AddictionPub Date : 2025-04-02DOI: 10.1111/add.70062
Adam W Carrico
{"title":"Commentary on Carlon et al.: High hopes-Integrating positive psychological interventions into substance use disorder treatment.","authors":"Adam W Carrico","doi":"10.1111/add.70062","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70062","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":109,"journal":{"name":"Addiction","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143762482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AddictionPub Date : 2025-04-01DOI: 10.1111/add.70058
Adam Bisaga
{"title":"Commentary on Ezard et al.: Prescribed psychostimulant medications for methamphetamine use disorder - an urgent path forward.","authors":"Adam Bisaga","doi":"10.1111/add.70058","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70058","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":109,"journal":{"name":"Addiction","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143750228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AddictionPub Date : 2025-03-31DOI: 10.1111/add.70037
Molly L Garber, Andriy Samokhvalov, Yelena Chorny, Onawa LaBelle, Brian Rush, Jean Costello, James MacKillop
{"title":"Diagnostic validity of drinking behaviour for identifying alcohol use disorder: Findings from a representative sample of community adults and an inpatient clinical sample.","authors":"Molly L Garber, Andriy Samokhvalov, Yelena Chorny, Onawa LaBelle, Brian Rush, Jean Costello, James MacKillop","doi":"10.1111/add.70037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70037","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Alcohol consumption is an inherent feature of alcohol use disorder (AUD), and drinking patterns may be diagnostically informative. This study had three aims: (1) to examine the classification accuracy of several individually analysed drinking behavior measures in a large sample of US community adults; (2) to extend the findings to an adult clinical sample; and (3) to examine potential sex differences.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>In cross-sectional epidemiological and clinical datasets, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate diagnostic classification using area under the curve (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV).</p><p><strong>Setting and participants: </strong>Two samples were examined: a large random sample of US community adults who reported past-year drinking (n = 25 773, AUD = 20%) and a clinical sample from a Canadian inpatient addiction treatment centre (n = 1341, AUD = 82%).</p><p><strong>Measurements: </strong>Classifiers included measures of quantity/frequency (e.g. drinks/drinking day, largest drinks/drinking day, number of drinking days and heavy drinking frequency). The clinical criterion (reference standard) was AUD diagnostic status per structured clinical interview (community sample) or a symptom checklist (clinical sample).</p><p><strong>Findings: </strong>All drinking indicators were statistically significant classifiers of AUD (AUCs = 0.60-0.92, Ps<0.0001). Heavy drinking frequency indicators performed optimally in both the community (AUCs = 0.78-0.87; accuracy = 0.72-0.80) and clinical (AUCs = 0.85-0.92; accuracy = 0.77-0.89) samples. Collectively, the most discriminating drinking behaviours were number of heavy drinking episodes and frequency of exceeding drinking low-risk guidelines. No substantive sex differences were observed across drinking metrics.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Quantitative drinking indices appear to perform well at classifying alcohol use disorder (AUD) in both a large community adult and inpatient sample, robustly identifying AUD at rates much better than chance and above accepted clinical classification benchmarks, with limited differences by sex. These findings broadly support the potential clinical utility of quantitative drinking indicators in routine patient assessment.</p>","PeriodicalId":109,"journal":{"name":"Addiction","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143750230","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AddictionPub Date : 2025-03-27DOI: 10.1111/add.70065
James Nicholls, Geoffrey Hunt
