Description

This program focuses on treatment of co-occurring substance use and psychiatric disorders, which is particularly challenging for clinicians as substance use often exacerbates symptoms of mental illness.  Conversely, psychiatric disorders interfere with recovery from substance abuse and dependence.  In addition, it can be difficult in dually-diagnosed patients to determine whether a symptom is due to substance use or to the underlying psychiatric disorder itself.

Faculty for the program focus on helping clinicians effectively treat dually-diagnosed patients by identifying patterns of substance abuse and dependence in patients, and understanding the complex interplay between these conditions and other psychiatric disorders.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this educational activity, participants should be able to:

  • Recognize signs of substance abuse and dependence in order to accurately identify and diagnose substance using psychiatric patients.
  • Identify risk factors for the development of substance use disorders in patients with mental illness.
  • Describe the association between smoking and mood, and apply effective strategies to aid smoking cessation efforts in patients with depression.
  • Describe the association between smoking and schizophrenia and apply effective strategies to aid smoking cessation efforts in patients with schizophrenia.
  • Review the particular risks of alcohol abuse and dependence in bipolar and anxiety disordered patients and employ strategies to treat alcohol use disorders in this population.
  • Analyze the complex interactions between opiate use and mood and anxiety disorders and appropriately diagnose and effectively treat patients with these co-morbidities.

Target Audience

Psychiatrists, Primary Care Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, and Physician Assistants

Faculty

  • A. Eden Evins, MD, MPH
    Director, Center for Addiction Medicine, MGH
    Attending Psychiatrist, Schizophrenia & Depression Clinical & Research Programs, MGH
    Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
  • Mark H. Pollack, MD
    Director, Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders, MGH
    Chief Medical Officer, Home Base Program, MGH
    Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
  • John Renner, MD
    Associate Chief of Psychiatry, Boston VA Healthcare System; Consultant, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital; Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine
  • Brian Hitsman, PhD
    Brian Hitsman, Ph.D.
    Department of Preventive Medicine
    Feinberg School of Medicine
    Northwestern University

CME Information

Accreditation
This activity is no longer accreditation.

Policy on Faculty and Provider Disclosure
It is the policy of McLean Hospital that faculty and providers disclose real or apparent conflicts of interest relating to the topics of this educational activity, and also disclose discussions of unlabeled/unapproved uses of drugs or devices during their presentation(s). McLean Hospital has established policies in place that will identify and resolve all conflicts of interest prior to this educational activity.

Planners

The following planners of this activity have indicated that neither they nor their families have a significant financial interest or affiliation with the manufacturer of any commercial products or provider of commercial services:

Robert J. Birnbaum, MD, PhD: Planner

John A. Fromson, MD: Planner, reviewer

Anan Nathif, EdM: Planner

Tristan Gorrindo, MD: Planner

Hardware/Software Specifications: 

This internet-based CME activity is best experienced using Internet Explorer 8+, Mozilla Firefox 3+, Safari 4+. This Web site requires that JavaScript and session cookies be enabled. Certain activities may require additional software to view multimedia, presentation, or printable versions of the content. These activities will be marked as such and will provide links to the required software. That software may be: Adobe Flash, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Windows Media Player.

Optimal System Configuration:
Flash Player: Adobe Flash Player 10.1+
Browser: Firefox 3+, Internet Explorer 8.0+, Safari 4.0+, or Google Chrome 7.0+
Operating System: Windows XP+ or Mac OS X 10.4+
Internet Connection: 1 Mbps or higher

Minimum Requirements:
Windows PC:
500-MHz Pentium II; Windows XP or higher; 128 MB RAM; Video Card at least 64MB of video memory; Sound Card at least 16-bit; Macromedia Flash Player 10 or higher, audio playback with speakers for programs with video content; Firefox 1.1+, Internet Explorer 7.0+, Safari 1.0+, Google Chrome, or Opera
Macintosh:
Mac OS X 10.3 or higher with latest updates installed; 1.83MHz Intel Core Duo or faster; RAM: 128MB or more; Video Card: at least 64MB of video memory; Sound Card: at least 16-bit

Speakers

 

The following speakers and/or planners have reported receiving something of value from a company whose product may be germane to the content of their presentations:

A. Eden Evins, MD, MPH
Research Support


NIDA & Pfizer

Brian Hitsman, PhD

Mark H. Pollack, MD

Research Support

Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sepracor, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Glaxo-Smith Kline, Janssen, Eli Lilly & Co., Roche Laboratories, UCB Pharma, Wyeth, Cyberonics, NARSAD, NIDA, NIMH, Cephalon, and Forest.

Speaker/Honoraria

Pfizer, Solvay, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Glaxo-Smith Kline, Janssen, Eli Lilly & Co., Wyeth, and Forest.

Advisory/Consulting

BrainCells Inc, Dov Pharma, Jazz Pharma, MedAvante, Neurocrine, Neurogen, Novartis, Otsuka Pharma, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sanofi, Sepracor, Solvay, Tikvah Therapeutics, Transcept Inc, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Glaxo-Smith Kline, Janssen, Eli Lilly & Co., Roche Laboratories, UCB Pharma, Wyeth, Cephalon, Forest, and Predix.

Shareholder

MedAvante and Mensante Corp.

Copyright Royalties:

SIGH-A and SAFER

Last updated: 7/27/2010

John Renner, MD