Scientific basis for information on the consequences of addiction
A 41 year old woman experienced alcoholism.
When she first tried alcohol, she felt depressed and ill. She immediately regretted her decision to drink, but she continued to drink for many years, sometimes to excess.
I completely hit rock bottom," she said. She said.
I couldn't imagine putting myself in social situations without alcohol, I wanted to feel part of society, unique, liked, loved, and alcohol gave me all of that. She also said.
In her early twenties, she began seeing a therapist. She talked about her guilt and regret over her behavior after a night of drinking, and the therapist encouraged her to talk more about it, but she denied that she had a problem.
The therapist told her that people who do not have drinking problems do not feel the way she did after drinking. She said this led her to realize that she had a problem with alcohol.
Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is an
It is a disorder that can cause a person to lose control of how much they drink. It has also been reported that this can lead to anxiety, irritability, and stress when not drinking. At the suggestion of her therapist, she joined a 12-step program. However, early on she had trouble making sense of her participation in the program. She felt sorry for herself and even cried during the program.
Then, when she was able to admit that she had a drinking problem, she began to take steps toward recovery. Things fell into place when I started listening and following directions," she said. "I got a sponsor and learned how to cope physically and mentally. This helped me understand that everything that brought me to that moment happened to get me to where I am today, and I no longer feel like I'm a victim. She added.
The 12-step program helps people cope with AUD, but it is important to be able to face the program, stay calm, and continue. She also said that women are often forced to drink by their surroundings. "If it's happy hour after work and someone asks me why I don't drink, I can joke and say I'm a retired drunk, or I can be more direct and say I have a lot of problems. Either way, it led me to believe that people would not think much of me. I've learned that I don't owe anyone an explanation. She told me. She said it was important to remember that this tendency to drink deprives people of the opportunity to recover from alcoholism and that people with AUDs are not bad people.
No one does anything with the intention of becoming an alcoholic and losing their job or their children. Those who have become alcoholics made the choice to continue drinking, but there is always an opportunity to turn your life around, and she says she wouldn't be where she is today if she hadn't made decisions like hers.
People like her who have problems with drinking may seek help, but it is important to find a solution that works for you and what works for you, like a 12-step program.
Facing the Family of an Alcoholic
Join a Program
Look for a program that can help you support the family you love.
Programs such as Al-Anon FamilyGroups and AdultChildren of Alcoholics can help people understand the obstacles, what they can do to help, and what they can do to help. There are programs that can help you understand your role in the recovery of your loved ones.
Patience is necessary
Changing habits is difficult, takes time, and often requires repeated effort. You need to be patient with your family and make repeated attempts and understand that overcoming this obstacle will not be easy or quick.
Celebrate your successes
Pay attention to how your family is doing during the recovery process. Be thankful for their successes, no matter how small the change.
Take care of yourself.
Supporting an alcoholic can often be very stressful. One way to help is to turn to friends, family, support groups, and mental health professionals. This can be important to help you cope with the depression and anxiety that you may feel if you are facing this alone. And remember that the person treating the alcoholic, the individual, is the one ultimately responsible for managing the disease.
Sources: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator®.
Gambling Disorders and Decision Making
People who are addicted to or impaired by gambling are significantly inflexible in their decision making. However, it is an open question whether abnormalities in learning from feedback are specific to gambling or extend beyond the gambling context. It has been proposed that addictive disorders, including gambling addiction in general, are facilitated by individual differences in the flexibility of feedback-driven decision making, and have been studied in the lab using a probabilistic reversal learning task (PRLT).
In the study.
25 treatment-seeking patients who had been diagnosed with an addictive disorder and reported a gambling problem, and 25 controls, divided into groups. In addition to testing for differences in the shape of the PRLT learning curve between the groups, the impact of identifying the severity of problem gambling symptoms was also assessed independently of group assignment.
To overcome previous methodological problems, a generalized mixed-effects model was used to fit the full acquisition and reacquisition curves.
As a result.
(1) Controls did not differ significantly from patients in global PRLT performance and did not show any specific signs of inflexibility in decision making.
(2) Regardless of whether group affiliation was controlled or not, gambling severity was specifically associated with more inefficient learning in the contingency reversal phase.
In conclusion, gambling addiction and weak decision-making were related in some respects, but being in an environment that leads to addiction was also seen as more problematic. The relationship to substance abuse was unclear.
Jara-Rizzo, M.F., Navas, J.F., Rodas, J.A. et al. Decision-making inflexibility in a reversal learning task is associated with severity of problem Decision-making inflexibility in a reversal learning task is associated with severity of problem gambling symptoms but not with a diagnosis of substance use disorder. BMC Psychol 8, 120 (2020). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-020-00482-6
Modern people consume too much caffeine.
