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Challenges to Treatment of Chronic Pain and Addiction During the “Opioid Crisis”

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Abstract

Health care in the USA faces a double challenge, the crisis of chronic pain and the crisis of opioid misuse and overdose. Patients have been prescribed opioids at high doses with unclear indications for long periods of time, putting them at high risk for morbidity and mortality. A significant proportion of these patients have comorbid psychiatric or substance use disorders complicating their pain conditions. The challenges to treating these patients adequately are discussed, along with potential solutions to these issues at the level of the individual provider, healthcare systems, and society.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Psychiatry and Anesthesia & Pain Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Daniel Krashin

  2. Department of Neurology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Natalia Murinova

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA

    Mark Sullivan

Authors
  1. Daniel Krashin
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  2. Natalia Murinova
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  3. Mark Sullivan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Krashin.

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Daniel Krashin, Natalia Murinova, and Mark Sullivan declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Krashin, D., Murinova, N. & Sullivan, M. Challenges to Treatment of Chronic Pain and Addiction During the “Opioid Crisis”. Curr Pain Headache Rep 20, 65 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-016-0596-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-016-0596-2

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