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

Adolescent cannabis use increases risk of an adult psychotic diagnosis

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Thomas Richardson looks at a recent prospective cohort study in the British Journal of Psychiatry on adolescent cannabis use, baseline prodromal symptoms and the risk of psychosis.

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Women-only drug treatment services: their time has come #DAWF18

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Emma Wincup and Katharine Sacks-Jones explore the findings of a recent qualitative study that asks: Do women with complex alcohol and other drug use histories want women-only residential treatment?

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What do we know about women, cannabis and psychosis?

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Ian Hamilton and Suzi Gage explain why we know so little about the relationship between cannabis and severe mental illness in women.

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Inclusion health: a new perspective on health inequalities?

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Noortje Uphoff writes her debut elf blog on a recent paper in The Lancet, which looks at what works in inclusion health; providing an overview of effective interventions for marginalised and excluded populations.

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Moderate and heavy alcohol consumption: what impact on later life brain and cognition?

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Sally Adams summarises a recent clinical review in Evidence Based Mental Health on the effects of drinking alcohol on late-life brain and cognition.

Follow #EBMHchat today from 3pm for an expert Google Hangout on this paper.

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Alcohol is the number one modifiable risk factor for dementia

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Marie Crabbe looks at a recent retrospective cohort study in The Lancet Public Health which explores the contribution of alcohol use disorders to the burden of dementia in France.

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Non-medical use of prescription drugs #NonMedicalDrugs

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Ian Hamilton and Julia Buxton from the University of York preview the #NonMedicalDrugs event that will take place in York on Friday 16th March 2018.

The meeting will bring together people who can offer personal and professional insights of the extent of the issue and how we can support people who develop problems.

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WHO cares? Treatment coverage for substance use disorders: results from 26 countries

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Ian Hamilton reports on an analysis of data from the World Mental Health Surveys, which estimates treatment coverage for people with substance use disorders.

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Prevention and early intervention for youth mental illness: how should we focus our limited resources? #MQScienceMeeting

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André Tomlin presents a summary of all the evidence we have highlighted over the last 3 years relating to prevention and early intervention for mental illness in young people.

This blog accompanies the #MQScienceMeeting coverage this week, which you can follow on Twitter.

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Opiate substitution therapy: supervised-consumption vs take-home doses

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Vicky Carlisle publishes her debut elf blog on a Cochrane review of supervised dosing with long-acting opioid medication in the management of opioid dependence.

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