Category: From Newswise – Addiction

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mount Sinai Study Shows That Human Beliefs About Drugs Could Have Dose-Dependent Effects on the Brain

Newswise — New York, NY (January 3, 2024) – Mount Sinai researchers have shown for the first time that a person’s beliefs related to drugs can influence their own brain activity and behavioral responses in a way comparable to the dose-dependent effects of pharmacology.

The implications of the study, which directly focused on beliefs about nicotine, are profound. They range from elucidating how the neural mechanisms underlying beliefs may play a key role in addiction, to optimizing pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments by leveraging the power of human beliefs. The study was published in the journal Nature Mental Health.

“Beliefs can have a powerful influence on our behavior, yet their effects are considered imprecise and rarely examined by quantitative neuroscience methods,” says Xiaosi Gu, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, and Neuroscience, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and senior author of the study. “We set out to investigate if human beliefs can modulate brain activities in a dose-dependent manner similar to what drugs do, and found a high level of precision in how beliefs can influence the human brain. This finding could be crucial for advancing our knowledge about the role of beliefs in addiction as well as a broad range of disorders and their treatments.”

To explore this dynamic, the Mount Sinai team, led by Ofer Perl, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Gu’s lab when the study was conducted, instructed nicotine-dependent study participants to believe that an electronic cigarette they were about to vape contained either low, medium, or high strengths of nicotine, when in fact the level remained constant. Participants then underwent functional neuroimaging (fMRI) while performing a decision-making task known to engage neural circuits activated by nicotine.

The scientists found that the thalamus, an important binding site for nicotine in the brain, showed a dose-dependent response to the subject’s beliefs about nicotine strength, providing compelling evidence to support the relationship between subjective beliefs and biological substrates in the human brain. This effect was previously thought to apply only to pharmacologic agents. A similar dose-dependent effect of beliefs was also found in the functional connectivity between the thalamus and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a brain region that is considered important for decision-making and belief states.

“Our findings provide a mechanistic explanation for the well-known variations in individual responses to drugs,” notes Dr. Gu, “and suggest that subjective beliefs could be a direct target for the treatment of substance use disorders. They could also advance our understanding of how cognitive interventions, such as psychotherapy, work at the neurobiological level in general for a wide range of psychiatric conditions beyond addiction.”

Dr. Gu, who is one of the world’s foremost researchers in the emerging field of computational psychiatry, cites another way in which her team’s research could inform clinical care. “The finding that human beliefs about drugs play such a pivotal role suggests that we could potentially enhance patients’ responses to pharmacological treatments by leveraging these beliefs,” she explains.  

Significantly, the work of the Mount Sinai team can also be viewed in a much broader context:  harnessing beliefs in a systematic manner to better serve mental health treatment and research in general.

“We’re interested in testing the effects of beliefs on drugs beyond nicotine to include addictive substances like cannabis and alcohol, and therapeutic agents like antidepressants and psychedelics,” says Dr. Gu. “It would be fascinating to examine, for example, how the potency of a drug might impact the effect of drug-related beliefs on the brain and behavior, and how long-lasting the impact of those beliefs might be. Our findings could potentially revolutionize how we view drugs and therapy in a much broader context of health.”

About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time—discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it. Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,400 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. Hospitals within the System are consistently ranked by Newsweek’s® “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals, Best in State Hospitals, World Best Hospitals and Best Specialty Hospitals” and by U.S. News & World Report‘s® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The Mount Sinai Hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report® “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2023-2024. 

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Newswise —

If you feel overworked and stressed, you’ll be less committed to your job and perform less well. Many companies are aware of this problem and, therefore, spend money on professionals to look after the mental health of their employees. And yet there’s a much simpler and more cost-effective way to increase satisfaction and efficiency: In a one-week study, just 30 minutes less social media use per day improved the mental health, job satisfaction and commitment of the participants. Associate Professor Julia Brailovskaia and her team from the Mental Health Research and Treatment Center at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, and the German Center for Mental Health published their findings in the journal Behaviour & Information Technology on December 8, 2023.

Positive emotions that are lacking in real life

Social media have become an integral part of many people’s lives, not just the younger generation. A number of studies have explored the effects of intensive social media use: Some have shown that engaging with social media is a mood booster, others that it has a negative impact on mental health and causes users to fear missing out on something important happening in their network when they aren’t online – a phenomenon referred to as FoMO (acronym of Fear of Missing Out).

