Familial and Socio-Cultural Factors Contributing to the Rising Trend of Drug Addiction in Youth in Pakistan

Aim: To know about the major familial and socio-cultural factors contributing to the rising trend of drugs and substance use in youth in twin cities i.e. Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Methods: The study was conducted in July-September 2021 in Twin Cities i.e. Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Data was collected from 150 young drug addicts (between the age group of 15 to 40 years). Snow ball and purposive sampling techniques were used to collect the data. A pre devised interview schedule having close and open ended questions was used. Frequency analysis method was used to represent the basic demographic data whereas a 4-points Likert Scale was used to know the extent of factors contributing to the rising trend of drug addiction in youth. Results: Results showed that slightly more than one third of the respondents (34%) were quite young (21-25 years). Peer group/ bad company was found responsible factor to great extent (71%), To increase sexual pleasure was also found responsible (45.8%), Lack of knowledge about harms of drugs was found responsible to great extent (49.3%). Another factor i.e. curiosity to use / taste drugs was also found responsible to great extent (77.3%). Conclusion: Problem of drug addiction in youth in Pakistan is rising at a worrying trend. Numerous familial as well socio-cultural factors in the etiology of drug abuse and addiction have been found responsible. Keywords: Drug, Substance, Addiction, youth, familial, social-cultural, factors, Pakistan,

Substance abuse, drug addiction and the role of primary health care amid the COVID-19 pandemic

The definition of substance abuse is the use of certain types of drugs such as alcohol, cannabis, hash, cocaine and others that have serious side effects and clinical complications. There is a significant difference between substance abuse and the term addiction. The significant difference between substance abuse and addiction is that drug addiction or substance addiction is classified as a chronic disease controlling the physical and mental ability of the individual to unpleasant force to use specific drugs such as cocaine or else. The literature has a positive correlation between the COVID-19 pandemic and illegal drug abuse in substance abuse or addiction. COVID-19 caused emotional emptiness for many people around the world, in addition to anxiety and depression. The particular group of people started addicting to specific drugs to induce temporary happiness due to the unpleasant events they had from the pandemic. This article aimed to review the challenges of substance abuse and drug abuse in the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of public health in addition to primary care facilities against this phenomenon. To our knowledge, this is the first review providing a complex review about this issue since the beginning of COVID-19.

A REVIEW ON TOBACCO ADDICTION AND ITS MANAGEMENT: AN AYURVEDIC APPROACH

Addiction is a very common habitual psychological or physiological disorder in this modern era. It is a condition of dependence on any substances or drugs. It harms human beings along with its social consequence. Sudden withdrawal of addicted drugs produces different types of psychosomatic disorders. Addiction is not only about drug addiction or alcohol addiction or substance addiction. In the Ayurvedic view, overuse of any aspect and every aspect is considered an addiction. Addictions influence the physical, emotional and psychological behaviour of an individual with a wrong effect. Tobacco and alcohol are the most widely consumed psychotropic drugs which are used worldwide. The common use of both increases the risk of noncommunicable diseases to many folds. Ayurvedic texts have described different types of De-addiction treatment which can be applied in this context along with replacement therapy with medicines described in the Madatyaya chapter of Charaka Samhita Chikitsa sthana. The main aim of this review article is to compile and evaluate the concept of tobacco addiction and its management. All the descriptions of addiction mentioned in different Ayurvedic texts were critically analyzed and discussed to check their relation.

The Microbiome–Gut–Brain Axis, a Potential Therapeutic Target for Substance-Related Disorders

Substance addiction is a complex worldwide public health problem. It endangers both personal life and social stability, causing great loss on economy. Substance-related disorder is considered to be a complicated chronic brain disorder. It resulted from interactions among pharmacological properties of addictive substances, individual susceptibility, and social–environmental factors. Unfortunately, there is still no ideal treatment for this disorder. Recent lines of evidence suggest that gut microbiome may play an important role in the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric disorders, including substance-related disorders. This review summarizes the research on the relationship between gut microbiome and substance-related disorders, including different types of substance, different individual susceptibility, and the occurrence and development of substance-induced mental disorders. We also discuss the potentiation of gut microbiome in the treatment of substance-related disorders, especially in the treatment of substance-induced mental disorders and manipulation on individuals’ responsiveness to addictive substances.

