Anxiety disorders are amongst the most common psychiatric conditions requiring treatment, and medication such as benzodiazepines are often prescribed to help treat these conditions. Benzodiazepine-induced neurological dysfunction (BIND) is a lesser-known risk of benzodiazepine usage that psychiatric pharmacists would benefit from understanding. Symptoms of BIND include suicidality, akathisia, and other disabilities. The data exploring long-term side effects of benzodiazepines that can last for months to years is limited. This leaves a notable gap in knowledge understanding how benzodiazepines are causing BIND, what the risks are, how long these risks should be monitored, and what psychiatric pharmacists offer in way of management of these risks. This program will evaluate the current literature for BIND diagnosis, identify risk factors and prevention strategies, and discuss BIND treatment modalities.
Post-session follow-up items:
- Reference mentioned during presentation: The Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines: Antidepressants, Benzodiazepines, Gabapentinoids and Z-drugs | Mark Horowitz, David M. Taylor | ISBN: 978-1-119-82302-5 | January 2024
Target Audience
If you are a pharmacist, nurse practitioner, or other health care professional involved in the comprehensive medication management of individuals living with mental health and/or substance use disorders, we invite you to participate in this online course.
Course Requirements
To receive ACPE credit for this session, you must:
- Register for this course.
- Review the full content of the activity and reflect upon its teachings.
- Complete the evaluation at the end of the activity.
- Provide the necessary details in your profile to ensure correct reporting by AAPP to CPE Monitor.
Faculty Information
View biographical information
Dr. Jeffrey Gold is a Psychiatric Clinical Pharmacy Practitioner and Psychopharmacologist with over 17 years of academic and clinical practice experience. His primary practice site is the Rocky Mountain Regional Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Colorado. He is a Senior Instructor for the University of Colorado at Denver Health Sciences Center School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and School of Pharmacy. He earned his Doctor of Pharmacy degree at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and is a Board-Certified Psychiatric Pharmacotherapy Specialist.
Dr. Gold founded the Post-Graduate Year-Two Psychiatric Pharmacy Practice Residency at the Rocky Mountain Regional Veteran Affairs Medical Center and served as program director for ten years. He represents psychiatry as an advisory board member for the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) and is the past president of the former Colorado Psychiatric Pharmacy Association (CPPA). He was the first pharmacist in the state of Colorado to be granted a scope of practice to prescribe psychiatric medications and is licensed by the DEA to prescribe/manage controlled substances.
Dr. Gold is a direct care provider, consultant, and educator with an overall focus on providing clinical services to patients and instruction to healthcare trainees. He believes that psychotropic medications are started, adjusted, and stopped in the context of a relationship, and that is where the clinical work begins. Beyond this role, Dr. Gold serves the state of Colorado through active involvement in community-based program development and event planning around mental health and wellness, working in conjunction with various non-profit organizations, public school districts, and legal counsel. His areas of interest include trauma, psychotropic medication deprescribing, benzodiazepines, substance abuse, LGBTQ mental health, and the psychodynamic aspects of prescribing psychotropic medication.
Alexis Ritvo MD, MPH is a board-certified addiction psychiatrist. She is the Program Director for the Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship at the University of Colorado (CU) School of Medicine where she is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. She earned her Medical Degree and a Master’s in Public Health in Health Policy from Emory University in 2012. She completed her general psychiatry residency and addiction psychiatry fellowship at CU before joining faculty in 2017. Since then, she has been a supervising attending of general psychiatry residents in the CU Medicine Outpatient Psychiatry clinic where she directs a co-occurring disorder subspeciality clinic. Her growing interest in the safe prescribing and deprescribing of prescription benzodiazepines led her to co-found the Benzodiazepine Action Work Group with the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse in late 2020. In 2022, she became medical director for the national non-profit the Alliance for Benzodiazepines Best Practices. She is the current chair of the Education Committee for the American Association of Addiction Psychiatry. She has a passion for psychotherapy, teaching trainees, improving health systems, and advocacy.
Learning Objectives
- Evaluate current literature that supports a diagnosis of benzodiazepine-induced neurological dysfunction (BIND).
- Identify risk factors and/or prevention strategies for development of BIND.
- Create a treatment plan for management of BIND.
Continuing Education Credit and Disclosures
Activity Dates: 10/11/2024 - 10/10/2027
ACPE Contact Hours: 1.25
ACPE Number: 0284-0000-24-065-H01-P (Application)
Nursing Credit Reminder: Note that ACPE credit is accepted for ANCC Certification Renewal and AANPCB advanced practice provider content. For specific questions related to your organization's acceptance of ACPE continuing education units, please contact your organization directly.
The College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education as a provider of continuing pharmacy education.
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Off-Label Use: This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the FDA (see faculty information). The opinions expressed in the educational activity do not necessarily represent the views of AAPP and any educational partners. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.
Disclaimer: Participants have an implied responsibility to use the newly acquired information to enhance patient outcomes and their own professional development. Any procedures, medications, or other courses of diagnosis or treatment discussed or suggested in this activity should not be used by clinicians without evaluation of their patient’s conditions and possible contraindications on dangers in use, review of any applicable manufacturer’s product information, and comparison with recommendations of other authorities. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.
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It is the policy of AAPP to ensure independence, balance, objectivity, scientific rigor, and integrity in continuing education activities. Those involved in the development of this continuing education activity have made all reasonable efforts to ensure that information contained herein is accurate in accordance with the latest available scientific knowledge at the time of accreditation of this continuing education activity. Information regarding drugs (e.g., their administration, dosages, contraindications, adverse reactions, interactions, special warnings, and precautions) and drug delivery systems is subject to change, however, and the reader is advised to check the manufacturer’s package insert for information concerning recommended dosage and potential problems or cautions prior to dispensing or administering the drug or using the drug delivery systems.
Fair balance is achieved through ongoing and thorough review of all materials produced by faculty, and all educational and advertising materials produced by supporting organizations, prior to educational offerings. Approval of credit for this continuing education activity does not imply endorsement by AAPP for any product or manufacturer identified.