How to balance your internet use and maintain your mental well-being.
Discover the powerful role played by cognitions, motivation, the emotions, and biology in trying to beat addiction.
Discover the powerful role played by cognitions, motivation, the emotions, and biology in trying to beat addiction.
There is little doubt that addiction is very difficult to treat in the long-term.
While people sometimes make progress initially, they frequently relapse.
The reason seems to be a complex interaction between biology, upbringing and genetics: in other words, the same as many other mental health issues.
However, treatments can be moderately successful and some of the key insights are contained in the latest studies on addiction below.
These 8 studies are from the members-only section of PsyBlog: if you are not already, find out how to become a PsyBlog member here.
Motivation is key to even a moderate short-term change — but this can still be beneficial to some people.
The addict’s failure to form an accurate mental model of their behaviour is partly why they find it so hard to quit.
The emotion protected people from problem gambling.
Around 40 percent of people in the study were either self-confessed addicts or addicts-in-denial.
Understanding the reasons for addiction can help empower people.
More Americans now die of opioid overdoses than in car accidents.
People sensitive to the temptations of alcohol could focus on their mission, purpose and values in life.
Deaths from overdoses of opioids, methadone, cocaine and heroine are at all-time highs in the US.
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Contrary to popular belief, workaholics aren’t really happier at work.
Motivation is key to even a moderate short-term change — but this can still be beneficial to some people.
Around 40 percent of people in the study were either self-confessed addicts or addicts-in-denial.
The addict’s failure to form an accurate mental model of their behaviour is partly why they find it so hard to quit.
People sensitive to the temptations of alcohol could focus on their mission, purpose and values in life.
Cheap supplements could help to fight opioid addiction.
Cheap supplements could help to fight opioid addiction.
Vitamin D deficiency may exaggerate the desire for opioids, so increasing the risk of addiction, a study finds.
It suggests that simple and cheap vitamin D supplements could help to fight opioid addiction.
The study found that mice with a vitamin D deficiency more easily became addicted to morphine, a type of opioid.
When the morphine was taken away from them, those with vitamin D deficiency suffered more withdrawal symptoms.
An analysis of health records also showed that humans with a severe vitamin D deficiency are 90 percent more likely to use opioids than those with normal vitamin D levels.
Similarly, those deficient in vitamin D are more likely to be diagnosed with an opioid use disorder.
Dr Lajos V. Kemény, the study’s first author, said:
“Our goal in this study was to understand the relationship between vitamin D signaling in the body and UV-seeking and opioid-seeking behaviors.”
The study was inspired by the question of why human beings seek out sunshine when it is potentially so bad for the skin.
Exposure to the sun is the primary cause of skin cancer and ages the skin prematurely.
One answer is that sunshine is necessary for the production of vitamin D in the body.
Without it, people are at risk of weak bones and a host of other health conditions.
When the sun strikes the skin, not only does it help the body manufacture vitamin D, it also produce endorphins.
Endorphins, which make people feel good, are chemically related to morphine, heroine and other opioids.
All these compounds activate the same receptors in the brain.
So, people seek out the sun not just because the body needs to produce vitamin D, but also because they want the feel-good rush of endorphins.
These ideas led to the current mouse study, which tested the effects of vitamin D deficiency on their addictive behaviours.
Dr Kemény said:
“We found that modulating vitamin D levels changes multiple addictive behaviors to both UV and opioids.”
Professor David E. Fisher, study co-author, said:
“When we corrected vitamin D levels in the deficient mice, their opioid responses reversed and returned to normal.
Our results suggests that we may have an opportunity in the public health arena to influence the opioid epidemic.”
The study was published in the journal Science Advances (Kemény et al., 2021).
As many as one-in-six people could have signs of ‘severely problematic’ news consumption, which suggests an addiction-like state.
Vaping doubles the rate at which people quit smoking compared to nicotine patches.
Vaping doubles the rate at which people quit smoking compared to nicotine patches.
Electronic cigarettes are almost twice as effective as previous therapies to quit smoking, research finds.
Almost one-in-five people using e-cigarettes in the study were smoke-free after one year.
This compares to the usual rate of just one-in-ten people using nicotine replacement therapies.
The use of e-cigarettes, also known as ‘vaping’, may be more effective because it is easier to get the right nicotine dose.
They also mirror the behavioural aspects of smoking, which other nicotine replacement therapies do not.
E-cigarettes deliver the addictive drug nicotine in a vapour that is inhaled, without the damaging effects of real cigarettes.
Professor Peter Hajek, who led the study, said:
“This is the first trial to test the efficacy of modern e-cigarettes in helping smokers quit.
E-cigarettes were almost twice as effective as the ‘gold standard’ combination of nicotine replacement products.
Although a large number of smokers report that they have quit smoking successfully with the help of e-cigarettes, health professionals have been reluctant to recommend their use because of the lack of clear evidence from randomised controlled trials.
This is now likely to change.”
The UK study included 886 smokers who either received nicotine replacement therapy or e-cigarettes.
Not only were e-cigarettes almost twice as effective at getting people to quit, the results showed, they were also more popular.
E-cigarette users reported:
Dr Dunja Przulj, study co-author, said:
“The UK specialist stop smoking services will now be more likely to include e-cigarettes among their treatment options, and health professionals will feel more comfortable in recommending e-cigarettes as a stop-smoking intervention.
This may ultimately further accelerate the reduction in smoking and in smoking related diseases.”
The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (Hajek et al., 2019).
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