Addiction Treatment Strategies – Part 5

A multi-tiered effort designed to stem binge drinking at a large university and to change the drinking culture among its students has produced notable results during the 2.5 years of an Indiana University study.
 Freshmen living on campus showed significant drops in the average number of drinks consumed in a week; in the percentage who drank at least once a week in the last year; and in the proportion of students who engaged in binge drinking in the previous week.
Heavy drinking by college students and the associated consequences — poor health and academic performance, riskier and more irresponsible behavior — are problems on…

No child aspires to a lifetime of addiction. But their brains might. In new research to appear online in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology this week, Rockefeller University researchers reveal that adolescent brains exposed to the painkiller Oxycontin can sustain lifelong and permanent changes in their reward system – changes that increase the drug’s euphoric properties and make such adolescents more vulnerable to the drug’s effects later in adulthood.
The research, led by Mary Jeanne Kreek, head of the Laboratory of the Biology of Addictive Diseases, is the first to directly compare levels of the chemical dopamine in…

A team of Scripps Research Institute scientists has found a key biological mechanism underpinning the transition to alcohol dependence. This finding opens the door to the development of drugs to manage excessive alcohol consumption.
“Our focus in this study, like much of our lab’s research, was to examine the role of the brain’s stress system in compulsive alcohol drinking driven by the aversive aspects of alcohol withdrawal,” said Scripps Research Associate Professor Marisa Roberto, Ph.D., senior author of the study.
“A major goal for this study,” added Research Associate Nicholas Gilpin, Ph.D., the…

Studies have shown a correlation in animal models between learning and cell survival in the hippocampus. Research also provides evidence that there are sets of neurons in the brain that code the critical features of habits, and as a habit is acquired, brain circuits change their activity to recode the events and actions. Other findings suggest that the brain may be capable of self-repair after seizures, because it produces new nerve cells that naturally migrate to the place where damaged cells were located.
For decades, it was believed that the adult brain did not produce new neurons after birth. But that notion has been dispelled by…

Female drink-drivers are more likely to be older, better-educated and divorced, widowed or separated, research has shown.
 
The study by academics at The University of Nottingham found that emotional factors and mental health problems were common triggers in alcohol-related offences committed by women.
 
And they also discovered that rehabilitation programmes that force women to face the consequences of their crime can intensify their feelings of guilt and shame, leading them to turn to alcohol and increasing the risk that they will re-offend.
 
In a paper to be published in Clinical Psychology Review the researchers, led by…

And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today

Recovering alcoholics may benefit in the battle over the bottle if they practice mindfulness meditation.
That’s according to a Wisconsin physician-researcher who is one of the few in the country testing the possible connection between meditation and the prevention of relapse to drinking among those dependent on alcohol.
Dr. Aleksandra Zgierska, assistant professor of family medicine at theUniversity of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, was the lead researcher in a 16-week pilot clinical trial with 19 participants recruited from addiction treatment clinics. She says the results of her first study (published in 2008)…

The spoils of war for returning veterans may include addictions, injury and the constant images of horrific events they witnessed. Now a University of Houston joint study funded by the Veterans Health Administration Rehabilitation Research and Development service looks to address these issues through the use of virtual reality.
The UH Graduate College of Social Work (GCSW) joins Baylor College of Medicine and the Neurorehabilitation: Neurons to Networks Traumatic Brain Injury Center of Excellence at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VA) for a pilot project to assess the feasibility of using virtual reality environments…

Today, Gil Kerlikowske, Director of National Drug Control Policy, released the following statement following recent reports indicating the emerging threat of synthetic stimulants, including MDPV (3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone) and mephedrone.  These stimulants are often sold and marketed in stores as “bath salts” under names such as “Ivory Wave” or “Purple Wave.”
“I am deeply concerned about the distribution, sale, and use of synthetic stimulants – especially those that are marketed as legal substances.  Although we lack sufficient data to understand exactly how prevalent the use of these…

This impressive assessment of what evaluation research means for alcohol dependence treatment in Britain is distinguished by reviews of the latest literature on the sub-topics it covers; in some cases these starkly reveal the inadequacies of the evidence base.
Summary This summary is based on the quick reference guide associated with the guidance.
Noting that current practice across the country is varied, leading to variation in access to assisted withdrawal and treatment services, this guideline makes recommendations on the diagnosis, assessment and management of harmful drinking and alcohol dependence in adults and young people aged…