Advances in alcohol & substance abuse最新文献

Although alcoholics are known to utilize a disproportionate amount of medical care, hospital patients are not routinely screened for alcoholism. A sample of 310 randomly selected patients from two hospitals were administered a structured diagnostic interview. More than one-third (35%) of the men and 14% of the women met DSM-III criteria for a current alcohol use disorder and an additional 27% of the men and 9% of the women met criteria for an alcohol use disorder in remission. The practicality and efficiency of structured interviews is discussed along with the potential of a small subset of items to serve as a screen for alcoholism.

A cocaine trigger inventory, developed to help cocaine dependent patients identify cues which precipitate cocaine hunger was administered to a group of hospitalized cocaine addicts. Groups of similar cues ("situations") were ranked according to the difficulties created. The four most highly ranked situations were "People, Places and Things," "Work Situations," "Celebrations," and "Cocaine Focus." Two situations assumed to be very problematic by producing cocaine hunger ("Mood states" and "Romance"), proved not to be so. Possible explanations for this discrepancy and strategies for coping with cocaine hunger are offered.

Traditionally, instruction concerning alcohol and drug dependence has been insignificant in medical schools. The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, decided to introduce a special course starting in the academic year of 1983-84. It is given 4 times a year and is of a comprehensive nature. It comprises 2 weeks, 1 week of lectures and 1 week of clinical training and is followed by a separate examination. The first 7 courses from the fall of 1983 to the spring of 1985 are described and evaluated here. Evidently, the new course is much appreciated by the students and there is also a marked shift in opinion towards a more positive attitude in coping with these problems.

The relationship of parental closeness to current behavior and related psychopathological indices is studied among alcoholics. Seventy alcoholics from an inpatient treatment unit and thirty medical inpatients were given a battery of alcohol related measures. These measures included a scale assessing the psychological distance from mother and father, a social closeness measure, an index of anger, a locus of control measure, along with basic alcohol-related information. In addition, the alcoholic sample was given psychometric measures of depression and cognition. Results show that perceived distance from parents is greater among alcoholics than medical patients. Comparison analyses of mother and father distance scores on the study variables of alcohol-related and psychometric measures yielded only a few differences. Correlational analyses showed, however, that distance from mother and father is related to parental alcohol abuse and parents not being at home but not to current behavior (except anger).

This paper reports the ethnographic findings from a study of cannabis use by pregnant women in rural Jamaica. The perceived functions of ganja in reducing the physiological symptoms of pregnancy and associated psychological stress are described in relation to the sociocultural context of pregnancy in low-income rural communities. The data suggest that distinguishing life-style characteristics of cannabis-smoking women may actually mitigate the potentially harmful effects of marihuana.

The purpose of this study was twofold: to identify characteristics distinguishing Korean-American drinkers from abstainers and to clarify differences between those who drink smaller versus larger amounts of alcohol. A random sample of 280 Korean adults was interviewed using a schedule based on Cahalan's national study of drinking behavior and attitudes. Approximately 58% of the sample were abstainers while only about 14% were heavy drinkers. Logistic regression was used to determine the relative influence of various social factors on drinking behavior. The logistic model identified five characteristics which differentiated abstainers from drinkers: gender (male), college education, parental opposition, playing indoor games (e.g., cards) and going to bars, and/or nightclubs. A second logistic model clarified the influence of similar characteristics on the level of drinking. Males and those who went to bars and/or nightclubs were most apt to be heavy drinkers whereas participants in sports and Protestants were aligned with more moderate drinking.

Traditionally, in the field of alcoholism research, abstinence has been considered the sole measure of treatment success and patients found to be drinking at follow-up were automatically considered to be treatment failures. In recent years this dichotomous approach has been criticized in light of studies on post-treatment status that reveal patients to be drinking and functioning at an improved level. Although there has been a convergence of evidence indicating that some treated alcoholics progress toward an improved but not abstinent status, such improvement in drinking status had apparently not previously been investigated in a general population. Such was the purpose of the present study with 529 subjects. Of the persons who reported previous alcoholic drinking level from 49% to 63% reported current subcriterion drinking. It was inferred that these findings combine with the findings from treated alcoholic and other special populations to form a more pervasive perspective of movement from alcoholic to subalcoholic drinking levels. Although the authors see some overlap with the topic of moderate drinking oriented treatment programs, they view specific recommendations as premature.

This paper examines trends in the French consumption of alcohol over the last three decades, and includes data on the production of alcoholic beverages, the consumption of different types of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, morbidity and mortality related to the consumption of alcohol, and a brief description of French preventive and educational measures in this area. In the last 15 years, the average alcohol consumption has ceased growing and even began to decrease. Data are given comparing consumption trends in several European countries, as well as more detailed data of alcohol consumption and related phenomena in France by region, by sex, by age and by socio-economic status (the last two categories for men only). Finally, a schema of the social dynamics of alcohol consumption is presented.

Amphetamine (beta-phenylisopropylamine) is a potent sympathomimetic amine of a simple structure with a multiplicity of biological effects that include hyperthermic, anorectic, cardiovascular and central nervous system stimulant actions. Since the 1930s a large number of drugs have been developed from systematic, chemical modifications of the basic amphetamine molecule to emphasize some of the properties of amphetamines and to eliminate or diminish others. These chemical manipulations have resulted in the synthesis of a variety of more selectively acting sympathomimetics. These altered molecules include CNS stimulants, potent psychomimetics (hallucinogens), anorectic agents, and vasoconstrictors that all have the basic beta-phenylisopropylamine skeleton. Reports of the consequences of abuse and addiction followed rather closely the development of these agents: manufacture, distribution and use continue to the present day. Both legitimate and illicit production account for a significant level of use of CNS stimulants. CNS stimulants are perhaps the most reinforcing drugs known to man. For this reason alone they will persist as drugs of choice among a variety of personalities.