“We suspect that people tend to use social networks to generate positive emotions that they’re missing in their everyday working lives, especially when they are feeling overworked,” explains Julia Brailovskaia. “In addition, some platforms such as LinkedIn also offer the opportunity to look for new jobs if you’re unhappy with your current role.” In the short-term, escaping from reality into the world of social networks may indeed improve your mood; but in the long-term, it can lead to addictive behavior that has the opposite effect.

Effects evident after one week

The team launched an experiment to explore these correlations. A total of 166 people took part, all of whom worked either part-time or full-time in a range of sectors and spent at least 35 minutes a day on non-work-related social media use. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group didn’t change their social media habits. The other group reduced the time spent on social networks by 30 minutes a day for seven days. The participants completed various questionnaires online before the start of the experiment, the day after it began and one week later, providing information about their workload, job satisfaction, commitment, mental health, stress levels, FoMO and behaviors indicating addictive social media use.

“Even after this short period of time, we found that the group that spent 30 minutes less a day on social media significantly improved their job satisfaction and mental health,” points out Julia Brailovskaia. “The participants in this group felt less overworked and were more committed on the job than the control group.” Their sense of FoMO decreased likewise. The effects lasted for at least a week after the end of the experiment and even increased in some cases during this time. The participants who’d reduced their daily social media use voluntarily continued to do so even after a week.

More time to do a good job and for colleagues

The researchers assume that, by reducing their social media use, the participants had more time to do their job, which meant they felt less overworked, and also suffered less from divided attention. “Our brains can’t cope well with constant distraction from a task,” explains Julia Brailovskaia. “People who frequently stop what they’re doing in order to catch up on their social media feed find it more difficult to focus on their work and they achieve poorer results.” In addition, time spent on social media may prevent people from interacting with their colleagues in real life, which can lead to alienation. Reducing time spent on social media could reduce this effect.

The results of the study are in line with previous research done by the group, which showed that reducing daily consumption by as little as 20 to 30 minutes reduced depressive symptoms and improved mental health. “Reducing the amount of time spent on social media each day could be a useful addition to business coaching training, mental health programs and psychotherapeutic interventions,” concludes Julia Brailovskaia.

Newswise — An online treatment for insomnia may improve both sleep and problem drinking patterns in people who drink heavily, according to a study in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research. Researchers found that heavy drinkers who received web-based cognitive behavioral therapy designed to treat their insomnia had greater improvement in sleep and drinking behaviors compared to people who were given access to online education to improve their sleep. This is the first study to show that cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia can lead to significant reductions in alcohol consumption among heavy drinkers. The findings support the use of self-administered online health interventions, which may help overcome barriers to treatment for people at high risk.

The study compared the sleep and drinking outcomes of two groups of heavy drinkers with insomnia. One group was given a validated, interactive, online cognitive behavioral therapy program, while a control group received unlimited access to online educational resources to address insomnia.

Both groups experienced improvements in sleep and drinking, but the group using the digital cognitive behavioral intervention, called SHUTi, saw greater improvement. Following the nine-week intervention, the digital cognitive behavioral program participants showed a more pronounced decrease in alcohol consumption measures over time compared to the control group. SHUTi users reported significantly lower insomnia severity and significantly improved sleep quality compared to participants in the control group and maintained lower insomnia severity scores at six months. At six months, the sleep quality scores were the same for both groups due to improvements in sleep quality in the control group.

Researchers note that SHUTi is the first digital cognitive behavioral therapy intervention for insomnia to result in reductions in alcohol consumption among people with hazardous drinking behaviors and insomnia. Digital cognitive behavioral therapy has the potential to improve access to treatment for people with alcohol use disorder who may not otherwise seek treatment due to barriers such as stigma or lack of transportation. Women, in particular, are more likely to receive treatment for alcohol problems in alternative settings and show a stronger association between poor sleep quality and alcohol-related problems.

The SHUTi program used for the study is entirely online and automated and provides individualized feedback based on participants’ sleep data and other self-reported information. Participants complete a series of interactive modules based on principles of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. The study, conducted from September 2020 to September 2021, included 71 men and women ages 21 to 50. Participants were considered to be hazardous drinkers who experienced insomnia for three or more nights per week for the past three months.

