Aims

To support the free and open dissemination of research findings and information on alcoholism and alcohol-related problems. To encourage open access to peer-reviewed articles free for all to view.

For full versions of posted research articles readers are encouraged to email requests for "electronic reprints" (text file, PDF files, FAX copies) to the corresponding or lead author, who is highlighted in the posting.

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Monday, June 14, 2010

Neuroimmune Mechanisms of Brain Function and Alcohol Related Disorders



Event: Neuroimmune Mechanisms of Brain Function and Alcohol Related Disorders
Location: Satellite Symposium at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA
Start Date: 11/12/2010 8:30 AM
End Date: 11/12/2010 5:00 PM


The purpose of this satellite symposium is to provide fundamental insights on neuroimmune factors contributing to changes in brain function due to alcohol exposure.

It aims to promote and broaden investigations into the role of neuroimmune factors in the response to and adaptation of the brain to alcohol exposure. Scientists with expertise in neuroimmune function, signaling mechanism, and in alcohol research will be brought together to discuss neuroimmune dysregulation and its impact on alcohol related disorders.

The areas of focus include: CNS development and neurogenesis; neuroplasticity and neuroadaptation; neuroprotection and neurodegeneration. The panel discussion will identify priorities and research opportunities of neuroimmune mechanisms underlying alcohol related disorders and alcohol drinking behavior.

Registration for the symposium is free but required due to limited seating.


Tentative Agenda

Registration


Contacts:
Changhai Cui: changhai.cui@nih.gov
Lindsey Grandison: lgrandis@mail.nih.gov


Organizer:
Changhai Cui, Ph.D.
Lindsey Grandison, Ph.D.
Antonio Noronha, Ph.D., Director, DNB/NIAAA




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Associations between Substance Use and Body Mass Index: Moderating Effects of Sociodemographic Characteristics Among Taiwanese Adolescents


The aim of this study was to analyze the association between substance use and body mass index (BMI) among adolescents in Southern Taiwan.

A total of 10,259 adolescent students aged 11–19 years were selected by stratified random sampling for proportional representation of districts, schools and grades in Southern Taiwan, and completed the questionnaires. The body weight, body height, experience of substance use and sociodemographic characteristics including sex, age, residential background and paternal/maternal educational levels were collected. The association between substance use and BMI, and the moderating effects of sociodemographic characteristics were examined.

After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, BMI was higher for adolescents who smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol than for those who do not regularly smoke or drink. Chewing betel nuts and using illicit drugs were not significantly associated with BMI. Paternal education level had a moderating effect on the association between smoking and BMI. Smoking, alcohol drinking, and low paternal education level were associated with higher BMI among adolescents.

Thus, healthcare professionals should pay more attention to the weight-related problems among these adolescents.


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Request Reprint E-Mail: chfaye@cc.kmu.edu.tw


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Selected Papers of William L. White




This site contains the full text of more than 200 articles, 5 monographs, 30+ recovery tools, 9 book chapters, 3 books, and links to an additional 12 books written by William White and co-authors over the past four decades.

The purpose of this site is to create a single location where such material may be located by those interested in the history of addiction treatment and recovery in the United States.

Those papers selected for inclusion contain all of the articles and monographs authored by William White on the new recovery advocacy movement, recovery management and recovery-oriented systems of care.

It is hoped that this resource library will serve present and future generations of addiction professionals, recovery coaches and recovery advocates.



Access Site


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Maternal welfare, morbidity and mortality 6–15 years after a pregnancy complicated by alcohol and substance abuse: A register-based case-control follo



A register-based retrospective case-control study to investigate the long-term morbidity, mortality, and welfare among women with alcohol and/or substance misuse identified during pregnancy.

Cohort of 524 women followed-up ante- and perinatally 1992–2001 at special out-patient clinics of maternity hospitals in the capital area of Finland. The control group of 1792 women with no evidence of alcohol or substance misuse was matched for maternal age, parity, date of birth and hospital of index delivery. Both groups were followed-up until end of 2007.

