Addiction Treatment Strategies

A small but growing body of research is lending support to meditation’s effectiveness in treating addiction, either alone or in combination with other more conventional treatments.Medical studies have shown meditation’s effectiveness at decreasing substance use and relapse in several settings. The changes in thought processes and brain function that accompanies meditation also have contributed to scientists understanding of the biological addiction process.Why use Meditation to Treat Addiction?Conventional treatment for drug addiction can take place through groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, on an outpatient…

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continue to delay making a decision about whether to reclassify drugs containing the opioid hydrocodone, to make them more strictly regulated, ABC News reports. The government has been considering the move for 12 years.The government agencies are considering whether to move hydrocodone from Schedule III to Schedule II, a move that would put the drug in the same category as oxycodone and morphine.The news report suggests some believe part of the reason for the slow response might be the FDA’s close ties to pain advocacy groups. The FDA says it wants…

Panic attacks that seem to strike sufferers out-of-the-blue are not without warning after all, according to new research. A study based on 24-hour monitoring of panic sufferers while they went about their daily activities captured panic attacks as they happened and discovered waves of significant physiological instability for at least 60 minutes before patients’ awareness of the panic attacks, said psychologist Alicia E. Meuret at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.In a rare study in which patients were monitored around-the-clock, portable recorders captured changes in respiration, heart rate and other bodily functions, said…

Under the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) new definition of addiction, one-third of patients undergoing long-term pain therapy with opioids meet the criteria for addiction, a new study finds. Contrary to expectations, the new definition does not reduce the percentage of people considered addicted to opioids.According to Medical News Today, the findings come from a study of 705 patients undergoing long-term opioid treatment for pain not related to cancer. The researchers compared the APA’s old and new criteria for addiction, and were surprised to find the percentage of patients with addiction to opioids was the same.Under both…

Cannabis use is associated with disturbances in concentration and memory. New research by neuroscientists at the University of Bristol, published in the Journal of Neuroscience [Oct. 25], has found that brain activity becomes uncoordinated and inaccurate during these altered states of mind, leading to neurophysiological and behavioural impairments reminiscent of those seen in schizophrenia. The collaborative study, led by Dr Matt Jones from the University’s School of Physiology and Pharmacology, tested whether the detrimental effects of cannabis on memory and cognition could be the result of ‘disorchestrated’ brain…

Nearly one-third (30.5%) of alcohol-related emergency department (ED) visits made by underage youth and young adults also involved illicit or pharmaceutical drugs in 2009, according to data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN). The most prevalent drug reported was marijuana (51.0%), followed by sedatives/hypnotics (17.5%), cocaine (14.3%), and narcotic pain relievers (11.4%). Slightly more than 6% of underage alcohol-related ED visits involved ecstasy—more than twice as many as in 2008. All other drugs made up less than 5%. The study also found that nearly two-thirds (64.4%) of these visits that involved other drugs did not receive…

Young Adults Aged 18 to 25In 2010, the rate of current illicit drug use was higher among young adults aged 18 to 25 (21.5 percent) than among youths aged 12 to 17 (10.1 percent) and adults aged 26 or older (6.6 percent). Among young adults, the rates were 18.5 percent for marijuana, 5.9 percent for nonmedical use of psychotherapeutic drugs, 2.0 percent for hallucinogens, and 1.5 percent for cocaine (Figure 2.7). Figure 2.7 Past Month Use of Selected Illicit Drugs among Young Adults Aged 18 to 25: 2002-2010+ Difference between this estimate and the 2010 estimate is statistically significant at the .05 level.The rate…

From heroin and cocaine to sex and lies, Tetris and the ponies, the spectrum of human addictions is vast. But for Dr. Nora D. Volkow, the neuroscientist in charge of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, they all boil down to pretty much the same thing. She must say it a dozen times a day: Addiction is all about the dopamine. The pleasure, pain and devilish problem of control are simply the detritus left by waves of this little molecule surging and retreating deep in the brain.A driven worker with a colorful family history and a bad chocolate problem of her own, Dr. Volkow, 55, has devoted her career to studying this chemical tide. And…

The cost of excessive alcohol consumption in the United States in 2006 reached $223.5 billion or about $1.90 per drink, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost three–quarters of these costs were due to binge drinking, consuming four or more alcoholic beverages per occasion for women or five or more drinks per occasion for men, the report said.Excessive alcohol consumption, or heavy drinking, is defined as consuming an average of more than one  alcoholic beverage per day for women, and an average of more than two alcoholic beverages per day for men, and any drinking by pregnant women or…

Marijuana is the most prevalent illicit drug used by teenagers and adults around the world. Nearly a third of high school students in the United States report smoking it, and most high schoolers say they have access to the drug.To many people, smoking pot is no big deal. They cite reasons such as: “it isn’t dangerous or addictive” and “everybody is doing it.”Denise Walker, co-director of the University of Washington’s Innovative Programs Research Group, disagrees.“It’s not a risk-free drug,” she said. “Lots of people who use it do so without problems. But there are others who use…