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Published: 17 October 2024

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Alcohol Use Disorder isn’t just a personal struggle. It touches the lives of everyone around the individual, especially family members. The stress and worry they feel can lead to serious emotional challenges, making it vital to support not only those with AUD but also their loved ones. Understanding this ripple effect is crucial for creating effective support systems.

The Ripple Effect of AUD

Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) extends its impact beyond the individual, deeply affecting family members who often endure significant emotional and psychological stress. This disruption within families is a critical issue that deserves attention, as it can lead to lasting emotional turmoil and strain on family dynamics.

Neurological Insights into Family Reactions

Recent research employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has uncovered compelling insights into how family members of individuals with AUD respond neurologically. The study highlights that these family members exhibit significant activation in brain areas associated with the reward network, specifically the left hippocampus and left amygdala. Such findings indicate that family members might experience a reward-based “approach” response, similar to those with AUD themselves. This underscores the need for comprehensive understanding and support for families navigating the challenges of AUD.

Implications for Societal Well-being

The broader societal implications of alcohol use are increasingly evident. The challenges faced by families dealing with AUD are mirrored in wider societal issues, such as the increase in drink-related incidents. This calls for a unified effort to address alcohol-related issues comprehensively, recognising the profound and far-reaching effects on both individuals and their loved ones.

By focusing on the underlying causes and advocating for robust preventative measures, we can work towards creating a healthier, more supportive environment for all affected by AUD.

(Source: Springer Link)

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Published: 01 August 2024

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An article from DB Recovery Resources provides an update on the relationship between abstinence programs and the criminal justice system. It highlights recent studies showing that incorporating abstinence-based recovery programs into criminal justice settings has led to significant reductions in recidivism rates. These programs focus on complete abstinence from alcohol and drugs, supported by counselling and peer support groups.

The article also discusses the challenges and criticisms of abstinence-based approaches, such as the need for more comprehensive support systems and the potential for relapse. Despite these challenges, the findings suggest that when effectively implemented, abstinence programs can play a crucial role in helping former offenders maintain sobriety and reintegrate into society successfully.

Source: DB Recovery Resources

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Published: 19 July 2024

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Nicotine, arguably the most difficult of substance use habits to ‘kick’, is highlighted in the following research, but one can apply this same ‘non-assisted’ exiting of drug use to other substances to. 

This of course is and has been done by millions of citizens who through abstinence based programs and processes, including therapeutic communities and 12 Step programs, has seen people break free from the tyranny of addiction. 

This exhortation, if you will, is not to denigrate medically assisted treatments that help an individual exit the drug using habits that are undermining their health and humanity – No, not at all!  It is, however, wanting to put back in a more prominent place on the ‘treatment table’ that has been cluttered with a growing number of drug use maintenance vehicles masquerading as treatment options, and empower people to become the drug free human units they were born to be. 

Also see ‘Drug Use, Stigma and Proactive Contagions to Reduce Both’

The Global Research Neglect of Unassisted Smoking Cessation: Causes and Consequences

Summary Points

• Research shows that two-thirds to three-quarters of ex-smokers stop unaided. In contrast, the increasing medicalisation of smoking cessation implies that cessation need be pharmacologically or professionally mediated.
• Most published papers of smoking cessation interventions are studies or reviews of assisted cessation; very few describe the cessation impact of policies or campaigns in which cessation is not assisted at the individual level.
• Many assisted cessation studies, but few if any unassisted cessation studies, are funded by pharmaceutical companies manufacturing cessation products.
• Health authorities should emphasise the positive message that the most successful method used by most ex-smokers is unassisted cessation.

