Young Adult Resilience for Recovery From Substance Addiction in Assam, India: Lived Experience Insights From a Photo-Led Interview Study.

Substance addiction can be considered a form of social injustice grounded in interactions between individual, family and community-level risk factors. Although prevention and treatment of substance use disorder is a key target of the United Nations sustainable development goal Good Health and Well-Being, many low-and-middle-income countries lack a culturally validated approach for its management. We contend that a resilience approach may provide a sound basis from which to develop such an approach in non-western, low-resource settings.

Disulfiram-induced psychosis still an important clinical entity: A case series.

Disulfiram, an FDA-approved medication for treating alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS), is often used surreptitiously, resulting in severe adverse drug reactions such as disulfiram-induced psychosis (DIP). DIP presents diagnostic challenges, despite being perceived as common; however, there is limited literature available on DIP in India. We describe four cases with a history of psychosis in the background of disulfiram exposure.

Dual diagnosis and their care pathways for help-seeking: A multicenter study from India.

Background: Understanding pathways to dual diagnosis (DD) care will help organize DD services and facilitate training and referral across healthcare sectors.

Aim: The aim of our study was to characterize the stepwise healthcare and other contacts among patients with DD, compare the characteristics of the first contact persons with common mental disorder (CMD) versus severe mental illness (SMI), and estimate the likelihood of receiving appropriate DD treatment across levels of contacts.

Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive study in eight Indian centers included newly enrolled patients with DD between April 2022 and February 2023.

Exploring help-seeking pathways and disparities in substance use disorder care in India: A multicenter cross-sectional study.

Background: Substance use disorders (SUDs) are among the leading causes of morbidity in the population. In low- and medium-income countries like India, there is a wide treatment gap for SUD. A multicentric study on the care pathways for SUD in India can help to understand service provision, service utilization, and challenges to improve existing SUD care in India.

Association between impulsivity and depressive symptoms in recently detoxified patients with alcohol dependence.

Background: Depression and impulsivity are etiologically linked to alcohol dependence (AD) and are known to affect course and outcomes. The relationship between impulsivity and depressive symptoms has been investigated only in a few studies of individuals with AD.

Aim: This study aimed to explore the association between impulsivity and depressive symptoms in patients with AD.

Integrative ceRNA network analysis identifies unique and shared molecular signatures in Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia.

Bipolar Disorder (BPD) and Schizophrenia (SCZ) are complex psychiatric disorders with shared symptomatology and genetic risk factors. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying these disorders is crucial for refining diagnostic criteria and guiding targeted treatments. In this study, publicly available RNA-seq data from post-mortem samples of the basal ganglia's striatum were analyzed using an integrative computational approach to identify differentially expressed (DE) transcripts associated with SCZ and BPD.

The sociodemographic profile and the challenges associated with treatment and rehabilitation in female heroin users: A case series from Northeast India.

Females with opioid use disorder (OUD) rarely seek help for addiction. We present a series of seven females with OUD attending a tertiary care addiction treatment setting in Assam between December 2022 to August 2023. Most of the patients were primary-educated, young adults, housewives, from lower to middle socioeconomic strata, and were residents of rural or semi-urban areas.

Experiences of Students with Learning Disabilities in Higher Education: A Scoping Review.

Background: As the number of students with learning disabilities (SwLD) entering higher education (HE) increases, a need arises to improve the services provided to them by understanding their experiences. This scoping review explores the extent and type of evidence on the experiences of SwLD in HE.

Method: The review followed the six stages outlined by Arksey and O'Malley.

An observational study on deliberate self-harm in individuals with alcohol dependence syndrome.

Context: Comorbidities in alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS) are often associated with poor treatment outcomes and high service utilization. Deliberate self-harm (DSH) in India is a silent epidemic. There is a shortage of research on individuals with ADS, psychiatric comorbidities, and DSH.

Exploring the feasibility and public health impact of integrating a community-based recovery-oriented intervention for people living with schizophrenia in partnership with a tertiary care mental hospital in India.

Background: There is a priority need to make community-based care widely available for people living with schizophrenia (PLwS) in low- and middle-income countries. An innovative approach for increasing access could be to integrate clinical services available in tertiary care hospitals with community-based care through a task-sharing approach. We describe such an integrated intervention that was implemented at Tezpur in northeast India in collaboration with the Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health (LGBRIMH).

Service users' perception and attitude toward telemedicine-based treatment for substance use disorders: A qualitative study from India.

