Harm Reduction in Substance Use and High-Risk Behaviour


Book Description

Harm Reduction is a philosophy of public health intended as a progressive alternative to the prohibition of certain potentially dangerous lifestyle choices. Recognising that certain people always have and always will engage in behaviours which carry risks, the aim of harm reduction is to mitigate the potential dangers and health risks associated with those behaviours. Harm Reduction in Substance Use and High-Risk Behaviour offers a comprehensive exploration of the policy, practice and evidence base of harm reduction. Starting with a history of harm reduction, the book addresses key ethical and legal issues central to the debates and developments in the field. It discusses the full range of psychoactive substances, behaviours and communities with chapters on injecting, dance drugs, stimulant use, tobacco harm reduction, alcohol use and sex work. Written by an international team of contributors, this text provides an essential panorama of harm reduction in the 21st century for educators and researchers in addiction and public health, postgraduate students and policy makers.




Facing Addiction in America


Book Description

All across the United States, individuals, families, communities, and health care systems are struggling to cope with substance use, misuse, and substance use disorders. Substance misuse and substance use disorders have devastating effects, disrupt the future plans of too many young people, and all too often, end lives prematurely and tragically. Substance misuse is a major public health challenge and a priority for our nation to address. The effects of substance use are cumulative and costly for our society, placing burdens on workplaces, the health care system, families, states, and communities. The Report discusses opportunities to bring substance use disorder treatment and mainstream health care systems into alignment so that they can address a person's overall health, rather than a substance misuse or a physical health condition alone or in isolation. It also provides suggestions and recommendations for action that everyone-individuals, families, community leaders, law enforcement, health care professionals, policymakers, and researchers-can take to prevent substance misuse and reduce its consequences.




Brief Interventions for Adolescent Alcohol and Substance Abuse


Book Description

Bringing together leading experts, this book demonstrates the unique value of brief motivational interventions for addressing adolescent alcohol and other substance use in a range of clinical contexts. It presents cutting-edge knowledge on the etiology and developmental context of adolescent addictive behaviors and reviews exemplary treatment approaches. Effective strategies are described for intervening with diverse populations, such as college students, youth in the justice system and in foster care, those with co-occurring substance abuse and psychiatric problems, LGBT youth, and Latino and American Indian adolescents. This book replaces the editors' influential earlier work, Adolescents, Alcohol, and Substance Abuse, with an expanded focus on practical applications. Most of the chapters are completely new.




Adolescents, Alcohol, and Substance Abuse


Book Description

This volume reviews a range of empirically supported approaches to prevention and treatment of adolescent substance use problems. The focus is on motivationally based brief interventions that can be delivered in a variety of contexts, that address key developmental considerations, and that draw on cutting-edge knowledge on addictive behavior change. From expert contributors, coverage encompasses alcohol skills training; integrative behavioral and family therapy; motivational interviewing; interventions for dually diagnosed youth; Internet-based education, prevention, and treatment; and applications to HIV prevention. The volume is extensively referenced and includes numerous clinical illustrations and vignettes.




Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders


Book Description

Estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 4 Americans will experience a mental health problem or will misuse alcohol or drugs in their lifetimes. These disorders are among the most highly stigmatized health conditions in the United States, and they remain barriers to full participation in society in areas as basic as education, housing, and employment. Improving the lives of people with mental health and substance abuse disorders has been a priority in the United States for more than 50 years. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 is considered a major turning point in America's efforts to improve behavioral healthcare. It ushered in an era of optimism and hope and laid the groundwork for the consumer movement and new models of recovery. The consumer movement gave voice to people with mental and substance use disorders and brought their perspectives and experience into national discussions about mental health. However over the same 50-year period, positive change in American public attitudes and beliefs about mental and substance use disorders has lagged behind these advances. Stigma is a complex social phenomenon based on a relationship between an attribute and a stereotype that assigns undesirable labels, qualities, and behaviors to a person with that attribute. Labeled individuals are then socially devalued, which leads to inequality and discrimination. This report contributes to national efforts to understand and change attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that can lead to stigma and discrimination. Changing stigma in a lasting way will require coordinated efforts, which are based on the best possible evidence, supported at the national level with multiyear funding, and planned and implemented by an effective coalition of representative stakeholders. Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders: The Evidence for Stigma Change explores stigma and discrimination faced by individuals with mental or substance use disorders and recommends effective strategies for reducing stigma and encouraging people to seek treatment and other supportive services. It offers a set of conclusions and recommendations about successful stigma change strategies and the research needed to inform and evaluate these efforts in the United States.




