Admission rates for the treatment of alcohol, heroin, and cocaine abuse have decreased—rates for marijuana abuse treatment have increased during the same time frame.
An attentive, nurturing mother may be able to help her children better resist the temptations of drug use later in life, according to a study involving the University of Adelaide.
The National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems (NAPHS) has published a 2012 Membership Directory to help those who must quickly identify sources of help for individuals with psychiatric and addictive disorders.
Approximately half of all energy drink-related emergency department visits by patients aged 18 to 25 involved the additional use of alcohol or other drugs.
Discovering when and why students smoke might lead to the development of better intervention methods, according to researchers at the University of Missouri. In an article published in the journal Substance Use & Misuse, the researchers showed that partying, drinking and work prompted college students to recall their smoking experience, and that smoking occurred most often at the start of the semester and on weekends.
A new study of teens undergoing substance abuse treatment finds helping others helps the adolescent helper by reducing cravings for alcohol and drugs, a major precipitator of relapse.
Substance use is widespread among adolescents in the United States, particularly among those of Native American, white, Hispanic and multiple race/ethnicity, and these groups are also disproportionally affected by substance-related disorders, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
College students who have served in the U.S. conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely than their non-veteran peers to use tobacco, drink in excess and engage in other behaviors that endanger their health and safety, according to a study that appeared in the latest issue of American Journal of Health Promotion.
A study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine suggests that differences in brain activation in individuals with a low level of response to alcohol may contribute to their inability to recognize modest levels of alcohol intoxication. Their findings could provide the potential to identify individuals who are at risk for developing an alcohol-use disorder before it develops – in essence, providing a marker for this vulnerability.
A new publication, Strategizer 55—Regulating Alcohol Outlet Density: An Action Guide, outlines available evidence-based community prevention strategies shown to decrease the consequences associated with alcohol outlet density, the concentration of bars, restaurants serving alcohol, and liquor and package stores in a given geographic area.
A new study that examined responses to stimulants is the first to demonstrate that caffeine reinforcement prospectively predicts the positive effects of another drug.
Men in treatment on average go longer between first use and first admission for treatment than do women.
A new report shows that among the 669,000 adults admitted for substance abuse treatment for the first time last year, an average of 15.6 years had elapsed since the first time they started using the substance they were primarily being treated for. The study, Length of Time from First Use to Adult Treatment Admission, conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), indicates that while the average time between first use of a substance of abuse and first treatment for it may vary by type of substance and demographic groups, in almost all cases it involves a lag time of several years.
If you cover drug addiction or alcoholism on your beat or have an interest in these and related social topics for future story opportunities, you don’t want to miss the upcoming Addiction Studies Program for Journalists November 10 and 11. Registration is open to a total of 20 qualified working journalists.
The National Quit & Recovery Registry at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute allows scientists to observe methods used by addicts to quit and provides encouragement to those who struggle with addiction.
Delaying the age when kids try alcohol or smoking decreases the likelihood that they will become dependent later in life. A new study of Communities That Care, a prevention system developed by University of Washington researchers, shows that tenth graders in towns using they system were less likely to have tried drinking or smoking. Delinquent behavior decreased too.
Social media websites, such as Facebook and MySpace, may reveal information that could identify underage college students who may be at risk for problem drinking, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
The drinking habits of a romantic partner’s friends are more likely to impact an adolescent’s future drinking than are the behaviors of an adolescent’s own friends or significant other, according to a new study in the October issue of the American Sociological Review.
When does abstinence trump getting high? Daily call-in study aims to determine what makes users of the most commonly consumed illicit drug -- marijuana -- stop or cut back.
An enzyme that appears to play a role in controlling the brain's response to nicotine and alcohol in mice might be a promising target for a drug that simultaneously would treat nicotine addiction and alcohol abuse in people, according to a study by researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco.
Information researchers at the University of Arkansas have found evidence that suggests dangerous mobile phone usage while driving may be attributed to obsessive-compulsive disorder traits rather than addiction. The findings have significant policy implications because most legislation prohibiting mobile phone usage while driving – which generally has failed – has relied on research that links dangerous and excessive usage to addictive traits.