The researchers recommend further studies with a greater number of and more diverse participants to identify whether outcomes are influenced by other factors, such as marriage, caregiving, education status, sleep aid use, age, sex, and circadian preferences.

Effects of a digital cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia on sleep and alcohol consumption in heavy drinkers: A randomized pilot study. J. Verlinden, M. Moloney, O. Vsevolozhskaya, L. Ritterband, F. Winkel, J. Weafer

ACER 5687.R2

Newswise — Addiction is one of society’s most misunderstood and rebuked health conditions. That stigma discourages many people from seeking treatment for substance dependence, according to a new report published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. 

Research on stigma toward people with substance use disorder (SUD) is relatively sparse, the report adds.

“Characterizing the nature and etiology of SUD stigma is critical for developing tailored and effective interventions to combat it,” wrote psychological scientist Anne C. Krendl and sociologist Brea L. Perry of Indiana University, Bloomington, in their review.

Substance dependence has become a national health threat. Drug overdose rates in the United States have climbed over the past 20 years, driven primarily by opioid and stimulant use. In a recent national survey, nearly 66 million Americans reported abusing alcohol over a 1-month period, and about 20 million reported using illegal narcotics and prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons.

Researchers measure stigma around both SUD and mental illness along three dimensions:

• public stigma—society’s negative beliefs toward those who struggle with those disorders
• self-stigma—negative beliefs that the individuals hold toward themselves
• structural stigma—systemic rules, policies, and practices that discriminate against individuals with those disorders.

Overall, stigma research has focused primarily on mental health problems, the authors wrote. But studies indicate that SUD is typically more stigmatized than mental illness, in part because substance use is viewed as more controllable. (Schizophrenia, however, elicits similar levels of stigma as does SUD, research shows.)

Experiments that have framed SUD as uncontrollable show some reduction in stigma, but that may have the unintended consequence of casting substance dependence as insurmountable, the authors wrote.

Studies of public stigma indicate that Americans express concerns about interacting with substance users, although that resistance ebbs toward individuals described as being in active recovery.  People with SUD may face housing discrimination, reduced employment opportunities, and lowered income.

Studies also show variability in stigma among different types of substance dependence. For example, individuals who abuse illegal drugs such as heroin are perceived as more dangerous than those who abuse alcohol or prescription opioids.

The consequences of public stigma, along with structural and self-stigma, discourage individuals with SUD from seeking and persisting with treatment, research suggests.

Some studies have identified strategies aimed at reducing stigma, such as education designed to counter inaccurate beliefs, but those approaches have shown limited progress. This calls for researchers to develop stronger methods for reducing stigma. Strategies may include emphasizing an individual’s recovery and the reduction of structural treatment barriers, such as inadequate insurance coverage and lack of access to evidence-based interventions.

In a commentary accompanying the report, APS James McKeen Cattell Fellow Stephen P. Hinshaw, a distinguished professor at University of California, Berkeley and University of California, San Francisco, points to successful treatments as possibly the “ultimate game-changer” in stigma reduction. Hinshaw, whose work focuses on developmental psychopathology and mental illness stigma, notes that HIV/AIDS received massive stigma before antiretroviral therapies transformed it from a terminal to survivable condition.

In another commentary, APS Fellow Kenneth J. Sher, a University of Missouri scholar renowned for his work on alcohol use disorder, calls for a more nuanced view of SUD stigma. Terms such as SUD are “grossly nonspecific” and may lead to a broadened array of stereotypes, Sher said. The U.S. National Institutes of Health has proposed developing alternatives to SUD-related terminology such as “addict” and “abuser,” but research should focus on the effects of that relabeling on stigma, he asserted. 

The Association for Psychological Science is the home of thousands of leading psychological science researchers, practitioners, teachers, and students from around the world. APS is dedicated to advancing scientific psychology across disciplinary and geographic borders and committed to disseminating psychological science to the public, incentivizing global collaboration among researchers, catalyzing the further development of psychological science, and promoting the application of psychological science to public policy.

Newswise — If you thought blurry eyes were to blame for the “beer goggles” phenomenon, think again.

Scientists from the University of Portsmouth have tested the popular theory that people are more likely to find someone attractive while drunk, because their faces appear more symmetrical. 

The term “beer goggles” has been used for decades to describe when a person finds themselves sexually attracted to someone while intoxicated, but not sober.

