Wegovy A new and promising drug to assist with alcohol problems is now in second-stage trials. There is some exciting news for people with alcohol use disorder and possibly other addictions from research carried out at Oklahoma State University. When the weight reduction drug Wegovy was trialled, it was noticed that people who had excessive […]
Talking therapies shown to have long-term physical health benefits.
As if relief from the pain of depression wasn’t reward enough, it is now being shown that there are significant physical health benefits to relieving depression through talking therapies. A study published by researchers at University College London in the European Heart Journal has shown that successfully treating depression with talking therapies also significantly benefits
Talking therapies shown to have long-term physical health benefits. Read More »
Do self-help meetings make a difference to recovery rates?
People trying to manage a substance misuse problem have long been recommended to attend self-help meetings, but they may wonder just how big an impact this will have on their success in stopping using. In an 8-year-long study finally published in 2008, researchers examined the relationship between the number of AA meetings that people attended
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Does a longer stay help?
How long should someone stay in Rehab? This depends on so many things, how many problems are being treated, how intense they are and so on. Some people come to stay for a brief respite and others stay longer so it’s interesting to know if there is any evidence for different benefits for different lengths
Helping Patients Suffering from Trauma using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
Introduction to EMDR The precise neural mechanism for how eye movements affect emotional status is unclear, but the fact is they do. It is almost as though a broad view of the horizon from left to right, and right to left also helps the mind to place events within the broader context, or for both
Hope for Depressed Addicts
Not so long ago Alcoholics Anonymous was regarded with condescension by many professionals working in the addiction field. A common view was that science-based techniques, like Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) had made the Anonymous Fellowships seem like a quaint and outmoded quasi-religious cult. At the same time, there were encouraging signs of scientific method being
Self-licensing: A Route to Addiction
A couple of weeks ago (16th August, on BBC3; “Russell Brand: From Addiction to Recovery”), Russell Brand launched a hard-hitting attack on conventional approaches to drug addiction: first, he lambasted the view of right wing tabloid commentators who favour the view that addicts recklessly and freely abuse drugs, and could as easily choose differently. And
Treatment of Drug Addiction: When is it successful?
When can we say that treatment of drug addiction has been successful? The problem of deciding what constitutes success, or even improvement has generated heated debate between therapists, most notably in the past between 12-steps, psychoanalytic and behavioural enthusiasts. It has also divided policy makers. Those who favour prevention and environmental control are sceptical of the
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