A cup of coffee or tea is a favorite part of the morning routine and can make you feel the sensation of being awake and alert. The caffeine in these is the chemical that makes us alert and awake. However, there is a lack of understanding of how caffeine affects the brain in other ways.
Caffeine is
found from the start in tea and coffee, and is added to energy drinks and many types of soda. It is even found in some snack foods and medicines. It seems that more than 8 out of 10 adults in the United States consume some form of caffeine.
Do you know how caffeine wakes you up?
The human body naturally produces a chemical called adenosine, which accumulates in the body during the day. The drowsiness you feel at the end of the day is caused by adenosine," says NIH brain scientist
The drowsiness you feel at the end of the day is due to adenosine," explains Dr. Sergiferet, a brain scientist at the NIH.
When adenosine builds up to a certain level, it tells the brain to rest. However, caffeine is thought to prevent adenosine from acting on brain cells. This results in no more sleepiness. The body then adapts to this state, and when caffeine is consumed regularly, the body produces more adenosine. When this happens, you will need more caffeine in order to feel as awake as usual.
However, adenosine has the effect of causing discomfort when caffeine is suddenly withdrawn. When caffeine is removed, the extra adenosine in the body can cause withdrawal symptoms for a while, such as headaches and increased sleepiness.
Caffeine also interacts with other chemicals in the brain, and if you take more than normal, some of these interactions can make you feel "over-caffeinated. It can cause your heart to beat, anxiety in your stomach and mood swings.
However, caffeine does not affect all people in the same way. This is because it is broken down at different rates in different people, and the rate at which it is broken down is determined by genes, explains Dr. Marilyn Cornelis, a nutrition researcher at Northwestern University .
Experts say
Some people are better off avoiding caffeine, experts say. People with intestinal problems such as gastro-esophageal reflux disease, problems sleeping, high blood pressure and heart problems should avoid caffeine, she explained. Pregnant or breastfeeding children, teenagers, and adult women are also often advised not to consume caffeine.
Even healthy people should avoid mixing caffeine and alcohol," Dr. Ferre explained, "because caffeine can prevent the brain from feeling the inhibitory effects of alcohol. This could cause someone to drink more than they normally would, which could increase their impairment.
However, Dr. Cornelis said that research shows that caffeine itself is likely harmless in small to moderate amounts for most healthy adults. According to the study, it was being investigated to see if it might have a positive effect on thinking, learning, and memory.
When I drink caffeine, I'm more alert," she says.
It contributes to our brain's ability to retain information. This could lead to long-term improvements in cognitive function. She says her team is in the process of exploring new ways to measure the effects of caffeine on the brain and the role genes play in your body's response. For most people, a few cups of unsweetened coffee or tea a day is enough, but Dr. Hoffman cautions that excess sugar is not good for the body or brain, as some caffeinated beverages contain a lot of sugar.
Recent Caffeine Drinking Associates with Cognitive Function in the UK Biobank. Cornelis MC, Weintraub S, Morris MC. Nutrients. 2020 Jul 2;12(7):1969. doi: 10.3390/nu12071969. PMID:32630669.
A review of caffeine's effects on cognitive, physical and occupational performance. McLellan TM, Caldwell JA, Lieberman HR. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2016 Dec;71:294-312. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.09.001. Epub 2016 Sep 6. PMID: 27612937.
Problematic Internet Use
How much internet usage do you do per day?
With COVID-19 infection becoming a worldwide problem, there have been many articles about the problem of time spent on the Internet.
The study I'm going to introduce here also investigates what kind of problems people who use the Internet in a problematic way have. I would like to introduce a questionnaire that I would like you to try as well.
Contents of the study
During the COVID-19 pandemic, strict blockades and quarantines were widely imposed by most governments to control the spread of the virus. This study investigates the effects of quarantine and social isolation on mental health, as well as on loneliness and problematic Internet use.
As a method, we used a cross-sectional survey in the blockade phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 593 participants from the Middle East region (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait) was tested using the revised UCLA Loneliness Scale and a shortened form of the Internet Addiction Test.
Results of regression analyses showed an association between loneliness and problematic Internet use (PIU), and an association between loneliness and the number of hours spent online.
Younger participants felt greater loneliness, and the quality of their relationships with those who were conducting blockades was also correlated with loneliness.
Those who reported even greater loneliness frequently obtained news about the pandemic from social networking sites.
In conclusion, our study highlights the impact of social characteristics of local culture on loneliness and PIU during COVID-19 lockdown.
Questionnaire Content
Test to determine Internet addiction
1) Did you use the Internet longer than expected?
2) Do you neglect household chores due to the time you spend on the Internet?
3) Do you prefer the excitement of the Internet to that of your family or partner?
4) Do you prefer excitement from the Internet to your family or partner?