{"title":"Drinking and pleasure: Interdisciplinarity points the way forward","authors":"James Nicholls, Geoffrey Hunt","doi":"10.1111/add.70065","DOIUrl":"10.1111/add.70065","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We thank our commentators for their thoughtful reflections on how alcohol research can better engage with pleasure. In writing the original article [<span>1</span>], we admit to some trepidation about how it would be received. We are encouraged by the positive and constructive responses, which identify a range of opportunities for innovative future research.</p><p>We strongly agree with Pennay and Livingston [<span>2</span>] on the critical importance of interdisciplinary collaboration. Drinking motives, cultures, behaviours and pleasures – as well as risks – are far too complex to be captured by either a single discipline or a single methodological approach. The social, natural and applied sciences, and, we would add, the humanities, all offer unique contributions to better understanding the protean role of drinking in both different cultures and the lives of individuals within those environments. We would welcome the kind of large-scale interdisciplinary project Pennay and Livingston propose, and hope the case for such an approach, even if exploratory in terms of both methods and possible findings, can be made effectively to funders.</p><p>Morris and Davies [<span>3</span>] provide critical insights into the challenges of effective alcohol health messaging. While we noted that negative framings may not align with the experiences of those who drink for pleasure, they expand significantly on this with key insights from experimental psychology. As they show, the issue is not only that ‘no safe level’ messaging may fail to resonate with drinkers, but that it may provoke psychological resistance – especially among heavier drinkers, who may be the primary target.</p><p>Acuff and Strickland [<span>4</span>] take a different approach, arguing not only for interventions that acknowledge the pleasures of drinking (even while encouraging less risky behaviours), but also for those that promote alternative pleasures not involving, though perhaps adjacent to, intoxication. This notion has deep historical roots, from the 19th century ‘rational recreation’ campaigns to the contemporary ‘sober curious’ movement [<span>5, 6</span>]. They also highlight key experimental research on wider determinants of alcohol-related reward, which we would see as complementing sociological studies on the social structuring of intoxication and pleasure.</p><p>These commentaries helpfully expand on the three domains highlighted in our article. They speak to the need for a broader epistemology of intoxication, one that will necessarily be interdisciplinary. They also add psychological depth to our thoughts on the pragmatics of health communication. Furthermore, they highlight that a rigid prioritisation of long-term health over shorter-term rewards cannot survive contact with the reality of how and why people drink. Acuff and Strickland's compromise – acknowledging but not emphasising pleasure – is attractive. However, we would also reiterate our challenge for clarity on questi","PeriodicalId":109,"journal":{"name":"Addiction","volume":"120 6","pages":"1088-1089"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/add.70065","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143717721","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AddictionPub Date : 2025-03-27DOI: 10.1111/add.70053
Kevin McInerney, David Best
{"title":"Acknowledging the crucial role of Max Glatt in the development of the Jellinek curve and the enduring relevance of his model of recovery from problem drinking.","authors":"Kevin McInerney, David Best","doi":"10.1111/add.70053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70053","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Shortly after Max Glatt published a 'Chart of Alcohol Addiction and Recovery' in 1954, a misnomer emerged and it became known as the 'Jellinek Curve'. The current article aims to investigate the contributions that both Max Glatt and Morton Jellinek made towards the misnamed 'Jellinek Curve', how the misnomer may have emerged and the relevance of Jellinek's addiction concept and Glatt's model of recovery with contemporary theories of addiction and recovery.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Warlingham Park Hospital housed the first residential alcohol detoxification and rehabilitation unit in the UK's National Health Service, a model created and developed by Max Glatt. Much of the data that informed Glatt's model came from ex-Warlingham Park Hospital patients in recovery. The current article assumes an ethnographic approach. Literature searches were undertaken and the Warlingham Park Hospital archives were scrutinized.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Max Glatt's 'Chart of Alcohol Addiction and Recovery' has mistakenly been referred to as the 'Jellinek Curve' for the last seven decades. 'The Matthew Effect' presents a possible explanation for the misnomer: the notion that eminent scientists are likely to receive greater credit than lesser-known scientists, regardless of their contribution. The recovery slope of Glatt's 'Chart' may be just as relevant today as when it was first published.</p>","PeriodicalId":109,"journal":{"name":"Addiction","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143717720","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AddictionPub Date : 2025-03-25DOI: 10.1111/add.70046
