Presenter(s): Hillary S. Connery, MD, PhD, Clinical Director Division of Alcohol, Drugs, and Addiction at McLean Hospital Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School 

Target Audience: This webinar is designed for physicians, psychiatrists, nurses, and interprofessional teams. This webinar is accredited for physicians. 

Webinar Description: This webinar will review the complex relationships between substance misuse and suicide, with a focus on opioid use disorder (OUD) as a category associated with significant elevation of suicide risk and premature mortality. Methodological challenges in detecting drug poisoning suicides will be reviewed along with emerging clinical data that suggest treatment-seeking OUD patients who have survived non-fatal opioid overdose report desire and intention to die prior to overdose along a continuum of severity, suggesting the utility of suicide screening and prevention integrated into routine care of patients with OUD. 

Educational Objectives:

• Describe how suicide risks are elevated for both prescription and illicit opioid misuse.
• Define psychological and social risk factors commonly experienced by OUD patients.
• Discuss how opioids have the highest lethality among suicide poisonings and apply personalized suicide prevention planning approaches to enhance care and reduce premature death.

Support for the Program:
Funding for this initiative was made possible (in part) by grant no. 1H79TI081968 from SAMHSA. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.