Alcohol Abuse

This study examined the effect of the You Can Do It! Education (YCDI) cognitive-behavioural intervention program on the emotional resilience of students in grades 4 to 6 who were identified with achievement, behavioural, social and/or emotional challenges. 61 students were randomly assigned to either small groups receiving an eight week YCDI cognitivebehavioural intervention or small groups receiving “eclectic” counselling other than cognitivebehavioural. Results indicated a positive impact of the YCDI program on the resilience items contained in the ACER Social and Emotional Well-Being Surveys (student self-report; teacher survey) with no positive impact found for students receiving “eclectic” counselling. Results are discussed in terms of the need for social and emotional learning programs that explicitly teach emotional resilience skills. Children of all ages face situations on a daily basis that can evoke negative feelings of anger, anxiety and sadness. The failure to develop ag...

Objective There is a lack of consensus regarding the extent to which cognitive dysfunctions may recover upon cessation of alcohol intake by alcohol-dependents (AD), and the divergent findings are most likely due to methodological differences between the various studies. The present study was aimed at conducting a very strict longitudinal study of cognitive recovery in terms of assessment points, the duration of abstinence, control of age and duration of the addiction, and by use of individual analyses in addition to mean group comparisons. Our study further focused on the 2–3 week phase of alcohol detoxification that is already known to positively affect many biological, emotional, motivational, as well as neural variables, followed by longer-term therapies for which good cognitive functioning is needed. Methods 41 AD inpatients undergoing a detoxification program, and 41 matched controls, were evaluated twice in terms of five cognitive functions (i.e., short-term memory, working memory, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and verbal fluency) within a three-week interval [on the first day (T1) and the 18 th day (T2) of abstinence for AD patients]. Emotional (positive and negative affectivity and depression) and motivational (craving) variables were also measured at both evaluation times. Results Although verbal fluency, short-term memory, and cognitive flexibility did not appear to be affected, the patients exhibited impaired inhibition and working memory at T1. While no recovery of inhibition was found to occur, the average working memory performance of the patients was comparable to that of the controls at T2. Improvements in emotional and motivational dimensions were also observed, although they did not correlate with the ones in working memory. Individual analysis showed that not all participants were impaired or recover the same functions.

Conclusions
While inhibition deficits appear to persist after 18 days of detoxification, deficits in working memory, which is a central component of cognition, are greatly reduced after alcohol detoxification. Individual differences in the trajectory of recovery do arise however, and it might be worth implementing individual assessments of impaired functions at the end of the detoxification phase in order to maximize the chances of success in longer-term treatments and abstinence.

Two hundred three alcohol-using college students completed a questionnaire on their levels of alcohol use, moderate to severe problems with alcohol use, and measures of life stress, impulsivity, compulsivity, irrational beliefs, and depression. While impulsivity ...

As state and federal prison systems across the country incarcerate increasing numbers of prisoners, researchers have begun to explore the social implications of incarceration (Fulbright, 1996). Many question the wisdom of massive incarceration programs, ...

The importance of conducting substance abuse research among ethnic minorities is underscored by findings that members of many ethnic minorities in the United States report higher rates of heavy drinking and alcohol-related problems than do Whites and have increased rates of illicit drug use, abuse, and dependence. It is important to better understand ethnic-specific substance use from a public health perspective. Recent data suggest that the prevalence of past month alcohol use and heavy alcohol use among Hispanics is lower than and the prevalence of binge drinking and alcohol abuse or dependence is comparable to that of non-Hispanic Whites. These estimates vary among Hispanic subgroups and across gender and age groups. The prevalence of past month illicit drug use is also lower among Hispanics than that of several other groups, including non-Hispanic Whites. These trends are consistent among both men and women, although the prevalence for men is nearly twice that of women in nearly all subgroups. Conversely, the prevalence of illicit drug abuse or dependence among Hispanics is slightly higher than that of non-Hispanic Whites. This article describes national level epidemiological data on the prevalence of alcohol and illicit drug use, abuse, and dependence among Latinos/Hispanics in the United States in comparison to other race and ethnic groups. Previous findings in the literature will be reviewed and new analyses using the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health will be presented. Given the heterogeneity of Hispanics in the United States, data for Hispanics will be broken down by national groups whenever possible.

Abstract: Absinthe, a strong alcoholic aperitif, is notorious for containing the compound ‘thujone’, which has been commonly regarded as its ‘active ingredient’. It has been widely theorized that the thujone content of vintage absinthe made it harmful to public health, and caused the distinct syndrome absinthism, which was extensively described in the literature prior to the spirit’s ban in 1915. The interdisciplinary research presented in this paper shows that 1) absinthism cannot be distinguished from common alcoholism in the medical research literature of the time, and that 2) due to the physical chemistry of the distillation process, the thujone content of vintage absinthe was considerably lower than previously estimated and corresponds to levels generally recognized as safe, as proven by analyses of absinthes from the pre-ban era. Due to the re-legalization of absinthe in the European Union and more recently in the United States, potential public health concerns have re-emerged...

A review of 2,647 studies of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) yielded 476 potential candidates for a meta-analysis of predictors of PTSD or of its symptoms. From these, 68 studies met criteria for inclusion in a meta-analysis of 7 predictors: (a) prior trauma, (b) prior psychological adjustment, (c) family history of psychopathology, (d) perceived life threat during the trauma, (e) posttrauma

The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) comorbidity with lifetime bipolar disorder, and the influence of this comorbidity on various demographic and clinical variables in patients. Patients (n = 159) with a previous diagnosis of bipolar disorder (79 female, 80 male) were included in this study. All patients were interviewed for the presence of current adult and childhood ADHD diagnosis and other axis I psychiatric disorder comorbidities using the structured clinical interview for DSM-IV (SCID) and the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Age Children—Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL). The subjects also completed a Wender Utah rating scale (WURS-25) and a Current Symptoms Scale for ADHD symptoms. In particular, patients’ clinical characteristics, the age of onset of bipolar disorder, and the number of episodes were noted. Twenty-six of the 159 bipolar patients (16.3%) were diagnosed with adult ADHD, while another subgroup of patients (n = 17, 10.7%) received a diagnosis of childhood ADHD but did not fulfill criteria for adult ADHD. Both of these two subgroups (patients with adult ADHD, and patients with only childhood ADHD) had an earlier age of onset of the disease and a higher number of previous total affective or depressive episodes than those without any lifetime ADHD comorbidity. However only bipolar patients with adult ADHD comorbidity had higher lifetime comorbidity rates for axis I psychiatric disorders, such as panic disorder and alcohol abuse/dependence, compared to patients without lifetime ADHD. Bipolar patients with comorbid adult ADHD did not differ from bipolar patients with comorbid childhood ADHD in terms of any demographic or clinical variables except for adult ADHD scale scores. In conclusion, ADHD is a common comorbidity in bipolar patients, and it adversely affects the course of the disease and disrupts the social adjustment of the patients. Regular monitoring of ADHD will help to prevent problems and complications that could arise in the course of the disease, particularly in patients with early onset bipolar disorder.