA. J. Clin. Psychiatry 2011; 72(5): 589-592.

Affiliation

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA. lbp4@cdc.gov

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Physicians Postgraduate Press)

DOI

10.4088/JCP.10com06560

PMID

21536000

Abstract

Both the usage of prescription drugs such as opioid analgesics and benzodiazepines and overdoses involving them have increased dramatically in the United States since the 1990s. Patients using these drugs often have a combination of painful conditions, substance abuse, and other forms of mental illness. Psychiatrists and many primary care physicians might not be familiar with existing evidence-based guidelines for opioid prescribing or with programs designed to reduce the abuse of prescription drugs such as state prescription drug monitoring programs. Psychiatrists need to be informed regarding this problem to partner effectively with both pain specialists and primary care providers in their community.

Language: en