One possible explanation for the effect is that alcohol impairs the drinker’s ability to detect facial asymmetry, thus making potential partners more visually appealing.

Existing research has shown that a part of what makes people attractive to others is how well both sides of their face match. The thinking goes, the more symmetry the better the gene pool. But when alcohol is introduced, it’s thought a person is less likely to notice if the faces around them are non-symmetrical.

However, a new experiment found that while alcohol did impair face symmetry detection, it had no influence on facial attractiveness judgements. 

Dr Alistair Harvey from the University of Portsmouth’s Department of Psychology, said: “Alcohol is a strong predictor of sexual behaviour, often consumed before or during dates.

“There are a range of possible reasons why alcohol drinkers are more inclined to engage in sex, including a lack of inhibition, heightened expectations, personality traits, and the beer goggles effect.

“Due to the limited research on this topic, we ran a field experiment to help determine why people often experience unexpected – and regretted – sexual escapades after having one too many.”

To gather the results, the team visited a local pub in the Portsmouth area. 99 men and women volunteered for the study, ranging in age from 18 to 62 years old. 

They were asked to rate 18 individual faces for attractiveness and symmetry. Each type of rating was given twice, once for faces showing an enhanced asymmetry, and again for the same faces in their natural form. Participants then judged which of two same-face versions (one normal, the other perfectly symmetrised) was more attractive and, in the final task, more symmetrical.

The study used a robust procedure, taking ratings of individual faces in addition to the usual binary approach where participants select the more attractive or symmetrical face in a pair. 

As predicted, heavily intoxicated individuals were less able to distinguish natural from perfectly symmetrised faces than more sober drinkers. But the more drunk viewers did not rate the faces as being any more attractive. 

As expected, both male and female participants rated natural faces as being more attractive than the ones which were doctored to look wonky. But, surprisingly, this bias was stronger among women.

The paper, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, says one possible explanation to the findings could be that attractiveness depends on many factors that simply swamp the small effects of face symmetry.

“We don’t deny the existence of a “beer goggles” effect”, added Dr Harvey.

“But we suspect it would be more easily detectable when using live models for an experiment, instead of static photographs. Images conceal a range of important visual criteria for attractiveness, including build, body shape, height, expression, and clothing.

“Therefore, further research is needed to find the missing piece to the puzzle.”

Notes to Editors

The paper, ‘Impaired face symmetry detection under alcohol, but no ‘beer goggles’ effect’, is available to view online here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02698811231215592

About the University of Portsmouth

• The University of Portsmouth is a progressive and dynamic university with an outstanding reputation for innovative teaching and globally significant research and innovation.
• The University’s research and innovation culture is impacting lives today and in the future and addressing local, national and global challenges across science, technology, humanities, business and creative industries. http://www.port.ac.uk/
• The University was rated ‘Gold’ in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF 2023)

For more information:

Robyn Montague, Senior Media Officer, University of Portsmouth, Tel: 07980419979, Email: [email protected] 

Newswise — In the past ten years, the percentage of Americans who use medical marijuana has more than doubled as state-level legalization becomes increasingly common. But despite its prevalence as a medication, the full health effects of cannabis remain unknown, especially for specific populations—such as pregnant people—that might be especially at risk of health complications.
 
Now, in a large study of more than 9,000 pregnant people from across the U.S., researchers at University of Utah Health have found that cannabis exposure during pregnancy is associated with a composite measure of unhealthy pregnancy outcomes, especially low birth weight, and that higher exposure is associated with higher risks.
 
Compared to most prior studies, this study was larger and measured cannabis exposure more accurately, which allowed researchers to distinguish the effects of cannabis itself from those caused by other correlated health conditions. The research publishes online on December 12 in JAMA.
 
“Cannabis use is not safe,” says Robert Silver, M.D., professor of obstetrics and gynecology at U of U Health and last author on the study. “It increases the risk of pregnancy complications. If possible, you shouldn’t use cannabis during pregnancy.”
 
The researchers were driven to answer this question in part by the contradictory answers that many people encounter when trying to learn about the health impacts of cannabis use. “There’s so much information out there—discussion and social media channels and on the Internet—about cannabis use and pregnancy,” explains Torri Metz, M.D., vice chair of research of obstetrics and gynecology at U of U Health and lead author on the study. “I think it’s hard for patients to understand what they should be worried about, if anything.”
 
