2011 June | Addiction Treatment Strategies

What Is Comorbidity?
“Comorbidity” is a term used to describe two or more disorders or illnesses occurring in the same person. They can occur at the same time or one after the other. Comorbidity also implies interactions between the illnesses that can worsen the course of both.
Is Drug…

“That was good!” “Do it again.” This is what the brain says when people use tobacco, as well as ‘hard drugs’ such as heroin. New research published in the February 13 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience indicates that the effects of nicotine and opiates on…

For risk-takers and impulsive people, New Year’s resolutions often include being more careful, spending more frugally and cutting back on dangerous behavior, such as drug use. But new research from Vanderbilt finds that these individuals–labeled as novelty seekers by…

Chronic pain affects 116 million Americans and costs the U.S. as much as $635 billion each year, according to a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) that called for changes in how chronic pain is managed.
Much of the chronic pain experienced by Americans isn’t treated …

Exercise has a similar effect to antidepressants on depression. This has been shown by previous research. Now Astrid Bj?rnebekk at Karolinska Institutet has explained how this can happen: exercise stimulates the production of new brain cells.
In a series of scientific reports, she has…

The chemical dopamine induces both desire and dread, according to new animal research in the July 9 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Although dopamine is well known to motivate animals and people to seek positive rewards, the study indicates that it also can promote negative feelings like…

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. The work, conducted in rodent models, is the first to directly…

The FDA has approved a short-acting opioid painkiller with abuse-deterrent properties, the drugmaker Pfizer announced Monday.Oxecta, a new formulation of oxycodone, had previously been under development as Acurox, which included niacin to deter oral abuse. That version received a thumbs…

Living through weddings or divorces, job losses and children’s triumphs, we sometimes feel better and sometimes feel worse. But, psychologists observe, we tend to drift back to a “set point” — a stable resting point, or baseline, in the mind’s level of contentment…

The Royal College of Psychiatrists in Northern Ireland has expressed serious concerns at the stark link between alcohol use and the rising suicide rate, which is says underlines the need for minimum pricing for alcohol.
The ‘Suicide and Homicide in Northern Ireland’ report by the…