Health | Addiction Treatment Strategies

A new national study shows that from 2005 to 2009 (the most recent year with available figures) there was a 49-percent increase in emergency department visits for drug related suicide attempts by women aged 50 and older — from 11,235 visits in 2005 to 16,757 in 2009. This increase…

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…

By PAUL CHRISTOPHER, M.D.
He was the first patient of the day, dropped off at the emergency room by the police or a family member — a man in his 50s, unshaved, stumbling, engulfed in the pungent aroma of alcohol.
When he blew into the breathalyzer’s strawlike tube, the readout was…

Past Year Perceived Need for and Effort Made to Receive Specialty Treatment among Persons Aged 12 or Older Needing But Not Receiving Treatment for Illicit Drug or Alcohol Use: 2009
The number and the percentage of youths aged 12 to 17 who needed treatment for an illicit drug or alcohol…

Heavy alcohol use suggests a change in normal cognitive development in adolescents
ScienceDaily (2010-10-20) — Adolescence and puberty is a period of significant development in the brain. New findings indicate that excessive alcohol use selectively damages the frontal lobe, which is…

Substance abuse can lead to anxiety disorders, and vice versa. Either way, both problems need to be managed and treated together.
While substance abuse is serious enough on its own, users run the additional risk of developing an anxiety disorder as a side effect of abusing drugs or alcohol….

Scientists are reporting development of three promising formulations that could be used in a vaccine to treat methamphetamine addiction — one of the most serious drug abuse problems in the U.S. The report appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
In the paper, Kim Janda…

Often, for people suffering with drug addiction meditation has never been a matter for contemplation. As soon as they experience any feelings of restlessness, anxiety or depression, they usually turn to their drug of choice to alter their state. Although the truth is that for many people…

Nichole Marie Case unwittingly became dependent on opioid pain drugs. She’s not alone.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimated in 2008 that 1.85 million people in the United States were dependent on or abusing prescription opioids, also known as Schedule II painkillers.
Americans…

These products can spur self-destructive ‘highs’ but are legal in most states, experts warn
An influx of highly hallucinogenic, potentially lethal but — in most states — fully legal drugs sold as “bath salts” has law enforcement and drug abuse experts very…