Mental health and pharmacology: Emerging pharmacologic treatments (Article Critique Sample)

Mental health and pharmacology Student Name School Name Course Title Topic Date: Mental health and pharmacology Miranda, R., & Treloar, H. (2016). Emerging pharmacologic treatments for adolescent substance use: challenges and new directions. Current addiction reports, 3(2), 145-156. In the article “Emerging pharmacologic treatments for adolescent substance use: challenges and new directions”, Miranda & Treloar provides a review of the scarcity of pharmacotherapy research in treating substance use disorders (SUDs) among the adolescents and evaluate the ways of leveraging the technology and human laboratory paradigms in order to improve the treatment options for the youths. The authors suggest a potential way of improving treatments of substance use disorders through augmenting psychosocial interventions and Pharmacotherapy. According to the authors, adolescents differ substantively from adults with respect to the presentation of symptoms and associated effects of SUDs which is attributable to the neuronal remodeling that takes place in the adolescent stage. The authors also notes that there are no pharmacotherapy medications that are indicated for adolescents and that research using teenagers for controlled trials are scant. Based on this fact, optimizing the treatment of substance use disorders for the youths is achievable through closing the existing gap in the medication development research. The existing psychological interventions for SUDs among the youths have not been quite effective in reducing substance use which is crucial during treatment of SUDs. The medications have proven to be successful in the treatment of various psychiatric illness but are infrequently used for the treatment of adolescent SUDs. According to the authors, the human laboratory paradigms which are sorted into the three-stage addiction phases in which the first stage is binge-intoxication, followed by the withdrawal-negative affect phase and the lat phase is the preoccupation-anticipation stage, can be employed in treating addictive substances. The human laboratory paradigms can be leveraged along with the technological ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to the efficacy of the emerging treatment options substance-related behaviors among the adolescents. In this article, the authors used a sample of 22 adolescent aged 15- 19 years to develop an innovative strategy by combining the human laboratory paradigms and the EMA methods which builds on medications for youths and can be used to test the efficacy of SUDs medications in adolescents. The article provides a new approach to treating adolescents with substance use disorders. The findings from the article are important developing an effective approach that will lead to successful treatment of persons with concurrent disorders. Additionally, the article provides a way in which I can test the efficacy of medications for adolescents with substance use disorders using the ecological momentary assessment (EMA). The findings from the article provide an understanding of the interaction between substance use and psychiatric medication. I can apply this knowledge I my professional role in order to understand the impact of substance addiction and comorbid mental illness on individuals, families and communities and most importantly, how to support and offer treatment to persons with concurrent disorders. According to the article, the pharmacotherapy research and medications for adolescents with SUDs is scares. I can therefore use the findings from this article to conduct further research on the pharmacotherapy treatment of people with SUDs and mental illnesses. Moreover, I can use the findings from the article in providing effective treatment for SUDs through combining both psychosocial interventions and pharmacotherapy medications. After reading the article, several questions remain unanswered and requires further research. According to Miranda & Treloar, the quality of evidence about the effectiveness of pharmacotherapies in developing comprehensive care for youths is unclear and limited. Additionally, the clinical trials with adults have not been designed to evaluate the safety of medications and the appropriateness of using such medications for pediatric use. If that is the case, can one study on the effectiveness of the pharmacotherapy warrant its use in the treatment of adolescents with SUDs? Is there sufficient evidence to verify the findings of th...