Aim: We aimed to assess the service user's acceptability, feasibility, and attitude toward telemedicine practice and compare it with in-person consultation in substance use disorder (SUD).

Materials And Methods: We recruited 15 adult patients with SUD who accessed both telemedicine and in-person care. We conducted in-depth interviews on awareness and access, facilitators and barriers, treatment satisfaction, and therapeutic relationship in the telemedicine context.

The toll of opioid dependence: A research report on the possible role of Toll-like receptor-4 and related immune markers in opioid dependence.

Background: The opioid receptors in the central nervous system and immune system contribute to its reinforcing effect. Xenobiotics-associated molecular pattern of opioids interacts with Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4) on the glial cell surface and increases dopaminergic activity in the nucleus accumbens in preclinical studies. We wanted to examine whether treatment with buprenorphine-naloxone (BNX) might be associated with changes in immunological markers in individuals with opioid dependence (OD).

Does Prescription Length of Buprenorphine Influence Treatment Outcomes in Opioid Use Disorder? A Retrospective Cohort Study from North India.

Objective: Buprenorphine (BUP) effectively suppresses non-prescription opioid use and increases treatment retention in opioid use disorder (OUD). However, short prescription length may interfere with treatment retention and recovery. We wanted to examine whether the outcomes of BUP treatment differ in high (HPL up to 4 wk) and low-prescription (LPL 1-2 wk) length groups.

Using evidence in mental health policy agenda-setting in low- and middle-income countries: a conceptual meta-framework from a scoping umbrella review.

The purpose of this article is to close the gap in frameworks for the use of evidence in the mental health policy agenda-setting in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Agenda-setting is important because mental health remains a culturally sensitive and neglected issue in LMICs. Moreover, effective evidence-informed agenda-setting can help achieve, and sustain, the status of mental health as a policy priority in these low-resource contexts.

Resilience and its relationship with disability in persons with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia: A comparative study.

Background: Resilience is the capacity to bounce back from adversity. Severe mental illnesses are associated with poor and heterogeneous functional outcomes. Symptom remission is inadequate to achieve patient-oriented outcome, and positive psychopathology constructs like resilience have emerged as possible mediators.

Neurocognitive Functions in Patients with Comorbid Hepatitis C and Opioid Dependence: A Comparative Study.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is commonly comorbid with opioid dependence (OD). We wanted to compare the neurocognitive functions of OD subjects with or without HCV [HCV (+), HCV (-)] and healthy controls (HC).

Methods: We recruited 40 adult subjects (age 18-55 years) in each group.

The therapeutic relationships, empathy, and satisfaction in teleconsultation for substance use disorders: Better or worse than in-person consultation?

Context: Telemedicine has become one of the essential modes of healthcare delivery. Different aspects of the physician-patient relationship during tele and in-person consultation need to be studied.

Aims: This study aimed to compare perceived empathy and therapeutic relationship between tele and in-person consultation and assess the patient's satisfaction during teleconsultation for substance use disorder (SUD).

Behavioural and Emotional difficulties in School children during COVID 19 pandemic using narrowband dimensions of SDQ: Online survey from North? East India.

Background: Containment strategies such as lockdown during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have forced home confinement of many children. Data on psychological difficulties in children during lockdown are scarce from this part of the country.

Aim: The aim of the study is to describe the burden and pattern of behavioral and emotional problems of schoolchildren during COVID-19 lockdown in a small town from Northeastern India.

Using cocreated visually informed community mental health education in low- and middle-income countries: A case study of youth substance misuse in Assam, India.

Introduction: Our aim is to evaluate the visually informed community mental health education materials cocreated in our research on youth substance misuse in Assam, India, and to reflect on what we might learn for similar initiatives in low- and middle-income countries.

Methods: Materials consist of: (i) images participants brought to the interview; (ii) 30 posters cocreated by participants to convey key messages from their interview; (iii) six short films on the implications of addiction, and (iv) an animation of our Pathways to Recovery model. We also created a community education package that incorporated these materials.

Leptin levels in alcohol dependent patients and their relationship with withdrawal and craving.

Objective: Association between leptin plasma levels and alcohol craving has been seen previously. This study aims to research this correlation in a different population while comparing this correlation with respect to hyper-excitable state of alcohol withdrawal.

Methods: 25 patients of alcohol dependence were assessed for withdrawal symptoms and craving for alcohol.