Uncovering new risks
 
Indeed, some previous studies on the topic found no association between cannabis use and pregnancy complications. One hurdle facing such research, Metz says, is that there are “so many differences between baseline characteristics of people who use and don’t use cannabis during pregnancy. There’s different rates of anxiety and depression.” These differences can also impact pregnancy risks, which makes it challenging to figure out the consequences related specifically to cannabis use.
 
The large study population, including participants from eight medical centers across the U.S., allowed the researchers to address this issue. Being able to compare pregnancy outcomes for so many participants, 610 of which had detectable levels of cannabis exposure, meant that the researchers could statistically untangle the impacts of cannabis use from many other factors, including pre-existing health conditions, nicotine exposure, and socioeconomic status.
 
The scientists found that cannabis exposure was associated with a 1.5-fold increase in risk: 26% of cannabis-exposed pregnant people experienced an unhealthy pregnancy outcome, versus 17% of non-exposed pregnant people. Higher levels of cannabis exposure over the course of pregnancy were associated with higher risks.
 
A distinguishing feature of the study was how the researchers measured cannabis exposure. While other studies had asked participants to report their own cannabis use (which has been shown to underestimate the actual rate of use by two or three times), the scientists measured the levels of a metabolic byproduct of cannabis in participants’ urine samples, which gave more accurate measurements of cannabis exposure.
 
Open questions
 
To gauge impacts on pregnancy, the researchers looked at an aggregate measure of negative health outcomes, including low birth weight, pregnancy-related high blood pressure, stillbirth, and medically indicated preterm birth. Of these, the association between cannabis use and low birth weight was the strongest. All of these conditions have been linked to reduced function of the placenta, which supplies the growing baby with oxygen and nutrients.
 
While this type of study can’t determine why cannabis is associated with negative pregnancy outcomes, previous studies in non-human primates have found that long-term cannabis exposure can interfere with blood supply to the placenta. The correlation Metz and her colleagues observed suggests that cannabis may disrupt the human placenta in a similar way.
 
Silver adds that the greater risk seen at higher levels of exposure is especially concerning given the high amount of THC found in newer cannabis products—products that were barely starting to become available from 2010 to 2014, when the study data was collected. The health impacts of these more concentrated products remain largely unknown.
 
The researchers urge people who are considering using cannabis while pregnant to have an open conversation with their doctor. While pregnant people may turn to cannabis to alleviate nausea or anxiety, other remedies have been proven to be safe. “There are many, many reasons people use cannabis,” Silver says. “But there may be alternative therapies that can help mitigate the symptoms.”
 
Silver emphasizes that continued research on the health impacts of cannabis is urgently needed so that patients can make informed decisions about their health. “As long as humans are interested in using this product,” he says, “we ought to assess health effects both good and bad, as accurately as we can, and provide that information for folks.”
 
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Media Availability

The lead author, Dr. Torri Metz, has limited availability for interviews. Media with questions are encouraged to attend one of two virtual media sessions:

There will be a media availability on Zoom on Friday December 8, 10am-11am PT/1pm-2pm ET
https://utah.zoom.us/j/98644986861

Meeting ID: 986 4498 6861

There will be a press conference on Zoom on Tuesday, December 12, 12:30-1:30pm PT/3:30pm-4:30pm ET
https://utah.zoom.us/j/94558216749



Meeting ID: 945 5821 6749

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The research publishes as “Cannabis Exposure and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes Related to Placental Function” and was carried out in collaboration with researchers from ARUP Laboratories, University of California, Irvine, The Ohio State University, Indiana University, Case Western Reserve University, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Eastern Virginia Medical School, and University of Pittsburgh.
 
Support was provided by the National Institutes of Health and the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences.

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About University of Utah Health
University of Utah Health provides leading-edge and compassionate care for a referral area that encompasses Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and much of Nevada. A hub for health sciences research and education in the region, U of U Health has a $522 million research enterprise and trains the majority of Utah’s physicians, and more than 1,670 scientists and 1,460 health care providers at its Colleges of Health, Nursing, and Pharmacy and Schools of Dentistry and Medicine. With more than 20,000 employees, the system includes 12 community clinics and five hospitals. U of U Health is recognized nationally as a transformative health care system and provider of world-class care.

BYLINE: Mario Boone

Newswise — Rockville, Md. (December 12, 2023)—Lung airway cells of people with alcohol use disorder developed “enhanced inflammation” three days after being infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a new study from Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and the University of Georgia. 

