Search

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) remains one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders worldwide with high economic costs. Current treatment options show modest efficacy and relapse rates are high. Furthermore, there are increases in the treatment gap and few new medications have been approved in the past 20 years. Recently, psychedelic‐assisted therapy with psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide has garnered significant attention in the treatment of AUD. Yet, they require significant amounts of therapist input due to prolonged subjective effects (~4–12 h) leading to high costs and impeding implementation. Accordingly, there is an increasing interest in the rapid and short‐acting psychedelic 5‐methoxy‐N,N‐dimethyltryptamine (5‐MeO‐DMT). This paper offers a first look at potential therapeutic mechanisms for AUD by reviewing the current literature on 5‐MeO‐DMT. Primarily, 5‐MeO‐DMT is able to induce mystical experiences and ego‐dissolution together with increases in psychological flexibility and mindfulness. This could decrease AUD symptoms through the alleviation of psychiatric mood‐related comorbidities consistent with the negative reinforcement and self‐medication paradigms. In addition, preliminary evidence indicates that 5‐MeO‐DMT modulates neural oscillations that might subserve ego‐dissolution (increases in gamma), psychological flexibility and mindfulness (increases in theta), and the reorganization of executive control networks (increases in coherence across frequencies) that could improve emotion regulation and inhibition. Finally, animal studies show that 5‐MeO‐DMT is characterized by neuroplasticity, anti‐inflammation, 5‐HT2A receptor agonism, and downregulation of metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 with clinical implications for AUD and psychiatric mood‐related comorbidities. The paper concludes with several recommendations for future research to establish the purported therapeutic mechanisms of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Problems associated with alcohol use are multidimensional with psychiatric, psychological, physical, and social aspects, which makes it challenging to choose appropriate assessment scales. However, there has been no systematic evaluation of existing alcohol scales. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted for articles that assessed the psychometric properties of scales for alcohol use disorder on March 19, 2023, using Medline, EMBASE, and PsycINFO. Only scales whose original development papers were cited more than 20 times were included. The methodological quality and psychometric properties of the scales were evaluated using COnsensus‐based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments. The overall rating of the scales were assessed with a score ranging from 0 to 18. Results: In total, 314 studies and 40 scales were identified. These scales differ widely in measurement methods, target populations, and psychometric properties. The overall mean score was 6.3, and only the following three scales received >9 points suggesting a moderate level of evidence: Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Alcohol Dependence Scale (ADS), and Short Alcohol Dependence Data Questionnaire (SADD). Measurement error and responsiveness were not evaluated or reported in the included scales. Conclusions: Although the AUDIT, ADS, and SADD were rated the highest among the 40 scales, they showed, at most, a moderate level of evidence. These findings underscore the need to accumulate further evidence to assure the quality of the scales. It may be advisable to select and combine scales to meet the purpose of the assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Electroencephalography (EEG)‐based electrophysiological techniques have made progress in diagnosing and treating alcohol dependence in recent years. Aims: The article reviews the latest literature in this field. Materials and methods: Alcohol dependence, which is common and prone to relapsing, poses a serious threat to individuals, families, and society. At present, the objective detection methods for alcohol dependence in clinic are not enough. As electrophysiological techniques developed in psychiatry, some researches on EEG‐based monitoring methods are of great significance in the diagnosis and treatment of alcohol dependence. Discussion: As electrophysiological techniques developed in psychiatry, some researches on EEG‐based monitoring methods such as resting electroencephalography (REEG), event‐related potentials (ERP), event‐related oscillations (ERO), and polysomnography (PSG), was reported. Conclusion: In this paper, the status of electrophysiological researches on EEG in alcoholics are reviewed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patient and public involvement and co‐production are widely used, but nevertheless contested concepts in applied health research. There is much confusion about what they are, how they might be undertaken and how they relate to each other. There are distinct challenges and particular gaps in public involvement in alcohol research, especially when the study focus is on health matters other than alcohol dependence. Objective: To explore how patient and public involvement and co‐production have been interpreted and applied within a multi‐disciplinary research programme in the development of a complex intervention on alcohol and medicine use in community pharmacies. Design: The paper presents the authors' critical reflection on a grounded example of how public involvement concepts have been translated into practice in the intervention development phase of a publicly funded research programme, noting its impact on the programme to date. Discussion: Co‐production adds another layer of complexity in the development of a complex intervention. The research planning requirements for publicly funded research circumscribe the possibilities for co‐production, including impacting on the possibility of stability and continuity over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Aim: In this review, the