A separate diagnosis?
Dr. Ahmed said he would like to see kratom dependence included in the DSM-5 as a separate entity because it is a botanical with properties similar to, but different from, traditional opioids.
“This will not only help to better inform clinicians about a diagnostic criteria encompassing problematic use and facilitate screening, but it will also pave the way for treatments to be explored for this diagnosable condition,” he said. Dr. Ahmed pointed to a review published in the Wisconsin Medical Journal earlier this year that explored potential treatments for kratom dependence.
Commenting on the study for an interview, Petros Levounis, MD, professor and chair, department of psychiatry, and associate dean for professional development, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, said the authors “have done a great job reviewing the literature and asking experts” about kratom addiction treatment.
“The punchline of their study is that kratom behaves very much like an opioid and is treated like an opioid.”
Dr. Levounis noted that kratom dependence is so new that experts don’t know much about it. However, he added, emerging evidence suggests that kratom “should be considered an opioid more than anything else,” but specified that he does not believe it warrants its own diagnosis.
He noted that individual opioids don’t have their own diagnostic category and that opioid use disorder is an umbrella term that covers all of these drugs.
Dr. Ahmed and Dr. Levounis have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.
*Updated 5/18/2021