Psychiatrist Anna Lembke's new book explores the brain's connection between pleasure and pain. It also helps explain addictions — not just to drugs and alcohol, but also to food, sex and smartphones.
When patients need long-term treatment with IV antibiotics, hospitals usually let them do it at home — but not if they have a history of injection drug use. A Boston program wants to change that.
Calming techniques officers learn during training for intervening in a mental health crisis don't seem to work as well when a suspect is high on meth. Police say meth calls can be much more dangerous.
Efforts to combat Philadelphia's opioid crisis with a supervised injection site could be stymied by a portion of federal law meant to protect neighborhoods during the crack epidemic of the 1980s.
The Affordable Care Act and other U.S. laws sought to put insurance coverage for mental health conditions on equal footing with coverage for physical conditions. But patients say that's not happening.
The restaurant business can be tough on your mental health, and has led some chefs to suicide. Chef Patrick Mulvaney is helping Sacramento kitchen workers learn the warning signs and ask for help.
More than 50 Massachusetts schools are participating in a new program that brings counselors in to help children deal with the stress and trauma of living in families struggling with drug addiction.
An FDA advisory committee last week urged approval of a drug containing cannabidiol to treat a form of epilepsy. Other scientists wonder if CBD might ease anxiety or other disorders, too.
A mentoring program in Kentucky expedites treatment for some parents who lose custody of their children. The goal is to help parents get and stay sober, and reunite them with their kids within a year.
Opioid overdoses and related deaths are still climbing, according to U.S. statistics. Teasing out which overdoses are intentional can be hard, but is important for treatment, doctors say.
The Trump administration has talked about prioritizing the opioid crisis, but states have seen little in the way of new resources. And, in some states, getting into treatment is becoming even harder.
Dr. Andrey Ostrovsky, until recently chief medical officer for Medicaid, quit his job to more directly fight the stigma of addiction — a stigma that made his beloved uncle afraid to ask for help.
The jazz trumpeter, who died this week, was an outspoken opponent of apartheid and a longtime social activist. His music was the "soundtrack of the revolution," says author Sisonke Msimang.
Food service is fueled by high stress and late hours; it's easy to see how people in the industry can be susceptible to alcohol and drug abuse. Some who've been there are now offering help to others.
Underscoring the severity of the U.S. overdose crisis, a first-of-its kind opioid intervention court aims to get drug-addicted criminal defendants into recovery before their criminal case is heard.
In South Florida, people with health insurance are the target of "body brokers" who can earn lucrative kickbacks — $500 per week — for referring vulnerable patients to centers that bilk insurers.
Take a high-stress, high-income job like attorney and mix in Nevada’s reputation as a place where the party never ends, and you have a recipe for potential trouble with alcohol or drugs.
CARSON CITY — Nevada is receiving $5.6 million from the federal government to combat an opioid crisis largely stemming from addiction to prescription painkillers.
Dallas County prosecutor agreed to drop assault charges against the former Browns quarterback, as long as meets conditions such as attending an anger management course and a substance abuse program.
Some Massachusetts opioid users are so desperate to quit the drug habit that they are asking judges to lock them up and require treatment. Critics question whether courts should play this role.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded nearly $1 million in training grants to Nevada help increase the number of mental health providers and substance abuse counselors statewide.
A special court in Sacramento, Calif., aims to keep families together by getting treatment for parents who have substance abuse problems, instead of sending off their kids to foster care.
Georgia has stopped licensing new clinics that provide medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction. Some call the state's move irresponsible. Others say the clinics aren't regulated enough.
