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Narcotics addiction treatment: behavioral methods concurrent with methadone maintenance.

Methadone maintenance patients were assigned among four treatment cells involving contingency management, emotionally-based behavior therapy, a combination of these, or a control condition receiving counseling but no behavioral treatment. With 60 patients who remained in treatment at least 6 months, treatment outcomes were compared using objective measures: hours employed, urinalysis results, and counseling participation. No significant differences were found between modalities. Case studies suggested that under appropriate conditions, contingency management might reduce illicit drug use. It is suggested that focused experimental studies may be more productive than broad clinical outcome evaluations.

Adult↗

Chocolate: food or drug?

Although addictive behavior is generally associated with drug and alcohol abuse or compulsive sexual activity, chocolate may evoke similar psychopharmacologic and behavioral reactions in susceptible persons. A review of the literature on chocolate cravings indicates that the hedonic appeal of chocolate (fat, sugar, texture, and aroma) is likely to be a predominant factor in such cravings. Other characteristics of chocolate, however, may be equally as important contributors to the phenomena of chocolate cravings. Chocolate may be used by some as a form of self-medication for dietary deficiencies (eg, magnesium) or to balance low levels of neurotransmitters involved in the regulation of mood, food intake, and compulsive behaviors (eg, serotonin and dopamine). Chocolate cravings are often episodic and fluctuate with hormonal changes just before and during the menses, which suggests a hormonal link and confirms the assumed gender-specific nature of chocolate cravings. Chocolate contains several biologically active constituents (methylxanthines, biogenic amines, and cannabinoid-like fatty acids), all of which potentially cause abnormal behaviors and psychological sensations that parallel those of other addictive substances. Most likely, a combination of chocolate's sensory characteristics, nutrient composition, and psychoactive ingredients, compounded with monthly hormonal fluctuations and mood swings among women, will ultimately form the model of chocolate cravings. Dietetics professionals must be aware that chocolate cravings are real. The psychopharmacologic and chemosensory effects of chocolate must be considered when formulating recommendations for overall healthful eating and for treatment of nutritionally related health issues.

Animals↗

Alcohol use and its relationship to other addictive and preventive behaviors.

Immoderate consumption of alcohol was found to be related to three other potentially addictive behaviors (illicit drug use, smoking, and caffeine consumption) in a randomly drawn sample (n = 1253) of American adults. In addition, alcohol consumption was found to be related to nutritional, life style, safety, and health monitoring preventive behaviors. Although the underlying mechanism for these behaviors is not clear, possibilities include the subsumption of both addictive and other preventive behaviors under a more generalized risk taking (or risk avoidance) dimension.

Adult↗

Assessment and treatment of addictive sexual disorders: relevance for chemical dependency relapse.

Despite some skepticism about the existence of sexual addiction, the addiction model has proven very useful for treating compulsive sexual behaviors. Addictive sexual disorders often coexist with chemical dependency and are a frequently unrecognized cause of chemical dependency relapse. Sex addiction also contributes significantly to the spread of HIV disease. This paper reviews the differential diagnosis of addictive sexual disorders, their assessment. their treatment, and their interaction with chemical dependency, and provides information about 12-step (mutual-help) resources.

Adult↗

Involvement of glutamate neurotransmission in the development of excessive wheel running in Lewis rats.

Physical activities such as long-distance running can form a habit and might be related to drug-induced addictive behaviors. We investigated possible modulations of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor subunits during voluntary wheel running in brain regions implicated in reward and addiction. It was observed that Lewis rats progressively increased their amount of daily running, reaching maximum levels of 4-6 km/day. After 3 weeks of running, mRNA levels coding for NR2A and NR2B subunits were increased in the ventral tegmental area, while only NR2A mRNA levels were found to be elevated in the frontal cortex. Long-term wheel running was also associated with increased binding of specific NMDA receptor antagonist [3H]CGP39653 in the frontal cortex. Moreover, pharmacological inhibition of glutamate release by repeated administration of phenytoin (20 mg/kg IP for 21 days) significantly suppressed daily running. These results suggest that glutamatergic neurotransmission might be related to neurobiological mechanisms underlying the compulsive character of voluntary wheel running.

Animals↗

The role of feedback in the process of health behavior change.

OBJECTIVE: To offer a taxonomy of types of feedback and describe potential mechanisms of action particularly in the area of addictive behaviors. METHOD: Reviewed the literature to examine support for types-Generic, Targeted, and Personalized-and for mechanisms of feedback. RESULTS: Although it is not clear how it works, feedback is thought to offer important information, to create a sense of caring and helping relationship, to reach more directly decisional considerations, to increase engagement in the materials, to increase motivation, or to provide social comparison and norms. CONCLUSIONS: Avenues for future research in search of the most effective manner of using feedback to promote health behavior change are discussed.

Behavior, Addictive↗

A long-term program of research on drug use and crime.

