All posts tagged "Addiction"

Recent research published in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging explored the relationship between choosing to delay gratification, neural functioning, and success or failure in smoking cessation. The findings indicate that individuals who chose immediate rewards rather than delayed ones are likelier to relapse and continue smoking. In addition, fMRI scans reveal differences in brain activity of those who choose to delay gratification compared to those who do not. This research can help practitioners predict who may struggle to quit smoking resulting in more robust and potentially successful int......

Greater experiences of “telepresence” — which refer to a user’s sense of immersion in the world created by social media apps — among both TikTok and Instagram users are linked to higher levels of depression and anxiety, according to new research published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. The study examined “flow” experiences resulting from social media use. Flow was first introduced by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the 1970s to describe a mental state that occurs when someone is fully immersed in an activity. In the context of social media, flow experiences may oc......

A new analysis of hospital discharges in California showed that 1% of children whose mothers were diagnosed with the cannabis use disorder died in the first year of life. This percentage was 0.4% for mothers without this disorder. The study was published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Cannabis use disorder is a problematic pattern of using cannabis that leads to clinically significant impairment or distress. It is defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a condition in which individuals continue to use cannabis despite experiencing negative consequences,......

A study in a virtual reality bar setting assessed the effects of being subjected to painful heat on alcohol consumption. Results showed that men decreased intervals between sips of the alcoholic drink, but did not drink more in each sip. They only drank more rapidly. Women, on the other hand were not affected. The study was published in Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. Chronic pain is a problem experienced by about 20% of people in the United States. Estimates of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention see chronic pain issues inflicting $560 billion dollars in health care a......

A study using functional magnetic resonant imaging (fMRI) compared brain activities of persons suffering from smartphone addiction (excessive smartphone use) and those who use their smartphones in a less intrusive way. It reported systematic differences in brain activity during rest between the two groups. Additionally, two fMRI indicators of neural activity were found to be correlated with psychological assessments of excessive smartphone use. The study was published in Brain and Behavior. A growing number of studies in recent years emphasized negative physical and psychosocial effects of exc......

New York (AFP) - A group of pharmaceutical companies and distributors agreed to pay $590 million to settle lawsuits connected to opioid addiction among US Native American tribes, according to a US court filing Tuesday.  The companies include Johnson & Johnson and McKesson, according to a filing by the plaintiff's committee in US District Court in Ohio.  The settlement is separate from a prior agreement that resulted in $75 million in payments to the Cherokee Nation from three of the companies. The agreement is the latest in the wake of the US opioid crisis, which has claimed more than 500,000 ......