UAMS to study PTSD treatment for prisoners fighting opioid addiction
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A team of Arkansas researchers are working to see if treatments used to help patients and veterans cope with trauma may also help inmates working to free themselves from the grip of addiction.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences team will study if the techniques used to treat those with PTSD could help prisoners who have become opioid-addicted.
The study will determine approaches to post-traumatic stress disorder screening and treatment among prisoners who qualify for opioid use disorder (OUD). Researchers said it is a first-of-its-kind study to couple PTSD and opioid abuse in a prison setting.
The study will take place at the Pulaski County Regional Detention Center. In phase one, which will begin in September 2024 and run through August 2025, researchers will work with community partners, including detention center staff, to design a treatment model.
Phase two will test the model developed during phase one. Funding for the study's first phase is provided by a $915,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Researchers said opioid use disorder and PTSD are common among people in jail.
OUD is declared when the use of opioids causes significant impairment and distress to a person’s life. PTSD, researchers said, is a mental health condition that can result from exposure to trauma and results in symptoms like reexperiencing the event through flashbacks and nightmares.
Past research has shown that OUD and PTSD often take place at the same time. Research on identifying and treating the two disorders in jail is limited.
UAMS professor Nick Zaller said the research is needed to address behavioral health issues among people in jail.
“Anyone with a substance use disorder is likely to encounter law enforcement,” he said. “Without treatment, people are at much greater risk of continued involvement in the criminal justice system.”
Zaller added that better behavioral health care for those in jail could have broad implications throughout the region.
from KARK https://ift.tt/x9OwlS0
0 Response to "UAMS to study PTSD treatment for prisoners fighting opioid addiction"
Post a Comment