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A group of investigators of the University of Bologna (Giovanni Fava, Chiara Ruini and Chiara Rafanelli) have published an article on a novel approach to treatment of depression and…

Patients with mental health problems may not be receiving the appropriate screening or treatments for illnesses including heart disease and stroke, a report from The…

Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London have identified a molecule that could be targeted to treat the cognitive impairment in people with Down…

After completing alcoholic rehabilitation, 60% or more of alcoholics maintain abstinence for at least a year, and many achieve lifetime abstinence. Considering the lack of evidence for the superiority of any specific treatment type,…

Once the brain has been repeatedly exposed to high doses of alcohol, any sudden decrease in intake can produce withdrawal symptoms, many of which are the opposite of those produced by intoxication. Features…

Physicians even in affluent areas should recognize that 20% of patients have alcoholism. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the alcohol-related symptoms and signs as well as laboratory tests…

Because many drinkers occasionally imbibe to excess, temporary alcohol-related pathology is common in nonalcoholics, especially those in the late teens to the late twenties. When repeated problems in multiple life areas develop,…

Although one to two drinks per day in an otherwise healthy and nonpregnant individual can have some beneficial effects, at higher doses alcohol is toxic to most organ systems. Knowledge…

Alcohol, a drug, is consumed at some time by up to 80% of the population. At low doses alcohol can have some beneficial effects such as decreased rates of myocardial infarction, stroke, gallstones,…

Physician Intervention

Approximately 90% of individuals who will become cigarette smokers initiate the behavior during adolescence. Factors that promote adolescent initiation are parental or older generation cigarette smoking, tobacco advertising and promotional activities, the availability of…

The process of stopping smoking is often a cyclical one, with the smoker sometimes making multiple attempts to quit and failing before finally being successful. Approximately 70 to 80% of smokers would like to…

Filtered cigarettes with lower machine-measured yields of tar and nicotine have been recommended as offering lower disease risks. However, these cigarettes commonly use ventilation holes in the filters and other engineering designs…

Other major forms of tobacco use are moist snuff deposited between the cheek and gum, chewing tobacco, pipes and cigars, and recently bidi (tobacco wrapped in tendu or temburni leaf…

Over 400,000 individuals die prematurely each year in the United States from cigarette use; this represents approximately one out of every five deaths in the United States. Approximately 40% of cigarette smokers…

The use of tobacco leaf to create and satisfy nicotine addiction was introduced to Columbus by Native Americans and spread rapidly to Europe. The use of tobacco as cigarettes, however, is predominantly a twentieth…

Although drug abusers often report a preference for a particular drug, such as alcohol or opiates, the concurrent use of other drugs is common. Multiple drug use often involves substances that may have different pharmacologic…

Phencyclidine (PCP), a cyclohexylamine derivative, is widely used in veterinary medicine to briefly immobilize large animals and is sometimes described as a dissociative anesthetic. PCP binds to ionotropic n-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in the nervous system, blocking…

The discovery of the psychedelic effects of LSD in 1947 led to an epidemic of LSD abuse during the 1960s. Imposition of stringent constraints on the manufacture and distribution of LSD (classified as…

The abuse of methamphetamine, also referred to as “meth,”“speed,”“crank,”“chalk,”“ice,”“glass,” or “crystal,” has been declining in many metropolitan areas and communities throughout the United States. This decrease is attributed in part to drug seizures and the closures…

Cannabis sativa contains >400 compounds in addition to the psychoactive substance, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Marijuana cigarettes are prepared from the leaves and flowering tops of the plant, and a typical marijuana cigarette contains 0.5…

Cocaine and other psychostimulant drug abuse remains a major public health problem in the United States and throughout the world; its prevalence appears to be increasing in some metropolitan areas…

Cocaine
Cocaine is a stimulant and local anesthetic with potent vasoconstrictor properties. The leaves of the coca plant (Erythroxylon coca ) contain 0.5 to 1% cocaine. The drug produces physiologic and behavioral effects when administered…

Definition and Epidemiology
The Fourth Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association defines opioid dependence as repeated use of a drug of this class to the point of causing…