5) How often are you warned about the time you spend on the Internet?
6) How often do you receive attention for the time you spend on the Internet?
7) How often do you check your e-mail?
8) Does your work performance or productivity decrease due to the Internet?
9) Do you keep your purpose of using the Internet a secret even if others ask you?
10) Do you block opinions that interfere with your life on social networking sites?
11) How often do you use the Internet to do things?
12) Do you think life without the Internet is boring and joyless?
13) Do you get angry or irritated when socializing with others over the Internet?
14) Do you have insomnia due to the Internet?
15) Even when you are not using the Internet, do you find yourself thinking about it or wanting to use it?
16) Do you think about the time remaining to use the Internet as "only a few more minutes"?
17) Do you think about how to use the Internet so as not to make mistakes in the use of time?
18) Do you try to hide the time you spend on the Internet?
19) Do you choose to spend more time using the Internet than going out with others?
Do you feel depressed, moody, or nervous when you don't use the Internet? Do you feel depressed, moody, or nervous when you don't use the Internet?
Please rate whether or not it applies to you on a scale of 0~5.
This is not for self-reporting or research purposes, so details will not be provided.
Test for loneliness
1) I am not socializing well with others.
2) I feel like I am part of a group of friends.
3) I feel left out in the world.
4) I feel isolated.
5) I feel withdrawn and unhappy.
6) Other people are around me, but they don't hang out with me.
Please rate whether or not this applies to you on a scale of 0 to 3.
Since this is not for self-reporting or research purposes, details will be omitted.
Alheneidi H, AlSumait L, AlSumait D, Smith AP. Loneliness and Problematic Internet Use during COVID-19 Lock-Down. Behav Sci (Basel). 2021;11(1):5. Published 2021 Jan 6. doi:10.3390/bs11010005
On Game Dependence and Procrastination
Do you play games?
There are many benefits to playing games, such as the opportunity to form a community, make friends, and mature socially by playing with friends. Some people say that games are harmful because of their inappropriate expressions. However, I would like to talk about such things only after the causal relationship is proven.
The study I'm going to introduce is investigating whether or not people who play games are just procrastinating.
The Study
Procrastination can be a serious problem for many people, and playing video games is considered to be one of them. One of the reasons why video games are associated with procrastination is that they provide immediate gratification and feedback, while at the same time distracting us from tasks that are not as engaging or challenging. It becomes unclear whether playing video games causes procrastination and changes the potential rewards one may get in the future.
More than 500 participants were included in the two studies, which included two surveys on video game habits and measures of procrastination tendencies.
Participants in Study 1 performed an empirical discounting task, and participants in Study 2 performed a five-trial adjusted delayed discounting task, with both tasks assessing preference for delayed greater rewards.
In the results of Study 1, time spent playing video games was not significantly related to procrastination or reward reduction.
In the results of Study 2, hours of video games were also not strongly associated with procrastination or delayed rewards.
However, those who played games to escape from reality and reduce stress were found to have more procrastination problems than those who played for entertainment, reward, or social reasons.
Discussion
In this study, playing video games is unlikely to be directly related to the problem of procrastination. To begin with, the benefits of video games include increased attention span, improved creativity and problem solving skills, increased positive emotions, relaxation, and anxiety reduction.
There doesn't seem to be any one genre of game that is necessarily this one, it seems to be a matter of the emotional state of playing. Immersing oneself in a game in order to escape from real life problems only postpones the real problems, and even with these benefits, the problems may not be solved.
Because of such extreme casereport, it is only too easy to criticize by unilaterally labeling game time as XX minutes or that playing that genre is not good.
The information obtained from this study is that there is no problem with the amount of time spent playing or the genre, but the problem is that people play games only to escape from real life problems. People who are also known as "game junkies" only immerse themselves in games to avoid the problems they are facing in reality, and they have no problem with the games themselves.
And I think you should know that such people are not so rare.
Nordby K, Løkken RA, Pfuhl G. Playing a video game is more than mere procrastination. BMC Psychol. 2019;7(1):33. Published 2019 Jun 13. doi:10.1186/s40359-019-0309-9
Cell Phone Addiction and Personality Traits
How many hours a day do you spend on your smartphone?
If you use it for work, your phone may be taking up most of your day.
Smartphone addiction may be a modern disease that cannot be ignored as it causes all kinds of mental disorders and interrelationships. The study presented here investigates the prevalence of smartphone addiction and its relationship with personality traits and other factors.
The study
We are reviewing a cross-sectional study conducted among medical students in a public medical school. The DASS-21, a neurotic personality subscale of the USMaP-i and SAS-SV, was administered to measure psychological distress, neurotic personality, and smartphone addiction among medical students.
Spearman correlation coefficients were run to determine the correlation between smartphone addiction with psychological distress and neurotic personality.