7.9% (42/524) of the cases and 0.2% (4/1792) of the controls had died by the end of the median follow-up of 9 years (OR 38, 95% CI 14–108). The cases displayed significant morbidity requiring in-patient care in the areas of mental disorders (AOR 8.8, 95% CI 6.5–11.9), viral (AOR 23.5, 95% CI 8.8–62.7) and bacterial (AOR 6.1, 95% CI 3.5–10.4) infections, skin diseases (AOR 3.9, 95% CI 2.0–7.8) and injury and poisoning (AOR 4.2, 95% CI 3.1–5.6). The cases displayed more out-patient visits (OR 2.7, 95% CI 2.7–2.8). Their mean length of hospital stay was longer compared to controls (10.3 vs. 4.4 days, p <>

These women display significant long-term morbidity, mortality and loss of productivity after delivery. The results emphasize the importance of adequate postnatal follow-up and treatment for misuse.


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Request Rerprint E-Mail: hanna.kahila@hus.fi


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Neighborhood education inequality and drinking behavior



The neighborhood distribution of education (education inequality) may influence substance use among neighborhood residents.

Using data from the New York Social Environment Study (conducted in 2005; n = 4000), we examined the associations of neighborhood education inequality (measured using Gini coefficients of education) with alcohol use prevalence and levels of alcohol consumption among alcohol users. Analyses were adjusted for neighborhood education level, income level and income inequality, as well as for individual demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and history of drinking prior to residence in the current neighborhood. Neighborhood social norms about drinking were examined as a possible mediator.

In adjusted generalized estimating equation regression models, one-standard-deviation-higher education inequality was associated with 1.18 times higher odds of alcohol use (logistic regression odds ratio = 1.18, 95% confidence interval 1.08–1.30) but 0.79 times lower average daily alcohol consumption among alcohol users (Poisson regression relative rate = 0.79, 95% confidence interval 0.68–0.92). The results tended to differ in magnitude depending on respondents’ individual educational levels. There was no evidence that these associations were mediated by social drinking norms, although norms did vary with education inequality.

Our results provide further evidence of a relation between education inequality and drinking behavior while illustrating the importance of considering different drinking outcomes and heterogeneity between neighborhood subgroups. Future research could fruitfully consider other potential mechanisms, such as alcohol availability or the role of stress; research that considers multiple mechanisms and their combined effects may be most informative.


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Request Reprint E-Mail: felicele@umich.edu


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The dimensionality of alcohol use disorders: Results from Israel



To prepare for DSM-V, the structure of DSM-IV alcohol dependence and abuse criteria and a proposed additional criterion, at-risk drinking, require study in countries with low per-capita consumption, and comparison of current and lifetime results within the same sample. We investigated DSM-IV Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) criteria in Israel, where per-capita alcohol consumption is low.

Household residents selected from the Israeli population register (N = 1338) were interviewed with the AUDADIS. Item response theory analyses were conducted using MPlus, and diagnostic thresholds were examined with the kappa statistic.

Dependence and abuse criteria fit a unidimensional model interspersed across the severity continuum, for both current and lifetime time frames. Legal problems were rare and did not improve model fit. Weekly at-risk drinking reflected greater severity than in U.S. samples. When dependence and abuse criteria were combined, a diagnostic threshold of ≥3 criteria produced the best agreement with DSM-IV diagnoses (kappa > 0.80

Consistent with other studies, alcohol dependence and abuse criteria reflected a latent variable representing a single AUD. Results suggested little effect in removing legal problems and little gained by adding weekly at-risk drinking. Results contribute to knowledge about AUD criteria by examining them in a low-consumption country.


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Request Reprint E-Mail: dsh2@columbia.edu


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Campus drinking: Colleges' problem, or society's?


At a conference all about how college health officials can help students solve their problems, one speaker took an unexpected stance in a speech on student alcohol use and abuse: colleges can't do much to stop it.

In a presentation Thursday at the American College Health Association's annual meeting, Edward P. Ehlinger, director and chief health officer of Boynton Health Service at the University of Minnesota, took aim campus-based projects intended to cut down on binge and underage drinking.

"I don't think the problem of alcohol is an underage problem. It is not a college or university problem," he said. "I think alcohol is a community problem — it is a societal problem."

Efforts like the Amethyst Initiative — a group of college presidents who advocate for the lowering of the U.S. legal drinking age to 18 — and the National Social Norms Institute at the University of Virginia, Ehlinger argued, aren't working. "We have a whole bunch of efforts going on over the last 10 to 15 years," he said, referring to these and other projects sponsored by foundations, government agencies and alcohol companies. "What have been the results? The numbers have stayed about the same." He pointed to statistics that show that alcohol-related deaths, injuries and crimes among 18-to-24 year olds have stayed at similar levels for years. . . . . . .

