MUSC team develops digital toolkit to screen for intimate partner violence and PTSD in opioid use disorder

The opioid crisis has left an estimated 2.5 million people 18 and older in the U.S.

with opioid use disorder, or OUD. Despite increased attention to the heavy toll taken by OUD, key risk factors such as intimate partner violence (IPV) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are often overlooked. Both increase the risk of OUD and complicate recovery efforts.

A team of MUSC researchers led by clinical psychologists Amber Jarnecke, Ph.D., and Tanya Saraiya, Ph.

D., both of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, secured critical funding of up to $5 million expected over six years from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to address the overlooked link between IPV, PTSD and OUD, which is known to contribute to higher treatment dropout rates and poorer outcomes for OUD treatment. People who experience PTSD may use substances like opioids to cope, and similarly, people who experience IPV may numb the pain with opioids.

In some cases, partners use opioids together, and one may encourage – or even force – the other to participate. This dynamic can quickly create a complex and overwhelming storm of IPV, opioid use and PTSD." Tanya Saraiya, Ph.

D., Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, MUSC Jarnecke and Saraiya are developing and implementing a digital toolkit to screen patients being treated for OUD for IPV and PTSD and point them to the necessary resources and support for long-lasting recovery. Such a toolkit is badly needed in South Carolina, which has .