New Access Routes to Undertreated Populations; How Do Problem Substance Users Recruited from an Unemployment Office Differ from Detoxification Treatment Inpatients?

Background: Only a minority of subjects with substance use disorders (SUDs) are in addiction-specific treatment (treatment gap). Co-operation between an unemployment office and a psychiatric hospital was established for the assessment and counseling of long-term unemployed clients with SUD. We aim at validating whether such a treatment gap exists in that group, and whether clients from an unemployment office differed from a matched group of inpatient detoxification patients with regard to socio-economic characteristics, substance use and treatment history, and the prevalence of mental disorders Methods: Unemployment office clients ( = 166) with an SUD were assessed using a standardized sociodemographic and clinical interview.

Use of disulfiram for alcohol relapse prevention in patients in opioid maintenance treatment.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness, tolerability, and safety of alcohol relapse prevention with disulfiram in alcohol-dependent patients in opioid maintenance treatment under routine treatment conditions.

Methods: Twenty-nine opioid maintenance treatment patients were observed from the beginning of outpatient disulfiram treatment for up to 6 months. Patients received disulfiram (mostly 300 mg/d) together with their daily opioid dose.

The impact of alcohol dependence on social brain function.

The impact of alcoholism (ALC) or alcohol dependence on the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive and affective empathy (i.e. the different routes to understanding other people's minds) in schizophrenic patients and non-schizophrenic subjects is still poorly understood.

The effects of combined acamprosate and integrative behaviour therapy in the outpatient treatment of alcohol dependence: a randomized controlled trial.

Aims: The aim of this randomized, controlled, multisite trial was to evaluate the efficacy of combined treatment with integrative behaviour therapy (IBT) and acamprosate on drinking behaviour in detoxified alcohol-dependent patients.

Methods: A total of 371 patients were randomized to one of the three treatment conditions: IBT plus acamprosate, IBT plus placebo, or supportive counselling ('treatment as usual', TAU) plus acamprosate. The main outcome was success rate, i.

An open trial of gabapentin in acute alcohol withdrawal using an oral loading protocol.

Aims: Anticonvulsants are increasingly being advocated for the treatment of acute alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) to avoid the addictive properties of established medications. Because earlier works showed that moderate gabapentin doses were too low to clearly ameliorate severe AWS, we tested a higher gabapentin entry dose.

Methods: Inpatients (n = 37) with severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms (Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol revised (CIWA-AR) score > or =15 points) were given gabapentin 800 mg, and if their symptom score reduced within 2 h, they were termed 'early responders' and were then treated for 2 days with 600 mg gabapentin q.