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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Addictive Disorders
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1409284

Recovery from Opioid Use on a Neuropsychoanalytic Service

Provisionally accepted
Ross Meadon Ross Meadon 1Brian Johnson Brian Johnson 2*Sunny Aslam Sunny Aslam 1Yanli Zhang-James Yanli Zhang-James 1
  • 1 Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, United States
  • 2 Psychiatry, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Abstract Background Little is known about recovery from opioid use disorder (OUD) or outcomes of detoxification and drug-free treatment of chronic opioid therapy (COT). Harm reduction with medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) is regarded as the only legitimate treatment. Methods The Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved reporting deidentified outcomes. Patients seen over a 10-year period whose records suggested recovery were called and interviewed. Results Overall, 69/86 (80%) confirmed that they had been sober for at least a year, including 41 patients with OUD (75%) and 28 COT patients (90%). 91% were drug-free and 9% were on MOUD. 79% preferred a psychotherapy approach. 21% preferred MOUD. Coming for more treatment and abstinence from tobacco were significantly correlated with recovery. Conclusions This is the first report that we are aware of regarding the frequency of recovery from OUD and COT. We have complicated the discussion about what is the best treatment for patients with OUD and patients on COT. Advising that maintenance is the only legitimate treatment for patients who suffer from OUD or who are on COT seems both premature and jeopardizes the ability of treaters to individualize treatment recommendations.

    Keywords: recovery from opioid use, drug free treatment of opioid use, buprenorphine main, 1+ year sobriety, chronic opioid therapy (COT), OUD treatment, effect of tobacco use on recovery from opioid use, detoxification from opioids

    Received: 29 Mar 2024; Accepted: 21 May 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Meadon, Johnson, Aslam and Zhang-James. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Brian Johnson, Psychiatry, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, 13210, New York, United States

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