Ten Years of Experience With Buprenorphine in a Private Psychiatric Outpatient Practice

There have been few reports of buprenorphine treatment of opioid use disorder in private psychiatric practice. This report describes such a patient population and the outcomes obtained.

Chart reviews were performed on 285 patients seen over a 10-year period in the author's solo private psychiatric practice. Quantitative and qualitative data were reviewed and analyzed.

Comorbidity of psychiatric disorders was high (75%), while comorbidity of substance use disorders was low (5%, alcohol only). Fourteen percent of patients completed treatment (tapered off of buprenorphine and remained opioid-free for up to 7 years). Forty-eight percent of the sample had good outcomes (remaining on buprenorphine and abstinent of other opioids), 28% had poor outcomes, and 10% dropped out of prolonged successful treatment with unknown final outcomes. The group achieved a relatively high rate of smoking cessation during the study (22%). There were high rates of language disorder (21.6%) and autism spectrum disorder (8.6%) in children of mothers in the study.

Outcomes were excellent compared with those reported in other treatment settings. Rates of smoking cessation were also notable. The treatment of comorbid psychiatric conditions, the setting to develop a strong physician-patient relationship, patients choosing whether to taper off of buprenorphine, and the slow rate of taper all likely contributed to successful outcomes. Further investigation is needed regarding possible increased rates of developmental disorders in children of mothers treated with buprenorphine.

Private psychiatric practice is a highly successful domain for the treatment of opioid use disorder. (Am J Addict 2020;29:508-514).