The newly released Smoking Prevalence, Savings, and Treatment (SmokingPaST) Framework is a tool designed to calculate the impact of investments in tobacco treatment programs on health and medical cost savings. The framework combines what is already known about the medical costs of smoking, the health benefits of quitting and the effectiveness of different quit methods.
Smokers who also have alcohol, drug and mental disorders would benefit greatly from smoking cession counseling from their primary care physicians and would be five times more successful at kicking the habit
Sending cell phone pictures of medications before taking them may provide a simple but effective way to monitor compliance with prescribed treatment for methamphetamine addiction, reports a study in the September Journal of Addiction Medicine, the official journal of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health
Alcohol and impulsivity are a dangerous mix: People with current drinking problems and poor impulse control are more likely to die in the next 15 years, a new study suggests.
Could a mint-flavored additive to cigarettes have a negative impact on smoking cessation efforts? New research from investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey and UMDNJ-School of Public Health shines a light on this topic. It finds that menthol cigarettes are associated with decreased quitting in the United States, and that this effect is more pronounced for blacks and Puerto Ricans.
People who frequently use tanning beds may be spurred by an addictive neurological reward-and-reinforcement trigger, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in a pilot study.
Researchers studying mice are getting closer to understanding how stress affects mood and motivation for drugs. Blocking the stress cascade in brain cells may help reduce the effects of stress, which can include anxiety, depression and the pursuit of addictive drugs.
A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and elsewhere shows that methamphetamine use can fuel HIV infection risk among teenage boys and young men who have sex with men (MSM), a group that includes openly gay and bisexual men, as well as those who have sex with men but do not identify themselves as gay or bisexual.
A dramatic reading of Act III of Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey into Night” at the APA convention. Following the performance, a panel of psychologists will lead a discussion on addiction and audience members will be allowed to give their emotional and professional reactions to the production.
A new study by researchers at Drexel University’s School of Public Health suggests that abuse of prescription painkillers may be an important gateway to the use of injected drugs such as heroin, among people with a history of using both types of drugs. The results support a need for efforts to prevent misuse of prescription drugs, particularly during adolescence.
A new study by Geisinger Health System researchers finds a high prevalence of prescription pain medication addiction among chronic pain patients. In addition, researchers found that the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) new definition of addiction, which was expected to reduce the number of people considered addicts who take these medicines, actually resulted in the same percentage of people meeting the criteria of addiction.
Rates of medication borrowing were thought to be higher in low-income populations due to factors such as a lack of access to health care and high rates of crime and drug abuse. But a new study led by Temple doctor Lawrence Ward has found that is not the case.
UWM researchers discovered that a common beta blocker, used to treat people with hypertension, has shown to be effective in preventing the brain from retrieving memories associated with cocaine use in animal-addiction models.
Injection drug users are in greater need of substance abuse treatment compared to non-injecting drug users, according to a new study by researchers at RTI International.
Neuroscientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified the brain cells involved in alcohol-related blackouts and the molecular mechanism that appears to underlie them. Alcohol interferes with key receptors in the brain, which in turn manufacture steroids that inhibit long-term potentiation, a process that strengthens the connections between neurons and is crucial to learning and memory.
A study by University of Washington psychologists shows some people continue to drink heavily because of perceived positive effects, despite experiencing negative effects such as hangovers, fights and regrettable sexual situations.
Hospital emergency department visits involving underage drinking double for males during the Fourth of July holiday weekend according to a new study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Using a combination of genetic engineering and laser technology, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have manipulated brain wiring responsible for reward-seeking behaviors, such as drug addiction.
To many people, smoking pot is no big deal. Denise Walker, co-director of the University of Washington’s Innovative Programs Research Group, disagrees. “It’s not a risk-free drug,” she said. She is lead author of a paper showing that a brief, voluntary conversation with an adult led to up to a 20 percent decrease in marijuana use for teenagers who frequently used the drug.
A University of Houston researcher is using an innovative approach to studying food addictions in hopes of finding strategies to assess and treat them.
A new national report shows that from 1999 to 2009 (the most recent year with available figures) substance abuse treatment admissions among those 12 and older have gone up for cases involving alcohol, opiates, and marijuana. The report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) shows that one of the most notable shifts that has occurred in this period was in the rise of opiate admissions attributable mostly to prescription drugs – from 8-percent of all opiate admissions in 1999 to 33-percent in 2009.