Cocaine use is a serious social and economic problem for which no solution currently exists. Considerable efforts have been expended to develop medications and other treatments for cocaine abuse, including clinical trials of a number of pharmacologic agents and behavioral approaches (Stitzer and Higgins 1995; Tutton and Crayton 1993). The primary goal of drug abuse treatment is to have patients...

This article discusses the ill effects of substance use disorders and efficacy of incorporating meditation into the treatment of addictions. Meditation helps to reduce stress, anxiety, depression and pain associated with substance use disorders. It enhances brain functions and promotes plasticity. According to the World Health Organization Substance Use Disorders represent a significant public ...

BACKGROUND The Children in the Community Study is a prospective longitudinal study investigating the association between early drug use (childhood, adolescence, and early 20s) and later psychiatric disorders (in the late 20s). METHODS Using data from a community-based sample of 736 adults (50% female) from upstate New York, the subjects were interviewed at the mean ages of 14, 16, 22, and 27 ...

BACKGROUND Substance use disorders and obesity are often inversely related to one another, hypothetically due to competition over shared neurobiological reward circuitry. However, obesity and substance use disorders share common risk factors, such as other psychiatric disorders. It is unknown whether the inverse relationship between obesity and substance use disorders continues to exist in the ...

BACKGROUND A substantial number of patients in general hospitals will evince substance abuse problems but a majority is unlikely to be adequately identified in the referral-consultation process. This failure may preclude patients from receiving effective interventions for substance use disorders. OBJECTIVES 1. To evaluate all referred patients for possible substance use disorders. 2. To ascer...

Family factors have been part of the drug abuse lore at least since Fort's early (1954) paper commenting on the parents of heroin addicts. Subse-quently, the literature on family variables in the process and treatment of drug problems has shown steady and increasing accumulation; there were nearly 400 such publications between 1954 and 1978 (Stanton 1978), and that total would appear to have at...