Robyn Burton, Nick Sheron
{"title":"Commentary on Kersbergen et al.: Same Price, same choices? Proportional pricing and the heaviest drinkers","authors":"Robyn Burton, Nick Sheron","doi":"10.1111/add.70046","DOIUrl":"10.1111/add.70046","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Kersbergen <i>et al</i>. [<span>1</span>] provide experimental evidence that proportional pricing—where alcohol is priced consistently per litre across different package sizes of the same brand—can shift purchasing preferences toward smaller products in hypothetical scenarios. While this approach changes purchasing incentives, it does not directly address the affordability of cheap or high-strength alcohol. These limitations raise important questions about its effectiveness, particularly for the heaviest drinkers.</p><p>Heavy daily drinkers face exponentially higher risks of alcohol-related harm [<span>2</span>], making them a key target for policy intervention. They typically seek out the cheapest alcohol [<span>2-4</span>], but were not included in Kersbergen <i>et al</i>. [<span>1</span>] study. Unlike minimum unit price (MUP), which directly raises the price of the lowest-cost alcohol [<span>5, 6</span>], proportional pricing removes bulk discounts within brands, but does not necessarily increase the absolute price of the cheapest products.</p><p>From a public health perspective, stronger alcohol should cost more because of its greater harm potential. A typical serving of wine results in a higher peak blood alcohol concentration than beer, whereas for spirits, the peak is nearly twice that of beer and reached more quickly [<span>7</span>]. Volumetric taxation, recently adopted in the United Kingdom [<span>8</span>], links price to alcohol content, making higher-strength products relatively more expensive and discouraging excessive consumption [<span>9, 10</span>]. In contrast, proportional pricing equalises cost per litre within brands but does not account for alcohol strength. As a result, a stronger product may still be cheaper per unit than a weaker one, depending on retailer pricing strategies.</p><p>Proportional pricing raises the cost of larger products by aligning their per-litre price with smaller equivalents, but its impact on real-world pricing strategies remains uncertain. Retailers have previously adapted to policy changes, as seen following Scotland's multi-buy discount ban, where straight (single unit) discounts became more common [<span>11, 12</span>]. A similar response could occur if retailers offset price increases for larger products by reducing the per-litre costs of smaller ones. If so, the overall cost of alcohol would remain unchanged, limiting the policy's impact.</p><p>A further consideration is how heavy daily and dependent drinkers purchase alcohol. While there is limited research on portion sizes in this group, anecdotal clinical experience suggests that some may buy alcohol daily in quantities just sufficient for that day. This may be an attempt to manage their consumption, as purchasing a larger volume intended to last multiple days could result in it being consumed more quickly than planned. If proportional pricing were to reduce the cost of smaller portions, this could unintentionally make alcohol more affor","PeriodicalId":109,"journal":{"name":"Addiction","volume":"120 5","pages":"871-872"},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/add.70046","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143707794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AddictionPub Date : 2025-03-24DOI: 10.1111/add.70021
Irene Kwan, Helen Elizabeth Denise Burchett, Wendy Macdowall, Preethy D'Souza, Claire Stansfield, Dylan Kneale, Katy Sutcliffe
{"title":"How effective are remote and/or digital interventions as part of alcohol and drug treatment and recovery support? A systematic review and meta-analysis.","authors":"Irene Kwan, Helen Elizabeth Denise Burchett, Wendy Macdowall, Preethy D'Souza, Claire Stansfield, Dylan Kneale, Katy Sutcliffe","doi":"10.1111/add.70021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70021","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and aims: </strong>Although remote drug/alcohol interventions have been widely reviewed, their effectiveness specifically for people in treatment remains unclear. We aimed to systematically review the effectiveness of remote interventions (delivered by telephone or computer) in alcohol/drug treatment and recovery support.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We searched 29 databases including Medline and PsycINFO for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of remote interventions for adults diagnosed with alcohol/drug use disorder conducted in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries published 2004-2023. We grouped interventions according to whether they supplemented or replaced/partially replaced in-person care. We used random effects meta-analyses to estimate pooled odds ratios (OR) for relapse, and standardised mean differences (SMD) for days of alcohol/drug use. We appraised outcomes using Cochrane Risk of Bias 2.