Greater Opioid Use and Mental Health Disorders Are Linked in a New Study – The Washington Post

Read article - An article about research conducted by Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan found that people with anxiety and depression are consuming a disproportionate share of prescription painkillers. Nearly 19 percent of the estimated 38.6 million people with those two most common mental health disorders received at least two prescriptions for opioids during a year. And more than half the prescriptions for the powerful, highly addictive painkillers went to individuals in that group, the researchers asserted. Pain that "you may report as a two out of 10, someone with mental health disorders — depression, anxiety — may report as a 10 out of 10," said Brian Sites, professor of anesthesiology and professor of orthopaedics, and leader of the study team. Similar coverage in NHPR, STAT, San Francis Chronicle, Pittsburg Post-Gazette, New Hampshire Union Leader, Huffington Post.