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Saturday, June 12, 2010

Requiring suspended drunk drivers to install alcohol interlocks to reinstate their licenses: effective?



To evaluate a new method being used by some states for motivating interlock installation by requiring it as a prerequisite to reinstatement of the driver's license.

The driving records of Florida DWI offenders convicted between July 2002 and June 2008 were analyzed to determine the proportion of offenders subject to the interlock requirement who installed interlocks.

Due to long periods of complete suspension when no driving was permitted and the failure to complete all the requirements imposed by the court, only 21 377 of the 82 318 offenders studied qualified for reinstatement, but 93% of those who qualified did install interlocks to be reinstated.

Because of the lengthy license suspensions and other barriers that the offenders face in qualifying for reinstatement, it is not clear that requiring a period on the interlock as a prerequisite to reinstating will greatly increase the current installment rate.


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Request Reprint E-Mail: voas@pire.org


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Anti-drink driving reform in Britain, c. 1920–80


The goal of this report is to provide a framework for understanding and interpreting political, scientific and cultural attitudes towards drink driving in 20th-century Britain. Exploring the inherent conservatism of successive governments, Members of Parliament (MPs) and the public towards the issue during the interwar years, the contribution seeks to explain the shift from legislative paralysis to the introduction of the breathalyser in 1967.

Based on governmental, parliamentary and administrative records, the report follows a mainly narrative route. It places particular emphasis on connections between post-war extra-parliamentary and parliamentary movements for reform.

The paper follows a linear path from the 1920s to the 1970s. Britain lies at the heart of the story but comparisons are made with nations—particularly the Scandinavian states—which took radical steps to prosecute drinking and dangerous drivers at an early date.

The report underlines the vital post-war role played by Graham Page, leading parliamentary spokesman for the Pedestrians' Association; the centrality of the Drew Report (1959) into an 'activity resembling driving'; the pioneering Conservative efforts of Ernest Marples; and Barbara Castle's consolidating rather than radically innovative activities between 1964 and 1967.

Both before and after the Second World War politicians from both major parties gave ground repeatedly to major motoring organizations. With the ever-escalating growth of mass motorization in the 1950s, both Conservative and Labour governments agonized over gridlock and 'murder on the roads'. Barbara Castle finally took decisive action against drink drivers, but the ground had been prepared by Graham Page and Ernest Marple.


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Request Reprint E-Mail; billluckin@googlemail.com


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Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Induces Long-Term Changes in Dendritic Spines and Synapses in the Mouse Visual Cortex

To study the long-term changes of dendritic spine and synapse taking place in a mouse model of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs).

Pregnant mice were intubated daily with ethanol (EtOH) from E5 to parturition. A DiI diolistic method was used to label dendritic spines of pyramidal cells in the visual cortex of EtOH-exposed and control pups over the period from postnatal (P) day P0 to P30; synaptic ultrastructure was also analyzed using transmission electron microscopy.

Prenatal alcohol exposure was associated with a significant decrease in the number of dendritic spines of pyramidal neurons in the visual cortex and an increase in their mean length. The changes were dose dependent and persisted to P30. Ultrastructural changes were also observed, with decreased numbers of synaptic vesicles, narrowing of the synaptic cleft and thickening of the postsynaptic density compared to controls; ultrastructural changes also persisted to P30.

Prenatal alcohol exposure is associated with long-term changes in dendritic spines and synaptic ultrastructure; these alterations probably reflect the developmental retardation of dendritic spines and synapses in visual cortex. These long-term changes are likely to contribute to lifelong mental retardation associated with childhood FASDs.


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Request Reprint E-Mail: jinbo_deng@henu.edu.cn

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Primary prevention among working age USA adults with and without disabilities


Health promotion and disease prevention among people with disabilities are often overlooked. The objective of this article is to determine if working age adults with disabilities differ in healthy behaviours from those without disabilities.

Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System data (2003) were used to assess healthy behaviours among 201,840 community dwelling working age adults.

People who reported activity limitation irrespective of assistive device use were more likely to be overweight and to smoke than people without a disability. The prevalence of heavy alcohol and insufficient fruit and vegetable consumption was significantly lower among those who used an assistive device irrespective of activity limitation compared to the No Disability Group. Adults in all disability groups were significantly more likely to report physical inactivity compared to the No Disability Group. Lower alcohol consumption and physical inactivity findings were accentuated when the disabled were not working.

