Opioid Dependence: Neuro-Biology, Clinical Features, Diagnosis and Management
Abstract
Opioids have been in use since centuries, but there is a growing concern regarding its illicit use among the youth, especially in India. Activation of mesolimbic reward pathway and dysfunction of the frontal inhibitory mechanisms contribute to the additive nature of opioids. The main goal of the management is detoxification, relapse prevention and adaptive and social rehabilitation. Management comprises of pharmacological and non pharmacological methods. Among the pharmacological methods, opioid substitution treatment (OST) has garnered wide recognition, with Buprenorphine being the most widely used agent. Methadone, naltrexone, clonidine and slow release oral morphine are other agents.
When publishing with Kerala Medicial Journal (KMJ), authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Work includes the material submitted for publication and any other related material submitted to KMJ. In the event that KMJ does not publish said work, the author(s) will be so notified and all rights assigned hereunder will revert to the author(s).
The assignment of rights to KMJ includes but is not expressly limited to rights to edit, publish, reproduce, distribute copies, include in indexes or search databases in print, electronic, or other media, whether or not in use at the time of execution of this agreement.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
The author(s) hereby represents and warrants that they are sole author(s) of the work, that all authors have participated in and agree with the content and conclusions of the work, that the work is original, and does not infringe upon any copyright, propriety, or personal right of any third party, and that no part of it nor any work based on substantially similar data has been submitted to another publication.
