Posts tagged with 'substance abuse'
NHS LifeCheck: online health checks for three age groups - babies, teens & mid-life
11th October 2009
People who have visited this blog a fair amount will know that I'm a huge fan of healthy lifestyle. It's a no-brainer. I've talked about this in Does healthy lifestyle really make a difference?, Common sense isn't common, Would you like to be 14 years younger - it's largely a …
Recent research: six studies on the long-term effects of abuse & deprivation
20th August 2009
Here are half a dozen studies on the long-term effects of various forms of abuse & deprivation. Paras et al systematically reviewed the association between a history of sexual abuse and a lifetime diagnosis of a somatic disorder. They found significant links with functional gastrointestinal disorders, nonspecific chronic pain, psychogenic …
Recent research: psychologist & doctor impairment & burnout
11th June 2009
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" Juvenal The last-but-one edition of the journal Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice published several articles on psychologist stress and burnout. Interestingly the edition is currently available with full text articles downloadable for free. Smith and Moss review the psychologist impairment literature (see below for all abstracts …
Alcohol: know your limits and increase the price
5th April 2009
A recent article in the British Medical Journal (Kmietowicz 2009) reports that "The chief medical officer for England has called for a minimum price of 50 pence (0.54; $0.70) to be charged for a unit of alcohol to reduce excessive drinking and its associated harms. Liam Donaldson said that antisocial …
Recent research: five papers on childhood trauma, parenting & health in adulthood
12th March 2009
Here are five papers on childhood, the effects childhood experience can have on adulthood, and the effects adults may then have on their own children. The first paper by Brody et al. is the encouraging one. It demonstrates how caring parenting can combat genetic vulnerability - "involved-supportive" mothering greatly reduced …
The CAGE questionnaire as a screen for alcohol problems
23rd November 2008
An article in one of this month's editions of the Journal of the American Medical Association celebrates the publication of the CAGE alcohol screening questionnaire by Charles Ewing 25 years ago. CAGE is a mnemonic to help remember the four simple questions. "Have you ever ... 1.) felt the need …
Recent research: half a dozen studies on aspects of CBT
11th September 2008
Here are half a dozen recent research studies broadly on aspects of cognitive-behavioural therapy - computer delivery for addiction, a couple on therapist competence, CBT for compulsive shopping, a systematic review of CBT and chronic fatigue syndrome, and a broad based depression education and problem solving intervention for people suffering …
Organization of teratology information specialists (OTIS)
29th August 2008
Teratology is the study of the effects that drugs, medications, chemicals and other exposures may have on the unborn child during pregnancy. Particulary when a mother is taking a medication that is helping her stay well, it can be a difficult decision whether or not to stop taking the medication …