author focused on anticraving therapy for alcohol use disorder (AUD) defined by DMS‐5. A comprehensive review was carried out on the available published papers on anticraving drugs for treating AUD patients. Methods: The author described all drugs with anticraving benefits for treating AUD patients approved by the Food and Drug Administration of the United States (US FDA) and European Medicines Agency of the European Union. Then, the commonly prescribed anticraving drugs and those under development were also described. Results: The US FDA‐approved anticraving drugs included acamprosate and naltrexone, and those approved by European Medicines Agency were gamma‐hydroxybutyrate and nalmefene. The author also highlighted topiramate, gabapentin, ondansetron, LY196044, ifenprodil, varenicline, ABT‐436, mifepristone, citicoline, and baclofen. The putative mechanisms of action of and the use in clinical practice of those anticraving drugs were also described. Conclusion: Although slowly developing, the field of anticraving drugs is getting into shape as a promising entity of a pharmaceutical class of drugs. Then, the author addressed on the underused issues of those recommended, and suggested anticraving drugs by the practice guideline of the American Psychiatric Association. The author urges that clinicians should be more “adventurous” in prescribing those promising drugs because benefits of those anticraving drugs are far‐outweighing the possible side effects of anticraving drugs, or the harms of untreated AUD itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The development of alcohol dependence is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. For the majority of affected people the most appropriate goal, in terms of drinking behaviour, is abstinence from alcohol. Psychosocial intervention is the mainstay of the treatment but adjuvant pharmacotherapy is also available and its use recommended. Aim To provide an updated analysis of current and potential pharmacotherapeutic options for the management of alcohol dependence. In addition, factors predictive of therapeutic outcome, including compliance and pharmacogenetics, and the current barriers to treatment, including doctors' unwillingness to prescribe these agents, will be explored. Methods Relevant papers were selected for review following extensive, language- and date-unrestricted, electronic and manual searches of the literature. Results Acamprosate and naltrexone have a substantial evidence base for overall efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness while the risks associated with the use of disulfiram are well-known and can be minimised with appropriate patient selection and supervision. Acamprosate can be used safely in patients with liver disease and in those with comorbid mental health issues and co-occurring drug-related problems. A number of other agents are being investigated for potential use for this indication including: baclofen, topiramate and metadoxine. Conclusion Pharmacotherapy for alcohol dependence has been shown to be moderately efficacious with few safety concerns, but it is substantially underutilised. Concerted efforts must be made to remove the barriers to treatment in order to optimise the management of people with this condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eugenics in most western countries in the first four decades of the 20th century was based on the idea that genes control most human phenotypic traits, everything from physical features such as polydactyly and eye colour to physiological conditions such as the A-B-O blood groups to mental and personality traits such as 'feeblemindedness,' alcoholism and pauperism. In assessing the development of the eugenics movement-its rise and decline between 1900 and 1950-it is important to recognise that its naïve assumptions and often flawed methodologies were openly criticised at the time by scientists and nonscientists alike. This paper will present a brief overview of the critiques launched against eugenicists' claims, particularly criticisms of the American school led by Charles B. Davenport. Davenport's approach to eugenics will be contrasted to his British counterpart, Karl Pearson, founder and first editor of the Annals of Eugenics. It was not the case that nearly everyone in the early 20th century accepted eugenic conclusions as the latest, cutting-edge science. There are lessons from this historical approach for dealing with similar naïve claims about genetics today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops dialogue between geographers’ engagement with emotion, embodiment and affect, and geographical research on alcohol, drinking and drunkenness. In doing so, we focus on the long-running ‘moral panic’ relating to alcohol-related violence, disorder and drunken behaviour in urban public space. We argue there has been an ontological and epistemological impasse in ‘alcohol studies’ between approaches that have considered the biological, physiological and psychological impacts of alcohol consumption and those focused on social and cultural practices. While there has been an artificial separation, and hence under-theorisation of the relationships between emotions, embodiment, affect and everyday uses of alcohol, we develop an argument that signals the possibilities of a more nuanced and sophisticated approach. We present empirical research from the UK and offer theoretical, methodological and policy-relevant conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interval-specific congenic strains (ISCS) allow fine mapping of a quantitative trait locus (QTL), narrowing its confidence interval by an order of magnitude or more. In earlier work, we mapped four QTL specifying differential ethanol sensitivity, assessed by loss of righting reflex because of ethanol (LORE), in the inbred long-sleep (ILS) and inbred short-sleep (ISS) strains, accounting for approximately 50% of the genetic variance for this trait. Subsequently, we generated reciprocal congenic strains in which each full QTL interval from ILS was bred onto the ISS background and vice versa. An earlier paper