Hazardous drinking and alcohol use disorders.

Alcohol is one of the most widely consumed psychoactive drugs globally. Hazardous drinking, defined by quantity and frequency of consumption, is associated with acute and chronic morbidity. Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are psychiatric syndromes characterized by impaired control over drinking and other symptoms.

Case Study Demonstration of the Potential Acceptability and Effectiveness of a Novel Telehealth Treatment for People Experiencing Gambling Harm.

The evidence base for internet therapies is building but little is known yet about the acceptability and effectiveness of providing telehealth online in a group format for the treatment of gambling disorders. Therefore, this uncontrolled, real-world study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of providing evidence-based treatment in a group format using an online platform. This innovative approach to treatment of people experiencing gambling harm was developed during the COVID pandemic so that gamblers could access evidence-based treatment from their homes.

Impacts of the COVID-19 public health restrictions on substance use, mental health, and psychosocial functioning among individuals with alcohol use disorder.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with major psychosocial disruptions and there is particular concern for individuals with substance use disorders. This study characterized the psychosocial and experiential impacts of the pandemic on individuals seeking alcohol use disorder (AUD) recovery, including pandemic impacts on self-reported drinking, heavy drinking, tobacco, cannabis, and stimulant use. Participants were 125 AUD+ individuals (% males: 57.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Stress, Isolation, Smoking Behaviors, and Motivation to Quit in People with HIV Who Smoke.

People with HIV (PWH) smoke at higher rates compared with the general population and have lower cessation rates. The primary aim of this study was to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on smoking in PWH. A survey was administered to participants in two smoking cessation trials in the United States.

Parenting to provide social recovery capital: A qualitative study.

Background: Although research demonstrates the necessity of social recovery capital (SRC) for youth in recovery, through having family that do not use substances and who support their recovery, the ways in which parents actually enact SRC have not been empirically examined. This qualitative study applied the Recovery Capital Model for Adolescents to group interview data from parent(s) of youth who resolved a substance use disorder (SUD) to explore the ways parents enacted SRC.

Method: The interviews were conducted in a prior ethnographic study in which parents of alternative peer group (APG) alumni volunteered to participate in a group interview; five mothers and five fathers of APG alumni participated in the interviews (n=10).

The Impacts of Social Support and Relationship Characteristics on Commitment to Sobriety Among People in Opioid Use Disorder Recovery.

Objective: Despite evidence that social support is beneficial for people living with opioid use disorders (OUDs), research has yet to investigate whether social support within certain relationships is more or less effective. The current study examined whether social support, relationship closeness with a disclosure partner, and/or the history of joint substance use between participants and disclosure partners affect commitment to sobriety among people receiving medications for OUD.

Method: Over a period of 3 months (two time points), participants taking OUD medications took part in a mixed-methods egocentric social network study exploring their relationships with disclosure partners before and following OUD disclosure (i.

Education and careers were our way out.

Stigma thrives in vacuums of awareness where stereotypes are allowed to persist. When those of us with lived experience of addiction and addiction recovery stay in the shadows, we miss an opportunity to challenge a harmful narrative-that people with addiction are fundamentally different from other people and don't get better. Here, we three addiction treatment professionals share our lived experience of overcoming substance use disorder, highlighting how education and careers have formed the cornerstones of our recoveries.

The Protective Wall of Human Community: The New Evidence on the Clinical and Public Health Utility of Twelve-Step Mutual-Help Organizations and Related Treatments.

Mutual-help organizations (MHOs) such as alcoholics anonymous (AA) are the most commonly sought source of help for alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems in the United States. Popularity, however, is not commensurate with efficacy; hence, following a call for more rigorous research on AA and 12-step treatments from the Institute of Medicine in 1990 a flurry of clinical trials, cost-effectiveness analyses, and mechanisms studies, have been published during the past 30 years. This body of work has now revealed the true clinical and public health utility attributable to these freely available resources in aiding addiction remission and recovery.