There is evidence that people with a disability report poor lifestyle behaviours that increase disease risk and may need assistance with smoking cessation, weight loss and adoption of a physical activity routine. Screening for unhealthy behaviours and advice should be incorporated into routine health care visits for working age adults with disabilities.


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Neuropsychological performance of South African treatment-naïve adolescents with alcohol dependence


Alcohol dependence (AD) in developmentally vulnerable adolescents is ubiquitous and confers a risk for long-term neurocognitive sequelae, yet comorbid substance use disorders and psychopathology can complicate interpretations.

Here, we compare cognitive functioning in adolescents with and without AD, who are free from comorbid disorders.

English- and Afrikaans-speaking adolescents (13–15 years) of mixed ancestry and low socio-economic status were recruited from the Cape Town region of South Africa. Adolescents with psychiatric, developmental, or other substance use disorders (SUDs) were excluded.

AD (n = 26) and control (n = 26) groups were matched on age, gender, language, and level of education. Neuropsychological testing in participants’ home language followed detailed medical/psychiatric evaluation.

Although our sample included participants who smoked tobacco, lifetime dosage of other drugs was negligible. When tobacco and other drug use as well as demographic variables were controlled, adolescents with AD performed more poorly on measures of Verbal Story Memory, Self-Monitoring, and Psychomotor Speed and Coordination.

These preliminary results, although relatively subtle, suggest that adolescents with AD may be at increased risk for failure to reach optimal levels of neuromaturation, and may be susceptible to cognitive problems associated with protracted alcohol consumption.


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Request Reprint E-Mail: hferrett@sun.ac.za


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Friday, June 11, 2010

The Impact of Parent-Child Discussions and Parent Restrictions on Adolescent Alcohol Consumption




The impact of parent influence on adolescent drinking behavior has been extensively researched, but remains unclear.

This assessment used data from a survey administered in after school programs in Maui County to further examine parents’ role in preventing underage drinking.

Two factors were explored for their impacts on drinking behavior: parent-child discussions and perceived parent sanctioning of alcohol use. Separate analysis was conducted for all respondents and for those who are drinkers. Youth ages 12-17 (n=572; 46.7% female; 25.2% alcohol drinkers; 16.4% binge drinkers) participated in the study.

No significant differences for the reported number of days of drinking (chi-square=1.38, p>0.05) and the number of days of binge drinking (chi-square=0.31, p>0.05) between those that did and did not have parent-child communications was found.

A significant difference was found, however, for the number of drinking days (chi-square=38.6, p<0.05) and the number of binge drinking days (chi-square=39.4, p<0.05), for “all respondents” between those who perceived parent restriction and those who did not.

These findings suggest that parent-child communication may be most influential when characterized in such a way as to include well-defined restrictions against alcohol use.



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State Estimates of Substance Use from the 2007–2008 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health



This report presents State estimates for 22 measures of substance use and mental health
problems based on the 2007 and 2008 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUHs).

Sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA),
NSDUH is an ongoing survey of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States aged 12 years or older.

Interview data from 136,606 persons were collected in 2007-2008 (see
Table A.9 in Appendix A). Separate estimates have been produced for four age groups: 12 to 17, 18 to 25, 26 or older, and all persons 12 or older (estimates for past year major depressive episode [MDE] are available only for youths aged 12 to 17).

Also in this report are estimates for
persons aged 12 to 20 for two of the measures—past month alcohol use and binge alcohol use.

Although estimates for persons 18 or older are not a part of this report, they are available at
http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/states.cfm.

For each measure, States have been ranked and
categorized into quintiles, or fifths, in order to simplify the discussion. Estimates presented in this report are based on a hierarchical Bayes estimation method that combines survey data with a national model. Note that these estimates are benchmarked to the national design-based estimates (for details, see Section A.5 in Appendix A).

In addition to presenting State estimates for 2007-2008, Chapters 2 to 6 of this report
provide comparisons of the 2006-2007 estimates with the 2007-2008 estimates and indicate whether the differences between the two are statistically significant for all measures. Increases or decreases are discussed only if they are statistically significant at the 0.05 level. A separate chapter (Chapter 7) comparing estimates between 2002-2003 and 2007-2008 for a select set of outcomes also is included in this report.