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We identified 34 RCTs (6461 participants) evaluating 42 remote interventions, with diverse therapeutic approaches. Over 70% of outcomes were judged to be at high risk-of-bias. When remote interventions supplemented in-person care, there was a 39% lower odds of relapse [17 interventions; OR 0.61; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.46, 0.81; P = 0.001; I<sup>2</sup> = 40.3%) and a reduction in the mean days of use (17 interventions; SMD -0.18; 95% CI = -0.28 to -0.08; P = 0.001; I<sup>2</sup> = 27.3%) compared with in-person care alone. When remote interventions replaced/partially replaced in-person care, there was a 49% lower odds of relapse (7 interventions; OR 0.51; 95% CI = 0.34, 0.76; P = 0.001; I<sup>2</sup> = 39.7%) and a very slight and uncertain reduction in mean days of use (8 interventions; SMD -0.08; 95% CI = -0.24 to 0.07; P = 0.301; I<sup>2</sup> = 48.4%) compared with in-person care. Subgroup analyses by type of substance and therapeutic approach were mixed and inconclusive.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Remote interventions which supplement in-person alcohol/drug treatment appear to reduce relapse and days of use. The evidence is less conclusive regarding remote interventions that replace/partially replace in-person care due to a smaller body of evidence and uncertainty (days of use). High risk-of-bias means findings should be interpreted with caution.</p>","PeriodicalId":109,"journal":{"name":"Addiction","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143699198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
AddictionPub Date : 2025-03-21DOI: 10.1111/add.70045
Sabina Ulbricht, Adrian Richter, Daniel Kotz, Sabrina Kastaun
{"title":"Identifying relevant intersections in relation to motivation and attempt to stop smoking by using a combination of methods to develop robust predictive models and resampling techniques: A cross-sectional study of the German population.","authors":"Sabina Ulbricht, Adrian Richter, Daniel Kotz, Sabrina Kastaun","doi":"10.1111/add.70045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70045","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>To illustrate robust intersections of co-occurring factors for two predictors of smoking cessation, motivation to stop smoking (MTSS) and past year-quit attempts (QA), by using means to develop robust predictive models such as bootstrap resampling, scoring rules to evaluate the predictive accuracy and spline functions.</p><p><strong>Design, setting and participants: </strong>Cross-sectional data from the German Study on Tobacco Use (DEBRA). Past-years smokers (≥18 years, n = 13 245) from 22 survey waves (2016-2020) were included. The sample (mean age 46.8 years, 46.7% women) was randomly divided into learning (70%) and validation data (30%). Less than 20% in both data sets had tried to stop smoking within the preceding 12 months.</p><p><strong>Measurements: </strong>Multinomial regression (for MTSS) and logistic regression (for QA) were used to evaluate whether age, sex, education, monthly net household income per person and the region of residence form intersections with relevant differences in the two outcomes.</p><p><strong>Findings: </strong>MTSS compared with the absence of MTSS was associated with middle [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.02-1.39] and high education (95% CI = 1.37-1.98). Regarding MTSS, the highest probabilities were observed in participants aged 30 to 50 years from lower and middle (30-40 years) income groups. Regarding QA, the probability of at least one past-year QA was highest in females aged between 20 and 40 years and independent from educational level. Similar probabilities in males were seen only among those from the highest educated group. The predictive accuracy of the results was reduced by 3.1% for MTSS and 3.4% for QA when comparing learning with validation data.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This German study provides compelling evidence linking highest motivation to stop smoking to those aged 30 to 50 years with lower or middle household income. Regardless of educational level, females' probabilities of reporting at least one past-year quit attempt appears to be highest in those aged 20 to 40 years. These findings highlight the need for adopting an intersectional approach when studying predictors of smoking cessation.</p>","PeriodicalId":109,"journal":{"name":"Addiction","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2,"publicationDate":"2025-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143672974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}