Archive for March, 2010
The role of parents in preventing alcohol misuse: An Evaluation of the Kids, Adults Together Programme (KAT)
No CommentsA key influence on the timing of young people’s first alcohol use is the family (Spoth et al. 2002) and a number of substance misuse prevention programmes (mainly in the USA) have tried to influence families. Most are based in schools, which potentially provide an efficient way to reach large numbers of young people and their families (Bryan et al. 2006). However, in practice, school-based initiatives have not always managed to engage significant numbers of parents (Lloyd et al. 2000; Rothwell et al. 2009; Stead et al. 2007; Ward and Snow 2008).
Obesity and drug addiction share commonality
No CommentsA recent study by researchers at The Scripps Research Institutepublished March 28, 2010, show that the molecular mechanisms that push persons into chemical dependency underlie compulsions to overeat, and thus become obese.
This “Study shows compulsive eating shares addictive biochemical mechanism with cocaine, and heroin abuse,” according to the study.For too many people then, bacon, candy, french fries, and many other fattening foods are like abusing cocaine, or heroin.
Research Associate Professor Paul J. Kenny and graduate student Paul M. Johnson devised a study involving feeding rats a modified diet resembling the type contributing to human obesity. The rats were served foods easy to obtain, high in calories, and fatty like sausage, bacon, and cheesecake. Shortly after the study started, the rats gained blew up in weight.
Integrated psychological treatment for substance use and co-morbid anxiety or depression vs. treatment for substance use alone: a systematic review of the published literature.
No CommentsThere is an increasing consensus in favour of integrated treatment of substance use disorders and co-morbid conditions, such as depression or anxiety. However, up till now no systematic reviews have been published. The paper concludes that Psychotherapeutic treatment for co-morbid depression and substance use disorders is a promising approach, but is not sufficiently empirically supported at this point. Psychotherapeutic treatment for co-morbid anxiety and substance use disorders is not empirically supported. There is a need for more trials to replicate the findings from studies of integrated treatment for depression and substance use disorders, and for the development of new treatment options for co-morbid anxiety and substance use disorders.
Who says men don’t get anorexia?
No CommentsAt the age of 14, Rob Richman thought he was ugly “from head to toe”.
By the time he was 15, he weighed less than 5st, had been admitted to a private psychiatric hospital and was being force-fed through a tube in his nose.
Parents, friends and the Southgate Jewish community were baffled as to why an intelligent, polite boy from a middle-class traditional family in north London had starved himself to the point that he was too frail to walk.
Adult Drinking Patterns in Northern Ireland 2008
No CommentsThis report presents the main findings of a survey carried out to provide an up-todate picture of adult drinking patterns in Northern Ireland in 2008. The findings are based on responses to a questionnaire from a representative sample of 1753
respondents aged between 18 and 75 years old. The report examines the amount of alcohol respondents consumed, when, where and what they drank and who they drank with, together with binge and problem drinking. Those
respondents who said that they drank alcohol were asked a series of questions about their alcohol consumption in the week prior to the survey.
