To better reach youth in need of mental health and addiction (MHA) services, there is increasing emphasis on making MHA services ‘youth friendly.’ However, it is unclear what youth friendliness means on a practical level. This scoping review explores (1) how youth friendliness in mental health services is defined in the literature, (2) what characteristics make MHA services youth friendly and (3) how youth friendliness is expected to impact service use by young people.
Open Access Article
Results from the NDTMS on the number of young problem drug and alcohol users in contact with specialist treatment agencies and general practitioners between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2016.
This research suggests that contrary to popular opinion delaying exposure to cannabis does not appear to reduce the chances of using more of the drug as an older teenager. However, it does suggest that there does not appear to be a strong relationship between developing psychosis as a trigger to stop using cannabis. Again, this won’t come as a surprise to those working with this age group in the mental health or drug field as they will have witnessed this with the young people they encounter as part of their work.
Psychology of Addictive Behaviors30.1 (Feb 2016): 39-51.
Social norms-based interventions have shown promise in reducing drinking behavior and the resulting consequences in young adults. Although most research has focused on young civilians (i.e., college students), some studies have investigated social norms-based interventions with active-duty military and veteran samples. Yet, research has not yet determined how to maximize the effectiveness of social norms-based interventions in this heavy-drinking population. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details
Practice Innovations (Sep 13, 2018). DOI:10.1037/pri0000079
The practice of yoga and the use of its components (relaxation, meditation, and mindfulness) can be useful adjuncts in substance abuse treatment. As a primary treatment of substance abuse, yoga and its components achieve low success to mixed results. In contrast, these approaches have been applied more successfully to comorbid conditions, especially depression with low to moderate success and to a lesser extent, anxiety. The practice of yoga may be especially effective in the management of chronic pain for individuals who abuse alcohol or opiates because it focuses on psychological and physical characteristics. Yoga has demonstrated moderate success in treating chronic pain as it provides an alternative coping strategy for these individuals. It is important to note that these conclusions are based on limited data with a need for more controlled research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract). To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Letter. . Login at top right hand side of page using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP (legacy account)- Please contact the library to receive a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Norfolk Recovery Partnership (NRP) is working with homeless hostels across Norfolk to train staff to administer Naloxone, which is used when people have taken heroin and other opiate overdoses. It is hoped that by providing hostels with a take-home kit, as well as the right training on how to use it, the number of people who die prematurely as a result of an overdose will reduce.
NRP, which is a partnership between Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), The Matthew Project and the Rehabilitation for Addicted Prisoners Trust (RAPt), has so far trained staff at many hostels, including Bishopbridge House and the Ripley Project, both in Norwich. A further session will take place with staff from Genesis Housing next month.
To test a neurobehavioral model of adolescent substance use disorder (SUD) resulting from an imbalance between a hyperactive reward motivation system and a hypoactive executive control system. Specifically, we tested (1) if early weakness in working memory (WM) and associated imbalance indicators of acting-without-thinking (AWT) and delay discounting (DD) predict SUD in late adolescence, and (2) if early drug use progression mediates this relation. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
This study examined transgenerational transmission of risk for female alcohol misuse. Women’s perceived similarity to their mother/father in adulthood was examined in terms of its influence on the expected association between perceived maternal alcohol use and female offsprings’ trajectories of alcohol misuse. We hypothesized that a daughter’s self-perceived similarity to her mother, in instances where her mother was perceived to be a frequent- or problem-drinker, would be associated with an increase in the daughter’s count of negative consequences from alcohol use and potential symptoms of alcohol dependence across adulthood.. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Despite the many suggestions mooted in the media – such as the influence of "90s ladette culture" – the study did not investigate the reasons behind the rise.
The authors suggest the findings indicate the need to particularly focus on young women to reduce the impact of alcohol use and related harms.
Geoff Page publishes his debut elf blog on a new systematic review of alcohol and drug use disorders in recently incarcerated men and women. #WomenAndDrugs
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Delay discounting refers to the devaluation of a reward given increasing delays to delivery. Similarly, effort discounting refers to the devaluation of a reward given increasing effort required to obtain it. Individuals with substance use disorder show higher rates of delay discounting, exacerbating short‐term positive reinforcement at the expense of long‐term consequences. This study explores how effort discounting compares to delay discounting behavior among alcohol users as well as how these preferences change between monetary and alcohol rewards.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens details. To access full-text: click “Log in/Register” (top right hand side). Click ‘Institutional Login’ then select 'OpenAthens Federation', then ‘NHS England’. Enter your Athens details to view the article.
Open access. Cryptomarkets—on-line, anonymous market-places for illicit goods and services that specialize mainly in drugs—account for a small but rapidly growing share of the illicit drug market in many countries. Policy responses so far are based generally on the assumption that their rise will only increase drug harms. In this contribution for debate, we question this assumption.