Prior research suggests an association between anhedonia--diminished interest or pleasure in rewarding activities--and stimulant use in selected samples. However, it is unclear whether this association generalizes to the overall population and is consistent across stimulant drug types (amphetamine vs. cocaine) and outcome characteristics (any lifetime use vs. dependence). Questions also remain ...

BACKGROUND While stimulant-dependent individuals continue to make risky decisions, in spite of poor outcomes, much less is known about decision-making characteristics of occasional stimulant users (OSU) at risk for developing stimulant dependence. This study examines whether OSU exhibit inefficient learning and execution of reinforced decision-outcome contingencies. METHODS Occasional stimula...

Chronic alcohol abuse affects brain structure and function. We examined subcortical structure volumes in 77 short (6-15 week) and 90 long (multi-year) term abstinent alcoholics, along with 74 controls. We used a 3T Siemens MPRAGE sequence for image acquisition and FSL FIRST software for measuring subcortical volumes. When examining alcoholics without a comorbid stimulant disorder we found reduc...

Illicit use of stimulant drugs such as methamphetamine, ecstasy, and cocaine is a current and growing problem throughout the world. The aim of the current study was to investigate the long-term effect of illicit stimulant use on human motor cortical and corticospinal circuitry. We hypothesized that individuals with a history of primarily methamphetamine and ecstasy use would exhibit altered cor...

OBJECTIVE Misuse of prescription stimulant medication is a prevalent problem on American college campuses; however, few studies have been conducted beyond the United States. Although Iceland has the highest methylphenidate prescription rates in the world, prevalence of stimulant misuse within the Icelandic college student population remains to be investigated. METHOD We examined the prevalenc...

New research has implicated a potential target in the treatment of stimulant abuse. As with opioid abuse, stimulant abuse consists of a primary group for substance abuse disorders. However, there is no medication for the treatment of stimulant abuse such as amphetamines, substrates for the dopamine transporter, and cocaine, a dopamine reuptake inhibitor. Stimulants have in common a capacity to ...

Pharmacotherapy for the treatment of attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) originally consisted primarily of stimulant medications in immediate-release preparations dosed multiple times per day. Data demonstrating the efficacy of these stimulant medications for the treatment of ADHD and their role in treating children was well established by the 1970s. Multiple formulations of the st...

BACKGROUND Childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been associated with childhood and adult obesity, and stimulant use with delayed childhood growth, but the independent influences are unclear. No longitudinal studies have examined associations of ADHD diagnosis and stimulant use on BMI trajectories throughout childhood and adolescence. METHODS We used longitudinal elect...

BACKGROUND Few studies have examined the impact of stimulant use on outcome in early psychosis. Ceasing substance use may lead to positive outcomes in psychosis. AIMS To examine whether baseline cannabis or stimulant disorders and ongoing drug use predict readmission within 2 years of a first psychosis admission. METHOD Predictors of readmission were examined with Cox regression in 7269 peo...