reported construction and results of the ISCS on the ISS background; here, we describe this process and report results on the ILS background. We developed multiple ISCS for each Lore QTL in which the QTL interval was broken into a number of smaller intervals. For each of the four QTL regions (chromosomes 1, 2, 11 and 15), we were successful in reducing the intervals significantly. Multiple, positive strains were overlapped to generate a single, reduced interval. Subsequently, this reduced region was overlaid on previous reductions from the ISS background congenics, resulting in substantial reductions in all QTL regions by approximately 75% from the initial mapping study. Genes with sequence or expression polymorphisms in the reduced intervals are potential candidates; evidence for these is presented. Genetic background effects can be important in detection of single QTL; combining this information with the generation of congenics on both backgrounds, as described here, is a powerful approach for fine mapping QTL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of philosophers have argued that alcoholics should receive lower priority for liver transplantations because they are morally responsible for their medical conditions. In this paper, I argue that this conclusion is false. Moral responsibility should not be used as a criterion for the allocation of medical resources. The reason I advance goes further than the technical problem of assessing moral responsibility. The deeper problem is that using moral responsibility as an allocation criterion undermines the functioning of medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Drueulu women's engagement in an organized collectivity during the late 1980s and early 1990s. I focus particularly on the Drueulu Women's Group, a group affiliated to the umbrella Catholic organization, mouvement féminin vers un Souriant Village Mé1anésien (mfSVM), to illustrate how these women mobilized cultural elements, including customary bonds, religious affiliation, and maternal relations, to assert their agency and empowerment. To move beyond a given and unchanging representation of Lifouan men and women means bringing to the fore multiple changing identities which are negotiated in different times and places. This does not mean privileging localism over national commonalities. By examining a 1990 protest march against alcohol abuse by men, I attest to the various articulations of women's concerns, customary linkages, and denominational affiliation which informed women's agenda at the village level. I then consider how these configurations were articulated in the 1992 annual general assembly of the mfSVM when 200 women gathered in Drueulu from all over the country for the twentieth anniversary of the movement. In the wider social settings here examined, the ubiquitous metaphorical use of maternal tropes gained strategic efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the specific problem of alcoholism in the husband/father member of the family. Disturbed personality and decompensation hypotheses were not supported by the data. Systems theory alone is inadequate to conceptualize the inconsistency of the alcoholic, and his impact on the family. A combination of systems theory and Hill's (1949) crisis theory was suggested as one view of the alcoholic marriage. Therapeutic implications were derived from this combined theoretical perspective, and were briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is linked to Bang et al papers. To view these articles visit https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.14243 and https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.14281. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we discuss the creation of dimensional equivalents for categorically defined substance use disorders (SUDs) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V), which now is being created. We begin with a review of the considerable literature that has accumulated on the dimensional properties of the SUDs. These studies have primarily examined the alcohol use disorders, but work relevant to other substances is reviewed as well. The weight of evidence indicates that SUDs fit well into a unidimensional concept. We next discuss potential advantages, drawbacks, and challenges in developing a dimensional alternative for the SUDs and highlight some issues for an ongoing research agenda to further explore the challenges. Finally we offer a specific proposal for a SUDs dimensional option for DSM-V. The model we propose is based on, and would relate directly back to, the categorical criteria that will be created for the SUDs by the substance use diagnostic workgroup. It is our contention that offering a dimensional equivalent for the DSM-V categories would be of great value, but that the categorical and dimensional definitions should be based on the same symptoms and closely linked. A dimensional scale that does not related directly to the categorical definition would be counterproductive. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on the journal "Family Relations." For 2002, the planned special collection titled "Family Resilience" for the April issue is well under way. This project represents the culmination of first joint effort with "Journal of Marriage and Family," in collaboration with the Center for Mental Health Services, to highlight a topic of particular interest to researchers and practitioners. Two additional special issues are being planned for 2003 and 2004. One is tentatively titled "The Legacy of Divorce: Controversies, Clarifications, and Consequences," with Drs. Sanford Braver and Jeffrey Cookston as special editors. The papers in this issue will explore viewpoints and data sets relevant to evaluation of the long-term effects of divorce and their implications for practice, program, and/or policy. The second special issue will focus on alcoholism and families, with Dr. W. Glenn Clingempeel serving as special editor. The editor assures the readers that without the expertise of dedicated professionals, "Family Relations," would be much less than it is.