Alcohol Use

• In 2007-2008, the national rate of past month alcohol use was 51.4 percent. Among persons aged 12 or older, the rate ranged from a low of 27.8 percent in Utah to a high of 63.1 percent in New Hampshire. (Table B.9)

• Nationally, almost a quarter (23.3 percent) of persons aged 12 or older participated in binge
use of alcohol in the past month in 2007-2008. Two States showed significant changes in binge alcohol use between 2006-2007 and 2007-2008: Oregon had a significant increase, whereas Wyoming had a decline. (Tables B.10 and C.10)

• In 2007-2008, the rate of past month alcohol use among persons aged 12 to 20 (underage use
of alcohol) ranged from a low of 13.6 percent in Utah to a high of 38.3 percent in Vermont. Utah (11.7 percent) also had the lowest rate for past month underage binge use of alcohol, and North Dakota (28.0 percent) had the highest rate for this measure. There was a decrease at the national level in underage alcohol use from 28.1 percent in 2006-2007 to 27.2 percent in 2007-2008; similarly, there was a decrease at the national level for underage binge alcohol use from 18.8 percent in 2006-2007 to 18.0 percent in 2007-2008. Twelve States showed decreases in underage binge alcohol use: Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. (Tables B.12 and C.12)

• Underage binge alcohol use in the past month decreased nationwide from 19.2 percent in 2002-2003 to 18.0 percent in 2007-2008. Eighteen States showed declines during this time period; however, the District of Columbia showed an increase. (Table D.12)

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Treatment Episode Data Set -- Admissions (TEDS-A), 2008


The Treatment Episode Data Set -- Admissions (TEDS-A) is an administrative data system providing descriptive information about the national flow of admissions to providers of substance abuse treatment. TEDS-A is part of a reporting system that was originally designed to provide annual data on the number and characteristics of persons admitted to public and private substance abuse treatment programs receiving public funding.

The unit of analysis is treatment admissions. TEDS includes both Minimum Data Set (MDS) data (required reporting) and Supplemental Data Set (SuDS) data (optional reporting), as reported to state substance abuse agencies by the treatment programs.

Variables in the MDS include: information on service setting, number of prior treatments, primary source of referral, gender, race, ethnicity, education, employment status, substance(s) abused, route of administration, frequency of use, age at first use, and whether methadone was prescribed in treatment. Supplemental variables include: diagnosis codes, presence of psychiatric problems, living arrangements, source of income, health insurance, expected source of payment, pregnancy and veteran status, marital status, detailed not in labor force codes, detailed criminal justice referral codes, and days waiting to enter treatment.

Substances abused include alcohol, cocaine and crack, marijuana and hashish, heroin, nonprescription methadone, other opiates and synthetics, PCP, other hallucinogens, methamphetamine, other amphetamines, other stimulants, benzodiazepines, other non-benzodiazepine tranquilizers, barbiturates, other non-barbiturate sedatives or hypnotics, inhalants, over-the-counter medications, and other substances.

Created variables include total number of substances reported, intravenous drug use (IDU), and flags for any mention of specific substances.

The public-use files were created using the data that were current as of August 2009 (the August 31, 2009, extract).


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National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services (N-SSATS), 2008 [United States]


The National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services (N-SSATS) is designed to collect information from all facilities in the United States, both public and private, that provide substance abuse treatment. N-SSATS provides the mechanism for quantifying the dynamic character and composition of the United States substance abuse treatment delivery system.

The objectives of N-SSATS are to collect multipurpose data that can be used to assist the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and state and local governments in assessing the nature and extent of services provided and in forecasting treatment resource requirements, to update SAMHSA's Inventory of Substance Abuse Treatment Services (I-SATS), to analyze general treatment services trends, and to generate the National Directory of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Treatment Programs and its online equivalent, the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator (
link).

Data are collected on topics including ownership, services offered (assessment and pre-treatment, pharmacotherapies, testing, transitional, ancillary), detoxification, primary focus (substance abuse, mental health, both, general health, and other), hotline operation, methadone/buprenorphine dispensing, counseling and therapeutic approaches, languages in which treatment is provided, type of treatment provided, number of clients (total and under age 18), number of beds, types of payment accepted, sliding fee scale, special programs offered, facility accreditation and licensure/certification, and managed care agreements.



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Appeals to social norms as policy instruments to address consumption externalities



We consider appeals to social norms as a policy instrument to address consumption externalities. We explore whether appeals to social norms can be an efficient policy instrument and compare the efficiency of such appeals to the efficiency of taxation in addressing consumption externalities.

