The 'grass ceiling': Limitations in the literature hinder our understanding of cannabis use and its consequences
- Authors: Temple, Elizabeth , Brown, Rhonda , Hine, Donald
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Addiction Vol. 106, no. 2 (2010), p. 238-244
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- Description: Aim: To illustrate how limitations in the cannabis literature undermine our ability to understand cannabis-related harms and problems experienced by users and identify users at increased risk of experiencing adverse outcomes of use. Method and results: Limitations have been organized into three overarching themes. The first relates to the classification systems employed by researchers to categorize cannabis users, their cannabis use and the assumptions on which these systems are based. The second theme encompasses methodological and reporting issues, including differences between studies, inadequate statistical control of potential confounders, the under-reporting of effect sizes and the lack of consideration of clinical significance. The final theme covers differing approaches to studying cannabis use, including recruitment methods. Limitations related to the nature of the data collected by researchers are discussed throughout, with a focus on how they affect our understanding of cannabis use and users. Conclusions: These limitations must be addressed to facilitate the development of effective and appropriately targeted evidence-based public health campaigns, treatment programmes and preventative, early intervention and harm minimization strategies, and to inform cannabis-related policy and legislation. © 2010 The Authors, Addiction © 2010 Society for the Study of Addiction.
The influence of self-reported exercise addiction on acute emotional and physiological responses to brief exercise deprivation
- Authors: Aidman, Eugene , Woollard, Simon
- Date: 2003
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Psychology of Sport and Exercise Vol. 4, no. 3 (2003), p. 225-236
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- Description: Objectives: To examine the association between self-reported exercise addiction among competitive runners and their emotional and physiological response to a one-day deprivation from scheduled training. Design: A controlled experiment was utilised with random selection to exercise-deprived and control groups to examine the causal link between acute exercise deprivation and the presence and magnitude of withdrawal symptoms. Method : Club-level runners (n=60) who had been training at least five times weekly towards a major regional competition (30 women and 30 men, average age: 24.2 years) volunteered to abstain from a one-day training fixture with less than 24-hours' notice. All subjects completed the Profile of Mood States (POMS), Running Addiction Scale (RAS) and resting heart rate (RHR) measurements. From this group, 15 men and 15 women were randomly selected to miss the next scheduled training (exercise-deprived group), while the remaining 30 runners continued their training uninterrupted (controls). Both groups repeated POMS and RHR measures within 24 hours after the experiment. Results: The exercise-deprived group reported significant withdrawal-like symptoms of depressed mood, reduced vigour and increased tension, anger, fatigue and confusion (measured by POMS), as well as significantly elevated RHR, within 24 hours after the missed training session. The control group showed no changes in mood or RHR. More importantly, the observed negative mood changes and RHR response in the exercise-deprived group were moderated by self-reported exercise addiction. The sub-median RAS scorers experienced significantly less mood change and RHR shifts than the higher scoring half of the sample. Further, correlations between RAS scores and the magnitude of increases in tension, anger, confusion, depression and RHR ranged from 0.46 to 0.58. Conclusions: Self-reported exercise addiction in habitual exercisers moderates their emotional and physiological responses to a short-term controlled exercise deprivation, indicating that the magnitude of these responses may, in turn, serve as early markers of exercise dependence. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
- Description: C1
Commentary on van der Pol etal. (2014): Reconsidering the association between cannabis exposure and dependence
- Authors: Temple, Elizabeth
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Addiction Vol. 109, no. 7 (July 2014 2014), p. 1110-1111
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- Description: C1
Exploration of the preliminary effectiveness and acceptability of a self-help digital intervention to support benzodiazepine cessation and improve mental health and wellbeing : a one-group pilot trial
- Authors: Klein, Britt , Oldenhof, Erin , Nguyen, Huy , Schattner, Peter , Shandley, Kerrie
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy Vol. 33, no. 3 (2023), p. 179-193
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- Description: Introduction: Benzodiazepines (BDZs) are often inappropriately prescribed to manage anxiety and insomnia for longer-term use, despite guidelines recommending short-term use (i.e., <4 weeks). A range of harms can occur rapidly with regular use, and dependence can make stopping BDZs challenging. Evidence shows that a combination of BDZ tapering and psychological support are effective interventions, yet are not widely accessible. Methods: This was a one-group pilot trial of a 6-week fully automated self-help BDZ digital intervention (‘BDZ digital health’), providing guidance on how to safely taper BDZs as well as psychological support. The trial was undertaken with Australian adults considering a reduction and/or withdrawal from their BDZ (N = 43). Participants were assessed at pre-intervention (Week 0), during intervention (Week 3), post-intervention (Week 6), and at a 3- and 6-month follow-up (Week 18 and 30 respectively). Results: Reductions in BDZ use and self-reported dependency were observed over the course of the intervention. Significant symptom reductions in anxiety, insomnia, depression, psychological distress, and emotional dysregulation, as well as improvements in mental wellbeing and quality of life were observed when looking across all timepoints. However, the specific assessment timepoint changes for depression and psychological distress did not reach significance from the pre- to post-intervention timepoint. The intervention acceptability ratings were in the moderately high to high range. Discussion: The preliminary results of the pilot trial suggest that BDZ digital health is an acceptable and promising self-help digital intervention to assist adults reducing and withdrawing from their BDZs, and to improve their mental health and wellbeing. Trial registration: ACTRN12617000574347 (24/04/2017). © 2023 Association Française de Therapie Comportementale et Cognitive