Feature-Level Analysis of a Smoking Cessation Smartphone App Based on a Positive Psychology Approach: Prospective Observational Study.

Background: Smoking cessation smartphone apps have emerged as highly accessible tools to support smoking cessation efforts. It is unknown how specific app features contribute to user engagement over time and relate to smoking outcomes.

Objective: To provide a feature-level analysis of the Smiling Instead of Smoking app (version 2) and to link feature use to subsequent smoking cessation.

COVID-19 Impact on Smokers Participating in Smoking Cessation Trials: The Experience of Nondaily Smokers Participating in a Smartphone App Study.

To provide initial insight into how the COVID-19 pandemic could affect smoking behaviors and cessation efforts that were underway at its onset. An additional survey was added to follow-up assessments in an ongoing smoking cessation study for nondaily smokers: a measure of impact of COVID-19 and a subset of previously administered scales measuring smoking, emotional well-being, and alcohol use. Pre-post tests were conducted (84 ± 28 days apart).

The evidence synthesis and meta-analysis in R conference (ESMARConf): levelling the playing field of conference accessibility and equitability.

Rigorous evidence is vital in all disciplines to ensure efficient, appropriate, and fit-for-purpose decision-making with minimised risk of unintended harm. To date, however, disciplines have been slow to share evidence synthesis frameworks, best practices, and tools amongst one another. Recent progress in collaborative digital and programmatic frameworks, such as the free and Open Source software R, have significantly expanded the opportunities for development of free-to-use, incrementally improvable, community driven tools to support evidence synthesis (e.

Associations between heavy drinker's alcohol-related social media exposures and personal beliefs and attitudes regarding alcohol treatment.

Objective: Social media use among American adults is ubiquitous. Alcohol-related social media posts often glamorize heavy drinking, with increased exposure to such content associated with greater alcohol use. Comparatively less is known, however, about how social media promotes alcohol-related health behavior change.

Emotion differentiation in early recovery from alcohol use disorder: Associations with in-the-moment affect and 3-month drinking outcomes.

Background: Early recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD) is commonly associated with high levels of negative affect, stress, and emotional vulnerability, which confer significant relapse risk. Emotion differentiation-the ability to distinguish between discrete emotions-has been shown to predict relapse after treatment for a drug use disorder, but this relationship has not been explored in individuals recovering from AUD.

Methods: The current study used thrice daily random and up to thrice daily self-initiated ecological momentary assessment surveys (N = 42, observations = 915) to examine whether 1) moments of high affective arousal are characterized by momentary differences in emotion differentiation among individuals in the first year of a current AUD recovery attempt, and 2) individuals' average emotion differentiation would predict subsequent alcohol use measured by the timeline follow-back over a 3-month follow-up period.

SUBSTANCE USE AND ADDICTION AFFECT MORE THAN THE BRAIN: THE PROMISE OF NEUROCARDIAC INTERVENTIONS.

Purpose Of Review: Addiction and excessive substance use contribute to poor mental and physical health. Much research focuses tightly on neural underpinnings and centrally-acting interventions. To broaden this perspective, this review focuses on bidirectional pathways between the brain and cardiovascular system that are well-documented and provide innovative, malleable targets to bolster recovery and alter substance use behaviors.

Subjective happiness interrupts the association between alcohol expectancies and alcohol consumption among reserve-dwelling first nation adolescents.

North American Indigenous (NAI) youth suffers disproportionately from consequences associated with alcohol use. Previous research has found that positive alcohol expectancies are robustly related to alcohol consumption among NAI youth and that changes in alcohol consumption are associated with concurrent changes in happiness. However, no work to date has examined the relation between happiness and alcohol expectancies, or the influence of happiness on the association between alcohol expectancies and alcohol consumption.

Impact of COVID-19 on alcohol use disorder recovery: A qualitative study.

