Drug Addiction | Addiction Treatment Strategies

Science is littered with shining new discoveries which became somewhat tarnished as accumulating data forced a reappraisal. In substance misuse, ‘normative education’ retains some of its shine, but what seemed the great hope for school- and college-based prevention now seems a tactic of limited application and with inconsistent impacts. The approach relies on the common overestimation by pupils and students of how many of their peers use substances and how much they use and/or (less commonly) overestimation of the acceptability of substance use among their peers. Corrective survey data is expected to reduce substance use because…

— Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed an imaging protocol that allows them to visualize the activity of the brain’s reward circuitry in both normal individuals and those addicted to drugs. The technique could lead to better insight into why people take recreational drugs as well as help determine which treatment strategies might be most effective.
Drug addiction is a complex process that involves numerous biological and environmental factors, but a central element is how the drugs affect the activity of dopamine, the chemical that regulates pleasure and reward in the…

Many people do not understand why or how other people become addicted to drugs. It can be wrongfully assumed that drug abusers lack moral principles or willpower and that they could stop using drugs simply by choosing to change their behavior. In reality, drug addiction is a complex disease, and quitting takes more than good intentions. In fact, because drugs change the brain in ways that foster compulsive drug abuse, quitting is difficult, even for those who are ready to do so. Through scientific advances, we know more about how drugs work in the brain than ever, and we also know that drug addiction can be successfully treated to help…

Relapse, relapse, relapse. Every day you read about someone with an addiction who has relapsed. Given the chaos and misery this causes for addicts and their families, I sought out Dr. Gregory L. Jantz, Ph.D., C.E.D.S., founder of The Center, A Place of Hope, and posed this challenge to him: can you name the top 10 cracks that crack addicts (and other addicts) fall through?
Here is a list based on his ideas, and I’d recommend that anyone who struggles with addiction print it up and keep in a place you can see it, “one day at a time”:
Failure to develop new and healthy relationships.An addiction is a routine, and old and…

ScienceDaily  — Few primary care physicians pay adequate attention to patients taking prescription opioid drugs — despite the potential for abuse, addiction and overdose, according to a new study by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.
The study, published in the March 2 online edition of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, found lax monitoring even of patients at high risk for opioid misuse, such as those with a history of drug abuse or dependence. The findings are especially concerning considering that prescription drug abuse now ranks second (after marijuana) among illicitly used…