“Coming out” as an Alcoholic: How Former Problem Drinkers Negotiate Disclosure of Their Nondrinking Identity Health Communication Although communication is critical for former problem drinkers to reject drinks, socialize with others, minimize stigma, and maintain their health and sobriety, recovering alcoholics’ communication has not been examined beyond alcohol self-help groups.
Brief Intervention for Heavy Drinking in Primary Care: Role of Patient Initiation Journal of Addiction Medicine (free ASAM member resource) Alcohol brief intervention (BI) in primary care (PC) is effective, but remains underutilized despite multiple efforts to increase provider-initiated BI. An alternative approach to promote BI is to prompt patients to initiate alcohol-related discussions. Little is known about the role of patients in BI delivery.
FREE Online CME/CE Tools for Motivational Interviewing
NIDA is offering 2 FREE CME opportunities for Motivational Interviewing. These online simulations guide providers of adult and adolescent patients through MI skills-building with real time testing in a clinical setting.
How eHealth Technology Is Changing Alcohol Research NIAAA Spectrum From social media to wearable fitness trackers, new technology is changing the way we live, work, and conduct research. Advances in electronic health (eHealth) technologies are transforming our approach to the prevention and treatment of alcohol use disorder (AUD). A recent issue of NIAAA’s Alcohol Research: Current Reviews explores what this transformation means for alcohol research.
Treating your patients just got a whole lot easier with Stratus EMR. From consolidated patient histories and robust treatment notes to e‑prescriptions with seamless authorizations, we don’t JUST save you time and money, we ensure the security and quality of care your patients deserve.
Alcohol-Dependent Subjects Show Different Personality Traits Compared with Subjects with Multiple Substance Dependence Journal of Addiction Medicine The authors compared personality traits of 27 persons with multiple substance dependence with personality data of 52 alcohol-dependent persons regarding their personality traits and disorders (obtained by using SCID-II, TCI and NEO FFI). Given the limited number of subjects, the data needs replication in a larger sample before the clinical relevance with respect to prognosis or individualized treatment can be determined.
Parental Supervision and Alcohol Abuse Among Adolescent Girls Pediatrics Insufficient parental supervision during the early adolescent years forecasts a host of conduct and substance use problems. Early pubertal maturation may heighten risks, because girls alienated from same-age peers seek the company of older or more deviant youth. The study examines overtime associations between parent autonomy granting and adolescent alcohol abuse. It determined that early maturing girls are at special risk for problems arising from a lack of parent supervision. This informative article recommends educating the parents of early maturing girls about the unique risks they face and the need for warmth and heightened vigilance.
Alcohol’s Effect on Host Defense Alcohol Research Current Reviews This review provides a good summary of the immune effects of alcohol. Chronic use is associated with significant alterations in the immune system that may predispose people to infections and cancer. Moderate amounts of alcohol and binge drinking modulate host immune responses although the clinical effects are less obvious and merit further study.
Finding Solutions to Alaska’s Long-Running Alcohol Problems Newsminer Alaskan communities have the option of banning the sale or possession of alcohol. The state is even sponsoring pregnancy tests in some bar bathrooms as part of an effort to fight Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. But there are factors that make alcohol issues particularly challenging; many residents are transient, moving between communities or states before their problems can be addressed. Alaska is vast and in many areas, sparsely populated, limiting the reach of many alcohol-treatment programs and regulations designed to curtail abuse.
Association Between Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality in Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Unipolar Depression The Lancet Psychiatry Severe mental illness is linked to excess mortality from suicide, accidents, and somatic illnesses. This prospective, Danish registry cohort study identifies far higher all-cause mortality in patients with mental illness and a substance use disorders than in those without, particularly in people who misuse alcohol and hard drugs.
3 Things You Can Learn from CC Sabathia’s Rehab Decision Fortune “I need help.”
With those three words, Yankee pitcher CC Sabathia let manager Joe Girardi know that he planned to check himself into a rehabilitation center because of a worsening alcohol problem. The New York Postreported that Sabathia’s drinking spiraled out of control over the weekend, and the star pitcher recognized it was time to seek professional assistance.
Leptin Levels are Reduced by Intravenous Ghrelin Administration and Correlated with Cue-Induced Alcohol Craving Translational Psychiatry Preliminary evidence supports the role of appetite-regulating pathway, ghrelin and leptin, in alcoholism. Leptin and ghrelin have inverse effects: leptin decreases appetite, food intake and reward, ghrelin exhibits the opposite effect. This human laboratory study supported the hypothesis that intravenous exogenous ghrelin administration acutely decreases endogenous serum leptin levels, and the decrease was correlated with an increase urge to drink alcohol.
Brendan McEntee, Associate Director, Publications and Communications, 301.656.3920
Emily McMartin, Communications and New Media Specialist AdvertiseView media kit Please direct customer service inquiries topubs@asam.org.
Articles included are reviewed on their merit at the discretion of ASAM Weekly’s Editor-in-Chief. Any relationship that exists with products or services advertised with content is coincidental and not an endorsement, guarantee or condemnation of said products or services. Similarly, the views and positions of any content published in ASAM Weekly are not necessarily endorsed by ASAM nor a reflection of ASAM's beliefs and policies. The features are presented as a summary of the contemporary issues being represented and expressed in scientific, governmental, commercial, and media sources across the specialty field of addiction medicine. Contact ASAM Weekly with any comments or feedback.