An analysis of gene expression found that uninfected airway cells from people with alcohol use disorder (“AUD”) had mild pro-inflammatory characteristics that were amplified after SARS-CoV-2 infection when compared to cells not exposed to excessive alcohol use (“control”). In addition, control cells infected with the virus showed a protective response not seen in the AUD cells. The findings are published in the American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology. It has been chosen as an APSselect article for December. 

To achieve their findings, researchers isolated cells from the inside of the airway of people with and without alcohol use disorder. Next, the cells were cultured to create a model airway epithelium. Gene expression was analyzed by next-generation RNA sequencing to measure the effect of chronic alcohol exposure on airway cells. The research team then infected the cells with SARS-CoV-2 and measured the production of inflammatory factors. 

People with alcohol use disorder who also have COVID-19 have higher rates of hospitalization and death. This indicates that chronic alcohol use puts people at risk for increased severity of COVID-19-related illness. By conducting this study, Michael Koval, PhD, of Emory’s Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, and his team determined that alcohol abuse causes lung airway cells to over-react to SARS-CoV-2 infection, which may increase the severity of early stages of COVID-19. 

Read the full article, “Chronic alcohol use primes bronchial cells for altered inflammatory response and barrier dysfunction during SARS-CoV-2 infection.” It is highlighted as one of this month’s “best of the best” as part of the American Physiological Society’s APSselect program. Read all of this month’s selected research articles. 

NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: To schedule an interview with a member of the research team, please contact APS Media Relations or call 301.634.7314. Find more research highlights in our Newsroom.

Physiology is a broad area of scientific inquiry that focuses on how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function in health and disease. The American Physiological Society connects a global, multidisciplinary community of more than 10,000 biomedical scientists and educators as part of its mission to advance scientific discovery, understand life and improve health. The Society drives collaboration and spotlights scientific discoveries through its 16 scholarly journals and programming that support researchers and educators in their work.

Newswise — (SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A study in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors by researchers at UC Davis Health and the University of Washington surveyed teens over a six-month period to better understand their motives for using cannabis.

The researchers found that teens who have more “demand” for cannabis (meaning they are willing to consume more when it is free and spend more overall to obtain it) are likely to use it for enjoyment.

Using cannabis for enjoyment (“to enjoy the effects of it”) was linked to using more of it and experiencing more negative consequences.

Teens who have more demand for cannabis were also likely to use it to cope (“to forget your problems”). Using cannabis to cope was linked to experiencing more negative consequences, as identified by the Marijuana Consequences Checklist. Examples of negative effects include having trouble remembering things, difficulty concentrating and acting foolish or goofy. 

Cannabis — also called marijuana, pot or weed — is the most used federally illegal drug in the United States. As of November 2023, 24 states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis for medicinal and recreational use. At the federal level, marijuana remains a Schedule One substance under the Controlled Substances Act.

“Understanding why adolescents use marijuana is important for prevention and intervention,” said Nicole Schultz, first author of the study and an assistant professor in the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. “We know that earlier onset of cannabis use is associated with the likelihood of developing a cannabis use disorder. It is important we understand what variables contribute to their use so that we can develop effective strategies to intervene early,” Schultz said.  

Cannabis a public health concern

Cannabis is the most used psychoactive substance among adolescents. In 2022, 30.7% of twelfth graders reported using cannabis in the past year, and 6.3% reported using cannabis daily in the past 30 days. 

The increased use is a public health concern, as cannabis can have significant impacts on teen health. A study earlier this year from Columbia University found teens who use cannabis recreationally are two to four times as likely to develop psychiatric disorders, such as depression and suicidality, than teens who do not use cannabis. Teens are also at risk for addiction or cannabis use disorder, where they try but cannot quit using cannabis.

When talking about prevention and intervention with addictive substances, it is essential to know why people use the substances, according to Schultz.

“The reasons often change over time. At the beginning, someone might use a substance for recreational reasons but have different motives later when the substance has become a problem for them,” she said.

For the study, the researchers used mediation analysis to focus on two motives: enjoyment and coping. They examined how these two motives explained the relationship between cannabis demand — a measure of how important or “reinforcing” cannabis is to the user — and cannabis-related outcomes, which included negative consequences and use.

