Mayors from all over the country addressed Congress this week about the mental health crisis they’re facing, the surge in demand for services, and the challenges in resources. Addiction is at the top of the list: in 85% of the cities, substance abuse is identified as the main cause for increased need. Hillary Schieve, mayor…
Meth, Cocaine and Fentanyl are a Killer Combination, Literally.
The Center for Disease Controls recently shared data and findings around increasing use of stimulants like meth and cocaine with the synthetic opioid Fentanyl. The overdose trend is not getting better. 110,000 million people died from overdoses in 2022. Stimulants are widely and easily available. Incredibly potent and cheap meth is flowing across the US…
Motivation and Rewards Help College Students with Marijuana Addiction
Are you starting to feel negative consequences because you’re using too much marijuana? Are you unable to cut back? You may have Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) and need real help to get control back over your life. You’re not alone. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, nearly 6 percent of adults…
Addiction Treatment Works Better with Rewards and Technology
If you’re interested in decreasing your substance use and living a healthier life, Contingency Management (CM) is a novel, evidence-based approach that you should know about. CM has been shown to be highly effective in helping individuals reduce substance use, make positive lifestyle changes, and maintain abstinence. Until recently, CM has largely been limited to…
Fentanyl and Meth: What you need to know
May 9th is National Fentanyl Awareness Day in the United States. The use of illegally-made fentanyl is driving a national health crisis as people use it unintentionally and die from overdoses. Fentanyl is now involved in more deaths of people under age 50 than any other cause in the country, including even heart disease, cancer,…
Gaslighting and Addiction
Every year, the Merriam-Webster dictionary selects a word of the year. For 2022, it’s “gaslighting.” The dictionary publisher noted that look ups for the word increased by 1,740% over the course of the year. Gaslighting and addiction are intertwined. Read on to learn more about how addicts gaslight others as well as themselves, and what…
Helping American Indians Get Treatment for Drug and Alcohol Addiction
Alcohol and drug addiction hit American Indians much harder than the general population. Methamphetamine in particular has reached epidemic proportions. But there’s hope through partnership and better means of treatment to help those in need, including digital treatment programs that can be accessed from anywhere and health plans that cover the costs of treatment entirely.…
Candy, cash, gifts: How rewards help recovery from addiction – AP article on Contingency Management
Carla Johnson covers how the contingency management approach to treating substance use disorders is more effective in this article. She quotes Harold Lewis, who had been struggling with an addiction for years and started getting better when he got into a program where he earned rewards for staying in treatment: “Recovery should be fun because…
Working with Criminal Justice to Solve Addiction Treatment Challenges
Affect Therapeutics works with partners across the criminal justice system to provide a solution that works better. We work with courts and lawyers, case managers, parole and probation officers and more to address their challenges and lighten load that drug and alcohol-related arrests create. What is the scope of the drug and alcohol problem in criminal…
Women who drink to cope are at greater risk for alcoholism and negative health effects
Research indicates that people who drink to cope have a higher risk of developing alcohol use disorder. And studies have found that women are more likely to drink to cope than men. While men once outdrank women, the gender gap in alcohol consumption has narrowed. For the first time since researchers began measuring consumption, women…