International consensus statement for the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of adolescents with concurrent Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and substance use disorder

Education and Child Studie

Presse Med

Benzodiazepines and Z-drugs have pharmacodynamic effects with tolerance that can occur quickly, after one week to one month of treatment and that concerns hypnotic and anxiolytic properties in particular. Old studies showed a real but poor short-term efficacy of benzodiazepines on anxiety and sleep disturbances. Long-term efficacy of benzodiazepines can be confused with the occurrence of rebound effect, discontinuation symptoms or relapse when the treatment is quitted; they contribute to an apparent efficacy, as well as the symptoms removal when treatment is re-initiated. Pharmacologic tolerance exists with respects to efficacy and side effects that decrease over time, in the first weeks of treatment. Its main associated characteristic is the occurrence of a severe withdrawal syndrome when treatment is quitted. To limit long-term treatments, it is relevant to target treatment initiation of benzodiazepines and to restrict indications and treatment duration. Addiction to benzodiazepines is frequent in patients treated for another addiction; it is associated with more frequent complications, in particular overdoses and suicide attempts. The use of benzodiazepines is necessary to prevent complications during alcohol or benzodiazepine withdrawal, but duration of treatment should be limited and dispensing should be supervised in patients with substance use disorders

Serious suicide attempts in outpatients with multiple substance use disorders

International audienc

Gender-Specific Study of Recurrent Suicide Attempts in Outpatients with Multiple Substance Use Disorders.

BACKGROUND: people suffering from substance use disorders (SUD) often die by suicide, so that the prevention of suicide attempts (SA) remains a top priority in this population. SA recurrence is common and is associated with suicide death, but this phenotype has been overlooked in SUD populations. Thus, we aimed at identifying the risk factors of SA recurrence in SUD, controlling for both gender and levels of exposure to addictive substances, including tobacco. METHODS: we consecutively recruited 433 treatment-seeking outpatients with either opiate or cocaine use disorder and assessed their lifetime history of addictive and suicidal symptoms by standardized questionnaires. They were reliably classified as never, single or recurrent (≥q\,2) suicide attempters, whose characteristics were identified by multinomial regression, stratified by gender; and compared to our previous work on serious SA in order to identify common or different risk profiles. RESULTS: 86/140 (61%) suicide attempters reported recurrence. The mean number of SA was 3.1. Recurrence was independently associated with psychiatric hospitalization in both genders, with nicotine dependence in men and with sedative use disorders in women. LIMITATIONS: psychiatric diagnoses were derived from the current medication regimen. CONCLUSION: specific and possibly avoidable/treatable risk factors for the recurrence of SA in SUD have been identified for the first time, opening new avenues for research and prevention in this high-risk population. Apart from nicotine dependence, these risk factors were very similar to those of serious SA. Although this comparison is indirect for now, it suggests a common liability towards suicidal behavior