This paper describes the major findings emanating from a long-term research program conducted in Baltimore, Maryland, on the drugs-crime relationship. It is the compilation of experiences, studies, and findings related to the research career of David N. Nurco, D.S.W., and his colleagues. Covering a period of over 30 years, the program of research, described in the report from the personal perspective of Dr. Nurco, has moved from the study of the nature and correlates of narcotic drug use to the development of data-based interventions. Topics investigated involve many aspects of narcotic addiction, including the relationship between addiction status and crime rates; changes in addict behavior over time; individual variation among addicts in the type, frequency, and severity of crime; and an examination of the early adolescent behavior of males who eventually become narcotic addicts in contrast to that of their never-addicted peers. It concludes with a description of the program's ongoing research, principally dealing with community-based interventions.

Adolescent↗

The most important unresolved issue in the addictions: conceptual chaos.

This article suggests that the field of addiction study and treatment remains in a state of conceptual chaos. The addictions is an emerging scientific field that lacks conceptual clarity. To develop the precision necessary for scientific advance, we must begin by developing improved definitions of substance use, abuse, dependence, and addiction. Complicating matters, psychoactive substance use is not a necessary and sufficient cause of addiction. For example, pathological gamblers experience addiction, including tolerance and withdrawal, often in the absence of any drug use. The neurobiology of subjective experience may be a more important factor in helping to explain addictive behaviors. Consequently, this article concludes that it is improper to consider drugs as the necessary precondition for addiction. Better operational definitions will advance addictions research.

Behavior, Addictive↗

Facilitation of aggressive and sexual behaviors by saccharin deprivation in rats.

The 'deprivation effect' (DE) phenomenon is expressed as an increase in the level of free choice consumption of drugs, alcohol, or saccharin following a period of forced abstinence in humans and in several species of laboratory animals. The DE may reflect relapse-like drinking and be relevant for modeling addictive behaviors. In humans, drug or alcohol abstinence is commonly associated with the increased physical and sexual abuse. The present study aimed to study whether aggressive and sexual behaviors are affected by the conditions known to result in the DE. Adult male Wistar rats had unlimited free choice access to water and saccharin-containing solution (0.1%, w/v). After the preference for saccharin was established, animals underwent repeated 7-day-long episodes of saccharin deprivation. It was found that (i) aggressive and sexual behaviors were facilitated after 7 days of saccharin deprivation, and (ii) DE was significantly reduced in animals that were allowed to interact with the nonaggressive male or receptive female conspecifics during the last day of deprivation exposure. These results suggest that the saccharin deprivation exposures may facilitate aggressive and sexual behaviors. Alternative behavioral strategy may serve as a mechanism of coping with the deprivation state.

Aggression↗

Oxytocin and neuroadaptation to cocaine.

Oxytocin (OT) has been implicated in neuroadaptive processes such as learning, memory, and social-affiliative behavior as well as in the regulation of physiological responses leading to adaptation to the changing external and internal environment. Drugs of abuse constitute a major challenge to the homeostasis of the body and behavior. Drug tolerance, dependence and addiction may involve neuroadaptive mechanisms related to learning and memory at cellular and systems levels. Considerable effort has been made toward the understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of addictive behavior. Neuropeptides OT and vasopressin (VP) might be involved in these processes based on their effects on neuroadaptation and on their neuroanatomical localization and pharmacological actions. It has been demonstrated that both OT and VP have modulatory effects on opiate and alcohol tolerance and dependence. This chapter summarize the effects of OT, and in lesser extent VP, on neuroadaptation to cocaine, a psychostimulant drug of abuse. We have shown that OT inhibits acute cocaine-induced locomotor hyperactivity, exploratory activity and stereotyped behavior in rodents. Furthermore, OT facilitated, whereas VP inhibited the development of behavioral sensitization to cocaine. In a different model, OT inhibited the development of tolerance to the stereotyped behavior-inducing effects of cocaine as well as cocaine intravenous self-administration in rats. We demonstrated that OT acts through its specific receptors in the basal forebrain and in the hippocampus. OT and VP contents in the hypothalamus and limbic structures were altered by acute and chronic cocaine administration in a dose-dependent and region-selective manner. The differential plasticity of the brain OT-ergic and VP-ergic neurotransmissions in response to cocaine may underlie the differences in the involvement of these neuropeptides in cocaine addiction. Interaction of OT with dopaminergic neurotransmission in the nucleus accumbens, a key brain structure in drug addiction, as well as OT-ergic regulation of hippocampal processes may be among the mechanisms of action through which OT modulates neuroadaptation to cocaine. A better understanding of the role of OT in neuroadaptation to cocaine may provide an insight into both the mechanisms of neuropeptide actions in the brain as well as into the neurobiology of drug addiction.

Animals↗

Rx for health care costs: resolving addictions in the general medical setting.

The literature on addictions treatment cost offsets suggests that resolving addictive disorders in the general medical setting will drive down the demand for health care, promote more efficient use of care by both patients and their families, and preserve scarce resources that can be deployed more wisely elsewhere. The demand to reduce waste and trim health care expenditures challenges the historic gulf between general medical practice and the management of addictive behaviors. An example of an addiction treatment technology developed in medical settings for use by medical personnel, brief intervention, is reviewed, with reference to its cost-saving potential under health care reform.

Alcoholism↗