In March 2020, restrictions on in-person gatherings were introduced due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, requiring alcohol use disorder (AUD) recovery resources to migrate to virtual platforms. This study investigated how these restrictions impacted recovery attempts and explored participant experiences with virtual resources using a qualitative approach. Participants attempting recovery from AUD ( = 62; = 48.

Recovery among sexual minorities in the united states population: Prevalence, characteristics, quality of life and functioning compared with heterosexual majority.

Background: Lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals ("sexual minorities" [SMs]) are overrepresented among individuals suffering from alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems. However, little is known regarding differences, particularly in functioning and well-being, between SMs and heterosexuals in recovery from AOD problems.

Method: Cross-sectional, nationally representative sample of US adults who resolved an AOD problem (N = 2002; National Recovery Study [Kelly et al.

Abstinence versus moderation recovery pathways following resolution of a substance use problem: Prevalence, predictors, and relationship to psychosocial well-being in a U.S. national sample.

Background: Many people who report resolving an alcohol or other drug (AOD) problem continue some level of substance use. Little information exists, however, regarding the prevalence of this resolution pathway, or how continued substance use after resolving an AOD problem, relative to abstinence, relates to functioning, quality of life, and happiness (i.e.

Daily drinking and social network interactions in network support treatment.

Objective: Social networks can be powerful determinants of drinking. Network Support (NS) treatment was designed to help persons with alcohol use disorder alter their social network to be more supportive of abstinence and less supportive of drinking. The present study was intended to determine how NS treatment altered behavior on a daily basis.

A Smoking Cessation App for Nondaily Smokers (Version 2 of the Smiling Instead of Smoking App): Acceptability and Feasibility Study.

Background: Recent evidence highlights the significant detrimental impact of nondaily smoking on health and its disproportionate prevalence in underserved populations; however, little work has been done to develop treatments specifically geared toward quitting nondaily smoking.

Objective: This study aims to test the feasibility, acceptability, and conceptual underpinnings of version 2 of the Smiling Instead of Smoking (SiS2) smartphone app, which was developed specifically for nondaily smokers and uses a positive psychology approach.

Methods: In a prospective, single-group study, nondaily smokers (N=100) were prescribed use of the SiS2 app for 7 weeks while undergoing a quit attempt.

Using TikTok in recovery from substance use disorder.

Background: There are many effective treatment options for substance use disorder (SUD), yet most individuals with SUD do not seek formal treatment services. Given the rising popularity of TikTok and need to foster innovative means through which to attract and engage individuals with SUD with treatment, we sought to characterize how TikTok users in SUD recovery are using this platform to bolster their recovery support and/or give hope to others who are struggling with substance use.

Methods: Our sample consisted of 82 of the most liked TikTok videos related to attempts to cut down on or abstain from substances and/or strengthen SUD recovery.

The science of recovery capital: where do we go from here?

Background: The concept of recovery capital (RC) has emerged in studies and discussions of the addiction recovery process and as a potential metric and marker for recovery gains. Although conceptual and applied development of the concept in the 20 years since the term was coined has increased, there remains insufficient clarity of key domains, factors and best practice research and applications for populations experiencing addiction. We aimed to review progress around the conceptualisation and operationalisation of RC and to consider future directions for a science of recovery capital.

Disclosure processes as predictors of relationship outcomes among people in recovery from opioid use disorder: A longitudinal analysis.

Background: Personal disclosure of opioid use disorder (OUD) recovery can lead to relationship outcomes such as social support, which is associated with greater treatment retention, or stigma, which is associated with risk of treatment dropout. Although disclosure may have important impacts on the relationships and ensuing recovery trajectories of people with OUD, disclosure processes remain understudied in the context of OUD.

Methods: Guided by the Disclosure Process Model, this longitudinal study explored the disclosure goals of people in treatment for OUD and examined associations between disclosure goals and relationship outcomes.