Addiction

A new study from The Miriam Hospital and The Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies found that interventions targeting fraternity or sorority members at colleges around the country were unsuccessful in reducing alcohol consumption and related problems. The...

Long-term members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) report little or no craving for alcohol, but why this happens remains poorly understood. In the first study to explore brain physiology in AA members, researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center found that members...

Mindfulness may sound like an intimidating topic to some, but the concept is actually fairly easy to comprehend. It is perhaps best understood as a state of mind with several defining characteristics, like objectivity, non-judgement and a strict focus on...

Does including a religious message in a public service announcement warning of the dangers of alcohol use make a difference to the viewer, especially if that person lives in a Middle Eastern country in which the predominate religion is Muslim?...

Pathological gamblers have a stronger brain reaction to so-called near-miss events: losing events that come very close to a win. Neuroscientists of the Donders Institute at Radboud University show this in fMRI scans of twenty-two pathological gamblers and just as...

The results of the ground-breaking SALOME research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Psychiatry, show chronic heroin addiction now has another effective treatment tool - hydromorphone, a licensed pain medication. "The findings of the SALOME researchers...

Psychologists are beginning to examine sexual addiction among Christian clergy members. A new pilot study published in the journal Sexual Addiction & Compulsion suggests that many American clergy members could meet the criteria for sex addiction and cybersex addiction. Between...

People who attended Gamblers Anonymous gambled less often, showed increased readiness for change and enhanced coping skills, but appeared to fair better when Gamblers Anonymous was combined with other therapeutic approaches, a comprehensive review has found. Gamblers Anonymous is a...

There is a strong association between problem gambling, suicide ideation, and excessive alcohol consumption. This is thought to be due to the financial and relationship hardships due to excessive gambling. Excessive gamblers often feel hopelessness and a belief that the...

Some people frequently check and re-check their mobile phones. Once this impulse is triggered, it may be more a question of not being able to leave the device alone than actually hoping to gain some reward from it. These insights...

Worldwide, fitness buffs are turning to CrossFit, a specific type of group exercise, to initiate and maintain their exercise goals. CrossFit involves assorted forms of physical activity such as powerlifting, plyometrics, and running. During workouts, participants use assorted mantras (i.e.,...

With use of synthetic opioid "designer drugs" on the rise, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have a new strategy to curb addiction and even prevent fatal overdoses. In a new study, published today in the journal Angewandte Chemie,...

Adding flashing lights and music to gambling encourages risky decision-making -- even if you're a rat. In research published today in the Journal of Neuroscience, scientists at UBC discovered rats behaved like problem gamblers when sound and light cues were...

Electronic cigarettes are widely promoted and used to help smokers quit traditional cigarettes, but a new analysis from UC San Francisco found that adult smokers who use e-cigarettes are actually 28 percent less likely to stop smoking cigarettes. The study...