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.
The literature on the efficacy of psychological treatments for excessive drinking is vast, but investigations into effectiveness of these treatments in individuals with other clinical diagnoses are considerably more limited. A recent paper published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica reviewed the effectiveness of manual guided treatments for excessive alcohol consumption in individuals with a psychotic disorder. [read the full story…]
We know a lot about the health consequences of drinking too much alcohol, but most of this research comes from studies of adults in their twenties, thirties and forties. But what about older adults? The European project VINTAGE reviewed and synthesised the available evidence relating to alcohol consumption in older people across many European countries. [read the full story…]
Smoking continues to be the greatest single preventable cause of premature illness and death in developed countries. Although rates of smoking have fallen, over 20% of the adult population in the UK continues to smoke. Anything which can be done to help people stop smoking will therefore have substantial public health benefits. More and more [read the full story…]
People with schizophrenia are 2-3 times more likely to smoke tobacco than the rest of the population, so helping them quit is a significant public health issue. The evidence for smoking cessation interventions in the general population is fairly well defined. We know quite a bit about what works and we have a range of [read the full story…]
The World Health Organisation (WHO) considers harmful drinking as the third largest contributor to the Global Burden of Disease, an index of disability, poor health and mortality. The majority of people who suffer from alcohol use disorders do not receive any treatment, due in part to lack of access. One way of increasing the availability [read the full story…]
What’s the relationship between violence and psychosis? It’s an emotive debate that’s been running for years. On the one hand we have the net curtain-twitching, tabloid-reading brigade who picture axe-wielding psychopaths as soon as they read the word schizophrenia. On the other we have patients, carers, mental health charities and many clinicians who claim that [read the full story…]
Approximately 15% of adults in Europe drink alcohol to excess, at levels that are likely to affect their health. Most of these people are not alcohol dependent and do not require intensive treatment such as detox and aftercare, but many of them would benefit from a ‘nudge’ to reduce their drinking to safer levels. Screening [read the full story…]
Recent work by Suzanne Fitzpatrick and colleagues from Heriot Watt University has investigated the experiences of people who are affected by what they call multiple exclusion homelessness; a combination of homelessness, substance misuse, ‘street’ activities such as begging and street drinking, and institutional care (e.g. prison). Their quantitative survey shows that there is considerable overlap [read the full story…]
Nearly 10 million people were in prison in 2008, according to estimates provided by the World Prison Population List (Walmsley, 2009). The United States tops the imprisonment league table with 2.3 million individuals behind bars, that’s 756 per 100,000 of the population. Whatever your view on the US legal system and incarceration, it’s interesting to [read the full story…]
NICE have published a new evidence summary (PDF) on the problems associated with alcohol misuse, which augments the clinical guideline (PDF) that came out 2 years ago. This is a fast moving area, so quite a significant amount of research has been produced in the last 2 years, which may have an impact on clinical [read the full story…]