Introduction

As with problem drinking, gambling, and narcotics use [1]–[9] population studies show consistently that a large majority of smokers who permanently stop smoking do so without any form of assistance [10]–[15]. In 2003, some 20 years after the introduction of cessation pharmacotherapies, smokers trying to stop unaided in the past year were twice as numerous as those using pharmacotherapies and only 8.8% of US quit attempters used a behavioural treatment [16]. Moreover, despite the pharmaceutical industry's efforts to promote pharmacologically mediated cessation and numerous clinical trials demonstrating the efficacy of pharmacotherapy, the most common method used by most people who have successfully stopped smoking remains unassisted cessation (cold turkey or reducing before quitting [16],[17]). In 1986, the American Cancer Society reported that: “Over 90% of the estimated 37 million people who have stopped smoking in this country since the Surgeon General's first report linking smoking to cancer have done so unaided.” [18]. Today, unassisted cessation continues to lead the next most successful method (nicotine replacement therapy [NRT]) by a wide margin [15],[16].

Yet, paradoxically, the tobacco control community treats this information as if it was somehow irresponsible or subversive and ignores the potential policy implications of studying self-quitters. Unassisted cessation is seldom emphasised in advice to smokers [19]. We know of no campaigns that highlight the fact that most ex-smokers quit unaided even though hundreds of millions have done just that. Reviews typically give unassisted cessation cursory attention [20], framing it as a challenge to be eroded by persuading more smokers to use pharmacotherapies: “Unfortunately, most smokers …fail to use evidence-based treatments to support their quit attempts” [21]; “If there is a major failing in the UK approach, it is not that it has medicalised smoking, but that it has not done so enough.” [22]. Clinical guidelines also ignore unassisted cessation [8]. Finally, although the US National Centre for Health Statistics routinely included a question on “cold turkey” cessation in its surveys between 1983 and 2000, this question disappeared in 2005 [23].

Because of these prevalent attitudes, smoking cessation is becoming increasingly pathologised, a development that risks distortion of public awareness of how most smokers quit to the obvious benefit of pharmaceutical companies. Furthermore, the cessation research literature is preoccupied with the difficulty of stopping. Notably, however, in the rare literature that has bothered to ask [24], many ex-smokers recall stopping as less traumatic than anticipated. For example, in a large British study of ex-smokers in the 1980s, before the advent of pharmacotherapy, 53% of the ex-smokers said that it was “not at all difficult” to stop, 27% said it was “fairly difficult”, and the remainder found it very difficult

(For complete research go to PLOS Medicine)

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Published: 19 July 2024

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The intricate relationship between myelination in the brain and addiction to opioids has been a subject of recent research conducted by scientists at Stanford Medicine. This groundbreaking study sheds light on how adaptive myelination, a process crucial for learning new skills, can also play a role in promoting addiction to opioids. By unravelling the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, researchers aim to deepen our understanding of addiction pathways and potentially pave the way for innovative approaches to addressing substance use disorders.

Myelination and Learning

• Myelin, the fatty substance that forms around nerve fibres, is essential for efficient neural communication and cognitive functions. The process of myelination is intricately linked to learning and acquiring new skills, as it enhances the speed and precision of signal transmission within the brain. This study suggests that the same mechanism responsible for learning may contribute to the development of addiction under certain circumstances.
• Opioid addiction poses a complex challenge, impacting individuals at both physiological and psychological levels. By exploring how adaptive myelination influences the brain’s response to opioid exposure, researchers seek to uncover the neural pathways involved in addiction development. Understanding these pathways is crucial for designing targeted interventions that address the root causes of substance dependence.

Neuroplasticity and Addiction

• Neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to reorganise itself in response to experiences, plays a significant role in addiction vulnerability. The study’s findings suggest that changes in myelination patterns associated with opioid use may alter neural circuits related to reward processing and decision-making, contributing to the reinforcement of addictive behaviours over time.
• Insights from this research hold promise for informing novel treatment strategies for opioid addiction. By identifying the impact of myelination on addiction pathways, clinicians and researchers may develop tailored interventions that target specific neural mechanisms involved in substance use disorders. This personalised approach could lead to more effective and sustainable treatments for individuals struggling with opioid addiction.

(Source: Stanford Medicine also see RESILIENT BRAIN – RESILENT LIFE)