Stress Tends to Play a Part in Cocaine Relapse

Is it possible that stress can lead to cocaine abuse or is it the other way around? According to the results in recent mouse studies, the stress-evoked changes in circuits that regulate serotonin in certain parts of the brain can precipitate a low mood and a relapse in cocaine-seeking.

Science Daily recently published a release that examined the findings of this study.

“The impetus for this research was our interest in how stress alters the brain’s cell receptors and protein signals in ways that lead to mood changes, depression, anxiety, and drug seeking,” said Dr. Michael Bruchas, acting instructor of pharmacology at the University of Washington (UW). The senior author was Dr. Charles Chavkin, the Allan and Phyllis Treuer Professor of Pharmacology and director of the UW Center for Drug Addiction Research.

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Binge Drinking Continues to be Problem Among College Students

One of the biggest arguments surrounding the area of underage drinking is the legal drinking age. Some argue it should be even higher than 21, while others argue it does nothing to curb underage drinking. Among college students, some will drink no matter the law and others have no desire.

According to a State Press post there is one college that may have been unjustly identified as a party school. According to one expert who has dedicated her professional life to studying preventative use of alcohol in college students, Arizona State University has been unfairly labeled.

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Treatment for Women with Dual Diagnosis Addiction

If you are a woman struggling with alcohol or a chemical dependency and also have a simultaneous behavior or mood disorder, you have what is called dual diagnosis addiction. This is not all that uncommon. An estimated 53 percent of women who are chemically dependent have one or more behavioral or mood issues. Since either condition by itself can complicate treatment, the most effective treatment addresses both conditions at the same time in a coordinated treatment program.

Co-occurring Behavioral or Mood Disorders

Women admitted to a treatment program to combat alcohol or chemical dependency often have these behavioral or mood disorders:

• Depression, such as bi-polar disorder

• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

• Anxiety disorders, including post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

• Panic disorder

• Phobias

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

• Other psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and personality disorder

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What is Equine-Assisted Therapy?

By Suzanne Kane

According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, the definition of equine is “of, relating to, or resembling a horse or the horse family.” It follows, then, that equine-assisted therapy involves horses. But what, actually, is equine-assisted therapy?

There are distinctive types of equine therapy, but they all involve the use of horses. There’s equine-assisted therapy (EAT), equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP), and equine-assisted learning (EAL), equine-facilitated learning (EFL), and equine-facilitated psychotherapy (EFP).

Equine therapy is practiced around the world. Originally used to help patients recover from traumatic injuries, it then became a widely-used therapeutic method to treat physically handicapped individuals. In recent years, equine therapy has branched off into other areas – treating a wide variety of psychological and mental disorders and addiction.

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Binge-Eating Disorder in College-Age Women and Ethnicity

Existing research shows that rates of binge eating among adult women is virtually identical across race. However, a new study found that among college-age women, Caucasian women are more apt to exhibit binge eating behaviors than African American women.

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Brain Stimulation May Be Effective Treatment for Severe Depression

A new neurosurgical procedure may prove helpful for patients with treatment-resistant depression. Bilateral epidural prefrontal cortical stimulation (EpCS) was found generally safe and provided significant improvement of depressive symptoms in a small group of patients, according to lead researcher Ziad Nahas, M.D. at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).

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Research Suggests Depression and Anxiety Very Different Disorders in Adolescents

Depression and anxiety are often classified as very similar conditions; so much so that many anxiety disorders are treated with the same medication as that prescribed for depression. When this approach is taken with adolescents, the results can be devastating.

A new Science Daily release found that adolescent depression and anxiety disorders are two very distinct psychiatric disorders. This difference was strongly noted by Dr. William W. Hale III, a researcher of the Langeveld Institute for the Study of Education and Development in Childhood and Adolescence at Utrecht University, in a recent publication in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

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