Study participants were between the ages of 15 and 18. Participants completed an initial survey and follow-up surveys at three months and six months. High school students comprised 60.7% of the participants, and four-year college students comprised 24.7%. All lived in the greater metropolitan area of Seattle, where the legalized age for recreational cannabis use is 21 and older.

Of these participants, 87.6% identified as white, 19.1% as Asian or Asian American, 16.9% identified as Hispanic or Latinx, 4.5% as Black or African American, 3.4% as American Indian or Alaska Native and 3.4% identified with another race. Participants could choose more than one selection for race.

The researchers found that greater cannabis demand was significantly associated with using cannabis for enjoyment. Using for enjoyment was also significantly associated with cannabis use for the young study participants.

“This finding makes sense because using for enjoyment is typically related to the initiation of use versus problematic use. And given the age of the participants in this study, they may have short histories of use,” Schultz said.

Being willing to consume more cannabis at no cost, spend more money on cannabis overall, and continue spending at higher costs was positively associated with using cannabis for coping reasons.

Participants who used cannabis for coping and enjoyment both reported experiencing negative consequences from cannabis use. These included feeling increased anxiety, making decisions that were later regretted and getting in trouble with school or an employer.

The researchers noted several limitations of the study, including a lack of diversity, with nearly 88% of the survey participants identifying as white. Another limitation was that the participants’ cannabis usage was self-reported. The study results may also be specific to regions like Seattle, where cannabis has been legalized for adults.

“The current study suggests that encouraging substance-free activities that are fun for adolescents and help adolescents cope with negative feelings may help them use less cannabis and experience fewer negative consequences from use,” said Jason J. Ramirez senior author of the study. Ramirez is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington and a faculty member of the Center for the Study of Health and Risk Behaviors.

Additional authors include Tessa Frohe from the University of Washington and Christopher J. Correia from Auburn University.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has a website and a national hotline, at 1-800-662-4357, for individuals and families facing substance use disorders. Information about cannabis use disorder is available on the Centers for Disease Control webpage.

This research was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R21DA045092) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (F32AA028667, T32AA007455, K01AA030053)

Resources

BYLINE: Patti Zielinski

Newswise — Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) — a behavioral intervention that integrates training in mindfulness, emotion regulation strategies and savoring of natural rewards — could hold the key to mitigating relapse in women undergoing medically assisted opioid use disorder treatment, a Rutgers study found.

The pilot study published in the journal Explore, is the first to evaluate the potential neural changes that underlie women’s emotion regulation and craving after an eight-week MORE intervention.

Previous studies have shown that women report higher opioid craving and show a greater inability to control their drug urges than men. Although medications, like buprenorphine, can be effective in mitigating urges in the short-term by limiting biological changes associated with acute withdrawal, it is less effective at long-term adherence in avoiding relapse with other illicit drugs.

“While these medications help with withdrawal, they do not fully engage the core regulatory and affective processing circuits that give people control over negative emotion and do not help to address opioid craving in a sustainable way,” said the lead author Suchismita Ray, an associate professor at Rutgers School of Health Professions. “This is where complementary therapies, such as MORE, could play a key role.”

MORE, which was developed by Eric L. Garland at The University of Utah, is centered on three key therapeutic processes:

• Mindfulness, which trains a person to become aware of when their attention has become fixated on addictive cues, stressors or pain, then to shift from affective to sensory processing of craving, stress or pain sensations and re-orient their attention through mindful breathing.
• Reappraisal of thoughts to disengage from negative emotions and addictive behaviors and turn toward positive thoughts that promote resilience, meaning and active coping behaviors.
• Savoring naturally rewarding experiences (nature, time with a loved one) in a mindful way and recognize the positive emotional responses to the experience.

Researchers studied nine women in residential treatment who were on medications for opioid use disorder and completed an eight-week MORE intervention once a week for two hours. Both before and after the eight-week period, researchers gave participants an emotion regulation questionnaire and then scanned their brains in a magnetic resonance imaging machine while they listening to a 10-minute guided MORE meditation and viewed a picture of an outdoor garden to measure the brain’s communication during the meditation.

“Prior studies have shown that the inability to handle negative emotion and drug craving are major determinants of drug relapse. We examined the immediate effects of the 10-minute guided MORE meditation on mood and craving, then looked at the effects of the eight-week MORE intervention on brain communication and how well the women regulated their emotions,” Ray said. “The results show that a single 10-minute guided MORE meditation without any prior meditation experience immediately improved participants’ mood. The eight-week MORE intervention boosted their emotional awareness and strengthened their impulse control — factors that are important in preventing relapse.”

