substance misuse

A drug is a chemical substance that acts on the brain and nervous system, changing a person’s mood, emotion or state of consciousness. Drugs are often classified by the effect they have.
Stimulants, such as cocaine, make people feel full of energy. Depressants (or sedatives), such as heroin, make people feel relaxed. Hallucinogens, such as LSD, make people see, feel or hear things that are not real. Drug or substance misuse is when a person regularly takes one or more drugs to change their mood, emotion or state of consciousness.

Our substance misuse Blogs

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me… or will they?

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Laura Hemming reflects on the findings of a recent Australian study, which looks at personal language use around suicide, mental health concerns and alcohol and other drug use, and seeks to find consensus on how we speak to each other about these issues.

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Can behavioural programmes reduce partner abuse by people with mental illness or substance use problems? #16DaysOfActivism2024

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Today is the beginning of #16DaysOfActivism2024 for No Violence against Women and Children. To mark the occasion we have a blog from Vishal Bhavsar exploring the effectiveness of interventions for perpetrators of intimate partner violence.

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Alcohol and interpersonal violence: new review estimates how many adults experience emotional violence from others’ drinking

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Nora de Bode looks at the international prevalence of interpersonal violence due to others’ alcohol consumption. This new review finds that in 2019, around 1 in 4 adults in Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, and 1 in 6 adults in high income regions, experienced emotional violence from others’ drinking.

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Social media, smoking and young people: is there any link?

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Ian Hamilton summarises a longitudinal survey study of UK youth, which suggests there is an association between social media exposure and use of e-cigarettes and smoking.

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Cannabis use disorder associated with increased risk of both psychotic and nonpsychotic unipolar depression and bipolar disorder

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Jack Wilson critiques a recent Danish longitudinal study published in JAMA Psychiatry, which suggests that cannabis use disorder is independently associated with bipolar disorder and unipolar depression.

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Functional alternatives to alcohol: desirable effects, but without the harm?

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Matt Field
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Matt Field summarises a review led by David Nutt, which presents our current knowledge of how alcohol mediates its effects in the brain, and how we can exploit this knowledge to develop functional safe alternatives to alcohol.

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Mental health problems and admissions to hospital for accidents and injuries in the UK military

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Ana Veic summarises a epidemiological study exploring the mental health problems and admissions to hospital for accidents and injuries in the UK military.

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Discrimination, dysphoria and drinking: hazardous alcohol use in UK trans and non-binary people

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Nora de Bode summarises a cross-sectional study looking at alcohol use in trans and non-binary people living in the UK.

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Unveiling the Hidden Struggles: Lived Experience, impact and coping amongst children of parents who use substances

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Introduction This paper, from Muir and colleagues (2023), details a systematic review exploring the lived experiences of children and young people whose parents use substances. We know from a wide range of research and policy, that parental drug and alcohol use has wide ranging impacts on young people throughout their lives, and this study, which includes the [read the full story…]

Cannabis use and its legalisation: analysing chronic pain in US veterans using electronic health records

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In their debut blog, Grace Williamson and Daniel Leightley review a US study on chronic pain, cannabis legalisation, and cannabis use disorder in US veterans.

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