A simple linear regression was run to investigate the factors associated with smartphone addiction. A total of 574 medical students participated in the study.
According to the study results, the prevalence of smartphone addiction was 40.6%.
The result is higher among males (49.2%) as compared to female (36.6%) medical students. A considerable positive correlation was shown between smartphone addiction and psychological health.
Depression = 0.277, p-value < 0.001
Anxiety = 0.312, p-value < 0.001
Stress = 0.329, p-value < 0.001
However, the positive correlation between smartphone addiction and neurotic personality is insufficient.
A simple linear regression showed that a one unit increase in smartphone addiction was associated with a significant increase in levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and neurotic personality. These results demonstrate a significant relationship between smartphone addiction, psychological health and neurotic personality.
Discussion
The results of this study show that addiction is related to psychological health and neurotic tendencies of personality. First of all, the relationship between depression and smartphone addiction is positively correlated as shown in the research results, so the risk of depression tends to increase as the addiction becomes more severe.
The most common problem was nighttime use, which disrupts sleep and harms psychological health.
Secondly, anxiety and smartphone addiction are positively correlated, so the more severe the addiction, the higher the tendency for anxiety. One of the most common behaviors is checking the screen of your phone repeatedly to wait for a message from someone, which is also a common anxiety behavior.
Since the study was conducted by medical students, the relationship between smartphone addiction and stress was also positively correlated, as stress in medical training decreases self-control and increases the likelihood of smartphone addiction.
This means that if you don't practice ways to cope with stress, your addiction will accelerate because the point of stress relief will be your phone.
Finally, there was a low correlation between people with neurotic tendencies and smartphone addiction, so it seems that people with neurotic tendencies do not necessarily become addicted to smartphones.
However, for the reasons mentioned above, there was a significant relationship between smartphone dependence, anxiety and depression, and an increase in the neurotic tendency score. Since people with this personality trait get a sense of security from other people through their smartphones, it was suggested that it is not necessary to get rid of smartphones completely, but to review the way they are used and the relationships they have with other people through their smartphones.
Lei LY, Ismail MA, Mohammad JA, Yusoff MSB. The relationship of smartphone addiction with psychological distress and neuroticism among university BMC Psychol. 2020;8(1):97. published 2020 Sep 11. doi:10.1186/s40359-020-00466-6
Addiction and decision making
Do you have an addiction?
In recent years, there have been many opportunities to obtain excessive stimulation, so I wonder if people are also addicted in some way. I think so.
I am a smartphone addict. I need it for my work, so I never stop using it, but I always carry it with me when I go out or do something.
I used to be almost addicted to playing games on my phone, but since I've been able to cut it out, I've succeeded in finding time for it.
I'm not going to show you how to get rid of it, but I'm going to show you a study on why people don't succeed even though they have a strong will. Rather, I would like to introduce a study on why people do not succeed despite their strong will.
This research should give you a clue as to why you can't stop your addiction. This research should give you a clue as to why you cannot stop your addiction.
Contents of the study
The purpose of the study is to assess how addicts perceive their self-control and independence. It will be a baseline lifeline interview with 69 participants, followed up over a 3-year period. At baseline, all participants were asked about their goals for the coming year and the plans they had developed to achieve those goals.
They were asked, "Do you see yourself as weak-willed, strong-willed, or just like everyone else?
"What ideas do you implement to manage your drug use?
and so on.
The question about willpower was not answered in the baseline interview, but was answered during the first follow-up. These participants took place in health care facilities that provide treatment for drugs and practice opioids.
Follow-up interviews were conducted in hospitals that were linked to these facilities, but also in public places and in the homes of the participants.
Respondents were between the ages of 23 and 64, with most between the ages of 30 and 50. About 70% were men and 30% were women.
Many of the participants were alcohol and opioid dependent.
This is because these substances have the highest prevalence in the treatment population, but a small sample of amphetamine users was recruited so that comparisons with methamphetamine could be made.
Most of the respondents were Australians.
Most came from poor socioeconomic backgrounds.
Responses on willpower showed that only a small number of people labeled themselves as weak-willed. The researchers had expected that only those who were managing their drug use would label themselves as having a strong will.
However, regardless of their recovery status, the participants labeled themselves as having a strong will.
Reviewer's Conclusion
Most of the participants described themselves as having a strong will. In fact, as very strong-willed. However, there did not seem to be a correlation between having a (self-rated) strong will and recovery status. Rather, the number of strategies cited by the participants distinguished those in stable recovery from those who were not. Participants in recovery were also more enthusiastic about the strategies than those who were not successful in controlling their substance use; Willpower continued to be important, but was used strategically in its own right.
Anke Snoek a bNeil Levy a cJeanette Kennett a