Reducing Underage Drinking


Book Description

Alcohol use by young people is extremely dangerous - both to themselves and society at large. Underage alcohol use is associated with traffic fatalities, violence, unsafe sex, suicide, educational failure, and other problem behaviors that diminish the prospects of future success, as well as health risks â€" and the earlier teens start drinking, the greater the danger. Despite these serious concerns, the media continues to make drinking look attractive to youth, and it remains possible and even easy for teenagers to get access to alcohol. Why is this dangerous behavior so pervasive? What can be done to prevent it? What will work and who is responsible for making sure it happens? Reducing Underage Drinking addresses these questions and proposes a new way to combat underage alcohol use. It explores the ways in which may different individuals and groups contribute to the problem and how they can be enlisted to prevent it. Reducing Underage Drinking will serve as both a game plan and a call to arms for anyone with an investment in youth health and safety.




Adolescent Substance Abuse


Book Description

Learn more effective treatments for adolescents with abuse substance disorder Dual diagnosis of adolescent substance use disorders and comorbid psychiatric disorders must be treated simultaneously to be effective. Adolescent Substance Abuse: Psychiatric Comorbidity and High Risk Behaviors presents leading experts offering insightful viewpoints and dynamic suggestions on how to best provide simultaneous treatment and integrated services to these youths. The book covers the state of the art in the field of substance use disorders, and reviews different psychiatric disorders and high risk behaviors, and then addresses the issue of integrated services and ethical, legal, and policy issues pertaining to this population. In the field of adolescent substance abuse treatment, dual diagnosis is the rule rather than the exception, making assessment and treatment complicated. Adolescent Substance Abuse: Psychiatric Comorbidity and High Risk Behaviors comprehensively discusses the magnitude, etiology, and characteristics of problems and substance abuse disorders (SUD), and extensively explains ways to assess, treat, and develop services for adolescents. This unique text closely examines the assessment and treatment of psychiatric comorbid disorders among adolescents such as depression, anxiety disorders, ADHD, and high risk behaviors including suicidal behavior, self-harm behavior, and gambling behavior. The text is extensively referenced and several chapters include helpful tables and figures to clearly display the data. Topics examined in Adolescent Substance Abuse: Psychiatric Comorbidity and High Risk Behaviors include: etiology of adolescent substance abuse assessment treatment planning psychosocial interventions pharmacological interventions disruptive behavior disorders attention deficit hyperactivity disorder depression bi-polar mood disorder anxiety disorders trauma and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) suicidal and self-harm behaviors schizophrenia eating disorder gambling behavior Adolescent Substance Abuse: Psychiatric Comorbidity and High Risk Behaviors is an invaluable resource for mental health professionals, pediatricians, family physicians, nurses, addictions specialists, counselors, educators, students, and drug court professionals who provide assessment and treatment for youths with substance use disorders.




Treating Adolescent Substance Use


Book Description

Clinicians are now facing new substance use-related challenges such as the opioid crisis, a changing political landscape regarding marijuana, and the emergence of new delivery devices such as e-cigarettes. Unfortunately, it is more critical than ever that clinicians caring for adolescents have a proficiency in treating substance use. This book is a comprehensive clinical guide that discusses the prevalence of substance use among adolescents and young adults, as well as prevention strategies, available screening methods, practical treatment applications and their outcomes. Using a multidisciplinary approach with inclusion of authors from diverse clinical backgrounds, this definitive guide provides the best practices for treating adolescent substance use disorders from medical, behavioral, and social standpoints. Supplemented with case examples and written by experts in the field, Treating Adolescent Substance Use appeals to all clinicians that treat adolescent patients.




Preventing HIV Transmission


Book Description

This volume addresses the interface of two major national problems: the epidemic of HIV-AIDS and the widespread use of illegal injection drugs. Should communities have the option of giving drug users sterile needles or bleach for cleaning needs in order to reduce the spread of HIV? Does needle distribution worsen the drug problem, as opponents of such programs argue? Do they reduce the spread of other serious diseases, such as hepatitis? Do they result in more used needles being carelessly discarded in the community? The panel takes a critical look at the available data on needle exchange and bleach distribution programs, reaches conclusions about their efficacy, and offers concrete recommendations for public policy to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. The book includes current knowledge about the epidemiologies of HIV/AIDS and injection drug use; characteristics of needle exchange and bleach distribution programs and views on those programs from diverse community groups; and a discussion of laws designed to control possession of needles, their impact on needle sharing among injection drug users, and their implications for needle exchange programs.




Handbook of Drug Abuse Prevention


Book Description

This wide-ranging handbook brings together experts in the sociology of drug abuse prevention. Providing a comprehensive overview of the accumulated knowledge on prevention theory, intervention design, and development and prevention research methodology, this work also promotes prevention science as an evolving field in the practice and policy of drug abuse prevention.