Addiction is defined as not having control over doing, taking or using something to the point where it could be harmful to you.
Addiction is most commonly associated with gambling, drugs, alcohol and smoking, but it’s possible to be addicted to just about anything, including work, the internet, shopping, solvents and sex.
Emily Stapley reports on a new JAMA meta-analysis, which finds that mental illnesses such as depression and binge eating disorder are common among patients seeking and undergoing bariatric surgery.
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Olivia Maynard takes a sober look at the new Department of Health alcohol guidelines, which say it’s safest for both men and women to not regularly drink more than 14 units of alcohol per week.
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Ian Hamilton presents his debut blog on a recent prospective cohort study on the relationship between teenage cannabis use, IQ and educational attainment.
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Natasha Clarke and Matt Field comment on a recent BMJ Head to Head discussion, which asks could campaigns like Dry January do more harm than good?
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Paul Christiansen reports on a small naturalistic experimental study of MDMA (Ecstasy) and compassionate imagery therapy to increase self-compassion and reduce self-criticism. He concludes that existing UK drug laws make this a challenging environment in which to create an evidence base.
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Sally Adams summarises a meta-analysis of specialty substance use disorder services following brief alcohol intervention, which finds a lack of evidence for SBIRTs despite the widespread public health support for this type of programme.
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Andrew Jones considers the findings of a longitudinal study of young cannabis users in the UK, which highlights an association between cigarette smoking and cannabis dependence.
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Meg Fluharty considers the findings of a BMJ State of the Art review, which looks at the evidence for smoking cessation in people with chronic mental illness such as schizophrenia, unipolar depression, bipolar depression, anxiety disorders and PTSD.
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Natasha Clarke helps us understand a recent systematic review of prospective cohort studies, which explores the links between parental alcohol drinking and alcohol consumption in their offspring.
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Meg Fluharty summarises a recently updated Cochrane systematic review about interventions for drug-using offenders with co-occurring mental illness.
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