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,” Sites said in an interview. About half of all opioids are prescribed by primary-care physicians, who also manage most routine anxiety and depression. That narrative rarely considers the possible impact of mental health factors, so Sites’s team examined the prevalence of the drugs’ use among people with anxiety and depression. They concluded that adults with mental disorders were much more likely than people without them to use prescription opioids – 18.7 percent vs. 5 percent. “We’re in an independent crisis of mental health as well, the under-treatment of it,” he said.

Source: National Post June 26, 2017 14:48 UTC