We find that when the existing norm helps to shift consumption towards the socially optimal level of consumption, taxation welfare dominates appeals to social norms as a policy tool.

While previous studies have found that economic instruments are superior to information in other contexts, we arrive at a different conclusion for situations where the norm shifts behavior away from what is socially optimal. In such cases appeals to social norms can be a better policy instrument than taxation.


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Request Reprint E-Mail: steffen.kallbekken@cicero.uio.no


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Depression, Craving, and Substance Use Following a Randomized Trial of Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention



A strong relation between negative affect and craving has been demonstrated in laboratory and clinical studies, with depressive symptomatology showing particularly strong links to craving and substance abuse relapse. Mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP), shown to be efficacious for reduction of substance use, uses mindfulness-based practices to teach alternative responses to emotional discomfort and lessen the conditioned response of craving in the presence of depressive symptoms.

The goal in the current study was to examine the relation between measures of depressive symptoms, craving, and substance use following MBRP.

Individuals with substance use disorders (N = 168; mean age 40.45 years, SD = 10.28; 36.3% female; 46.4% non-White) were recruited after intensive stabilization, then randomly assigned to either 8 weekly sessions of MBRP or a treatment-as-usual control group. Approximately 73% of the sample was retained at the final 4-month follow-up assessment.

Results confirmed a moderated-mediation effect, whereby craving mediated the relation between depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory) and substance use (Timeline Follow-Back) among the treatment-as-usual group but not among MBRP participants. MBRP attenuated the relation between postintervention depressive symptoms and craving (Penn Alcohol Craving Scale) 2 months following the intervention (f2 = .21). This moderation effect predicted substance use 4 months following the intervention (f2 = .18).

MBRP appears to influence cognitive and behavioral responses to depressive symptoms, partially explaining reductions in postintervention substance use among the MBRP group. Although results are preliminary, the current study provides evidence for the value of incorporating mindfulness practice into substance abuse treatment and identifies a potential mechanism of change following MBRP.


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Request Reprint E-Mail: swbowen@uw.edu


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Examining the Differential Effectiveness of a Life Skills Program (IPSY) on Alcohol Use Trajectories in Early Adolescence



This study investigated whether a universal school-based life skills program—IPSY (Information + Psychosocial Competence = Protection)—against substance misuse exerted the same effectiveness for young adolescents (10.5–13 years) from distinct alcohol use trajectories characterized by late childhood risk factors (temperament, self-worth, social problems with peers).

Analyses were based on a German sample of school students (N = 1,484). A longitudinal quasi-experimental design (intervention/control) with schoolwise assignment to the respective groups was used. Data were gathered via self-report questionnaire. Two-part growth mixture modeling was applied.

Two prototypical trajectory classes of early alcohol use were found: a problematic group with a sharp increase in prevalence and quantity of consumed alcohol (19.7%) and a normative group with a moderate increase in both outcomes (80.3%). The problematic trajectory class was associated with several risk factors. IPSY decreased the likelihood of membership in the problematic group. Furthermore, IPSY buffered the increase in prevalence and quantity for the normative group, whereas it had no effects on these indicators for the problematic group. Concerning quantity of alcohol use, the effect size in terms of a difference in estimated means between intervention and control group at the last measurement point in the normative group was d = 0.33 (95% CI [0.21, 0.44]).

Study findings indicate the usefulness of IPSY for reducing alcohol use especially in normative developing adolescents. However, the minority of adolescents consistently pursuing a problematic developmental pathway of alcohol use seem to be in need of earlier, more tailored treatments.


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Request Reprint E-Mail: michael.spaeth@uni-jena.de


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NIAAA Spectrum Volume 2, Issue 2, June 2010


In This Issue

Features

1 The Stars of Alcohol
Research Shine in
Honorary Lectures

3 Two Meds Are Better
Than One for
Depressive Alcoholics

Photo Essay


2 Three-Dimensional
Environments for
Drug Development

Charticle

4 Unmet Treatment Need

News From The Field

5 Diet Quality Worsens With
Increased Alcohol Intake

5 Light to Moderate
Drinking Linked to
Lower Risk for
Cardiovascular Death

6 Older But Not Wiser:
At-Risk Drinking in
Older Adults

7 Scientists Find Genes
That Influence
Brain Wave Patterns

5 Questions With...

7 Robert Huebner, Ph.D.


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