| Europad Italia 4 - Pietrasanta, Italy, October 29 - 31 2009 Conference Report | |
| The fourth Europad-Italia Conference took place in Pietrasanta as scheduled. This year’s programme exemplified a new conception of heroin addiction management. First of all, a session about psychiatry featured a speech about the bipolar spectrum, as a prelude to the presentation about bipolar disorders and drug addiction. Beyond the specific interest into the comorbidity and dual diagnosis issue, this was also an explicit attempt to suggest the central viewpoint of psychiatry in the approach to drug problems, as belonging themselves to the field of psychopathology and psychiatry (Towards a psychopathology of heroin addiction). Such a vision should not be considered as a way for psychiatry to also embrace drug-induced or addiction-related psychiatric symptoms, but as the attempt to described core addictive symptoms in terms of traditional psychopathology, with special regard to impulse control, affective drives and pleasure-seeking behaviours. One second innovative session was the one about alcoholism, trying to show how the concept of narcotic blockade and the general principles of addiction treatment may also be extended to the treatment of legal drug problems, such as alcohol dependence. |  |
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Therapeutic approaches for purposes of harm reduction were discussed, while a lecture about compulsory treatments raised discussion about the fact that spontaneous treatment adherence may be not required for the accomplishment of rehabilitative goals. The issue of harm reduction as a low threshold temporary step was also a matter of discussion, to bring forward the idea that harm reducing facilities should not represent a different philosophy of intervention, but a lower threshold form of therapeutic outreach and a first step to favour the later flow into actual therapeutic programmes. |
| Growing subjects of interest, such as problem painkiller use and the longer term experience with the buprenorphine-naloxone formulation were also focused upon. An attempt was made to review the methodology and clinical meaning of cardiologic warnings about ventricular arrhythmias, not only accounting for evidence coming from single studies, but also providing with deeper criticism into the limitations and bias of those raising the original concern. On the whole, participants were provided with a peculiar ensemble of technical updates and re-definition of psychopathological premises, which has been Europad’s recent trademark in the hope to improve physicians’ awareness of patients’ characteristics and practical know-how’s of therapeutic options. |
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 Haim Mell and Ambros Uchtenhagen receive the Paolo Picchio Award accompanied by Roberto Nardini and Icro Maremmani. |
Photographs by Nando Melillo |