Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy
Open Access

Abstract

I s clear that patients with "dual diagnosis" too frequently do not respond to the treatments offered by the "classic" Psychiatry or by the Services for Drug Addiction. The moralistic approach towards the use / abuse of substances, as well as the model of pathology "morbus sine materia" showed their full limits in respect of a new psychopathology, which is now, on the basis of recent epidemiological studies, more the norm than the exception. Neuroscience offer many new knowledges in neurobiology, which allow you to give a convincing interpretation to some pathological reverberant behaviors - such as recurrence in taking substances - that are ill-adapted to a read-only psycho-social nature. It thus puts into question the setting of different clinical practices in the treatment of patients with comorbidity between psychiatric disorders and the use / abuse of substances. Recent knowledge in the field of neurodevelopment and neuroplasticity shift the focus of the operation of some clinical cerebral circuits (such as the meso-limbic system, the frontal cortex and others) that play a key role in the pathogenesis of mental disorders such as the onset of addiction. Against the background of what has been said a review of current clinical practices can lead to principals of prevention, early intervention and appropriate treatment of consolidated cases of "dependence" and "addiction" associated with psychiatric symptoms. Treatment should in fact take into account the dual nature of the clinical picture, often through the use of aids drug off-label, and, within this scenario, the roots bio-psycho-social aspects of a disorder that is now universally recognized as chronic relapsing: the addiction. We also will describe our new experience with the use of Magnetic Transcranial Stimulation in the treatment of alcohol and drugs addiction.

Biography