title: Challenges to Treatment of Chronic Pain and Addiction During the "Opioid Crisis".
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.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry and Anesthesia & Pain Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. krashind@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Krashin
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Murinova
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sullivan
mesh_terms: D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders; D011634:Public Health; D014481:United States
keywords: Chronic pain; Heroin; Opioid crisis; Opioid overdose; Opioid use disorder; Public health