Drug Abuse News and Research

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Psychotherapeutic interventions for cannabis abuse

Marijuana dependence and abuse can be moderately improved by various psychotherapy treatments - but reduced use rather than abstinence may be the best clinicians can hope for at this time, a new review finds.

21 Jul 2006

Hallucinogen in mushrooms creates mystical/spiritual experiences

Using unusually rigorous scientific conditions and measures, Johns Hopkins researchers have shown that the active agent in "sacred mushrooms" can induce mystical/spiritual experiences descriptively identical to spontaneous ones people have reported for centuries.

11 Jul 2006

Brain chemistry finding suggests new target for addiction treatments

Ask anyone who has been addicted to drugs and they'll tell you that the mere sight of someone using their drug of choice - or even people, places, or objects associated with drug use - can trigger an intense desire for the drug.

14 Jun 2006

Anger syndrome not just bouts of bad behaviour

Researchers in the United States are saying that Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) often known as Road Rage, may be far more common than previously thought.

6 Jun 2006

Intermittent explosive disorder is more common than previously thought

A little-known mental disorder marked by episodes of unwarranted anger is more common than previously thought, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has found.

5 Jun 2006

Most disabled people in L. America don't get appropriate help

Only 2 percent of some 85 million disabled people in Latin America have received medical help appropriate to their needs, said a report published on Friday.

16 May 2006

That dreadful feeling - most choose more pain sooner rather than less later

According to research into why people experience the feeling of dread, a team of Emory neuroscientists led by Gregory Berns, MD, PhD, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine the areas of the brain that are activated when someone gets that dreadful feeling.

9 May 2006

fMRI used to show dread responses in brain

In order to better understand how people make decisions when the outcomes are known to be unpleasant, a team of Emory neuroscientists led by Gregory Berns, MD, PhD, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine the areas of the brain that are activated when someone experiences dread.

8 May 2006

Exposure to cocaine before birth not linked to bad behavior in kids

Toddlers exposed to cocaine before birth exhibit no more behavioral problems than other children their age, despite early predictions that "crack babies" would grow up to be delinquents, University of Florida researchers say.

3 May 2006

Study shows drugs work differently in the brains of men and women

A Johns Hopkins discovery could lead to tailored treatments for drug abuse and neurological diseases after providing what is believed to be the first evidence in people that amphetamines have a greater effect on men's brains than women's.

24 Apr 2006

Time for Russians to get serious about HIV/AIDS

Rapidly growing numbers of HIV-infections in Russia has prompted President Vladimir Putin to order officials to do more to inform Russians about the dangers of HIV/AIDS.

24 Apr 2006

Research sheds light on eating disorders, compulsive gambling and drug abuse

Researchers at Harvard Medical School (HMS) report in the April 23 issue of Nature that they have identified neurons that encode the values that subjects assign to different items. The activity of these neurons might facilitate the process of decision-making that occurs when someone chooses between different goods.

23 Apr 2006

New therapy program for women with young children and substance abuse problems

The Mothers' and Toddlers' Program (MTP) broadens the focus of substance abuse treatment to encompass parent-child relationships. The MTP aids mothers to recognize their own, and subsequently their child's, emotional cues aiming to improve the emotional quality of the mother-child relationship and decrease the mother's preoccupation with drugs.

28 Mar 2006

Problem gambling runs in families

Problem gambling runs in families according to a University of Iowa study published online Feb. 24 in the journal Psychiatry Research.

15 Mar 2006

Memory, speed of thinking and other cognitive abilities get worse over time with marijuana use

Memory, speed of thinking and other cognitive abilities get worse over time with marijuana use, according to a new study published in the March 14, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

15 Mar 2006

Anabolic steroids flip the adolescent brain's switch for aggression

Anabolic steroids not only make teens more aggressive, but may keep them that way into young adulthood. The effect ultimately wears off but there may be other, lasting consequences for the developing brain.

27 Feb 2006

Steroids trigger long lasting aggression in teens

According to a U.S. study steroids may have a lasting effect on teenagers' brains, and could even flip the adolescent brain's switch for aggression which may last for at least two years.

27 Feb 2006

Drug abuse linked to brain hemmorhage in young adults

A fifth of young adults whose blood vessels ruptured inside their brain abused drugs and more than 40 percent had malformed blood vessels, according to a study reported Feb. 17 at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2006 in Kissimmee, FL.

20 Feb 2006

Racial and ethnic differences in nicotine metabolism exist among adolescent smokers

New research by scientists with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health, suggests that some of the racial and ethnic differences underlying how adults' bodies metabolize nicotine also are at work during adolescence.

23 Jan 2006