In addition, researchers found that the eight-week MORE intervention resulted in significantly increased communication between the areas of the brain that may help women with opioid use disorder to better control their negative emotion and drug craving.

“What this could mean is if an opioid user experiences stress or a craving for an opioid, she can immediately practice a 10-minute MORE meditation, which will improve her mood in the moment and potentially prevent her from taking the drug,” Ray said. “If that person also takes part in the eight-week MORE intervention, she could reap additional long-term benefits to control negative emotion and opioid craving and better maintain sobriety.”

Other Rutgers authors include Jamil Bhanji and Mauricio Delgado (Rutgers–Newark) and Patricia Dooley Budsock and Nina A. Cooperman (Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School). Eric L. Garland from The University of Utah is also an author on this pilot study.

The authors would like to acknowledge The Rutgers University Brain Imaging Center in Newark where the subject scanning took place for this pilot study.

Newswise — DALLAS – Dec. 07, 2023 – UT Southwestern Medical Center is leading three multicenter clinical trials funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) focused on potential treatments for methamphetamine or cocaine addiction.

Hundreds of patients will participate in the trials at UT Southwestern and other sites across the country, making them the largest trials ever conducted for this purpose, said Principal Investigator Madhukar Trivedi, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry.

“Prevalence of methamphetamine and cocaine use disorders continues to increase, and there are no treatments approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for either of these conditions. These studies could offer the first medical treatments for individuals suffering from stimulant addictions and help them regain control over their lives,” said Dr. Trivedi, an Investigator in the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute and founding Director of the Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care at UT Southwestern.

An estimated 1.6 million people over age 12 in the U.S. have methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) and 1.4 million have cocaine use disorder (CUD), according to NIDA. Tens of thousands die from these chronic conditions each year, and those who survive typically have vast disruptions in their social relationships, work, and other aspects of daily life.

The three studies, funded at a total of nearly $30 million, are evaluating the effectiveness of drugs and other therapies for the conditions. They include:

• A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to test injections of extended-release naltrexone every three weeks and extended-release buprenorphine every four weeks for people with CUD. Naltrexone is prescribed for opioid use disorder and alcohol use disorder. A combination similar to this that used injections of extended-release naltrexone and oral sustained-release bupropion showed promise for patients with MUD in a study by Dr. Trivedi and colleagues published in 2021 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
• A trial to test the feasibility and efficacy of transcranial magnetic stimulation for patients with either MUD or CUD. The procedure uses magnetic fields to stimulate cortical regions of the brain.
• A trial comparing the feasibility, efficacy, and safety of intravenously delivered ketamine (an anesthetic) versus midazolam (a sedative) in patients with MUD.

A fourth study, expected to begin next year, is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to test the efficacy of extended-release naltrexone plus bupropion XL compared with matched injectable and oral placebo in reducing methamphetamine use in individuals with moderate or severe MUD. This study is being done to replicate the findings from Dr. Trivedi’s 2021 study.

Dr. Trivedi has also received funding from NIDA for several smaller trials focused on other aspects of substance use disorders. These include a study aimed at developing new approaches to recruit Black patients with substance abuse disorders for clinical trials to reduce health disparities; a study exploring a potential method to supervise patients who take methadone at home to treat opioid abuse disorder; and a study assessing the feasibility of web-based software to help primary care physicians screen, diagnose, and prescribe treatments for opioid abuse disorder.

“Substance abuse disorders bring immense bias and stigma, but they are medical conditions that need treatments,” Dr. Trivedi said. “These trials may result in treatments that can truly help patients.”

Dr. Trivedi holds the Betty Jo Hay Distinguished Chair in Mental Health and the Julie K. Hersh Chair for Depression Research and Clinical Care. Dr. Trivedi also has served as a consultant to companies that develop treatments for substance abuse disorders.

About UT Southwestern Medical Center  

UT Southwestern, one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty members have received six Nobel Prizes and include 26 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 21 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 13 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 3,100 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in more than 80 specialties to more than 120,000 hospitalized patients, more than 360,000 emergency room cases, and oversee nearly 5 million outpatient visits a year.