The Impact of Adolescent Substance Abuse on Family Quality of Life, Marital Satisfaction, and Mental Health in Qatar

This study investigated the impact of substance-addicted adolescents on family quality of life in the Arab country of Qatar. Two groups of families were compared: families with a teenager who had a substance addiction ( n = 50) and families without such a teen ( n = 53). Results showed families with a substance-addicted teenager had a lower family quality of life, that is, lower marital satisfaction, and higher couple scores on depression, anxiety, and stress. The study suggests that the relationship between family dynamics and adolescent substance addiction is bidirectional in Arab families, that is, family problems may lead to adolescent substance abuse, and substance addiction in adolescents may also impact marital health quality and the mental health of parents.

Social phobia and addictive behaviours in adolescents

Adolescence is the age of discordance: abandonment of ideas and feelings, perpetual becoming, eternal change, everything presupposes contradiction. It is the age of speeds and disappointments. Pessimism alternates with enthusiasm for a new idea or for a noble cause, hence the affective ambivalence. This paper aims to identify some behavioural aspects and personality traits of adolescents of two categories, adolescents from two-parent families and those from single-parent families. To verify the work hypothesis, we applied the Scale for assessing adolescent disorders - short form, the sample population includes 90 adolescents who are part of single-parent and two-parent families, 45 male subjects and 45 female subjects. Based on the results there is a significant difference between adolescents from biparental families and adolescents from monoparental families, in terms of generalized anxiety, substance addiction and eating disorder. People with high levels of anxiety are often convinced that they will act in the wrong way or that someone else will judge them. Keywords: social phobia, addictive behaviors, adolescents, abandonment, feelings

A General Addiction Model Based on the Theory of Demand Degree—Taking the Simulation of Cigarette Addiction through Artificial Intelligence as an Example

Objectives: As one of the mathematical results of the theory of value philosophy, the theory of demand degree can propose a new interpretation model for addiction. The theory of demand degree believes that human demands can be divided into two types, namely, the demand amount and the demand degree, and the equilibrium point of the demand degree constitutes the main basis for people to compare different types of demands and calculate the demand amount. The addiction model based on the theory of demand degree believes that addiction should have two basic conditions: firstly, the unit addictive substance is of great value to the subject, and it is the reason for the brain reward mechanism in the addiction; secondly, an addiction index is constructed, and only when the addiction index is greater than 0, the subject has the possibility for addiction. The construction of addiction index provides a standard for examining whether a certain substance can make people addicted. Converting the relevant formulas of the addiction model into artificial intelligence codes enables artificial intelligence to simulate the phenomenon of addiction. According to the change in the indicator light on the MCU development board, it is possible to judge whether the artificial intelligence chooses to load cigarettes or charge, and simulate the cigarette addiction when the addiction index is 1. The results of simulating addiction through artificial intelligence are generally consistent with the general situation of addiction, especially cigarette addiction. This indicates that the addiction model has great rationality and universality, and further indicates that without considering the harmfulness of the addictive substance, addiction is not necessarily a disease, but may just be a normal response of the human demand system to the addictive substance.

Optimizing Opioid Abuse Prevention Strategies: Role of Pharmacist in Safe Dispensing

Misuse, violence, and distribution of opioids are also a public health concern. Pharmacists are at the forefront of the health-care response to the opioid epidemic because they have more opportunities to engage with patients than primary care or specialist medical practitioners. Because of these situations, pharmacists have more chances to provide proper prevention advice and reinforce proper opioid drug usage. Understanding dosage restrictions, learning how to use prescription drug monitoring programmes, knowing when drug take-back programmes are taking place, and advising consumers about the dangers of substance addiction are both techniques that pharmacists should be informed about. Recognising "red flag" actions that may suggest opioid abuse; using tests to determine a patient's risk of opioid abuse; collaborating with other health-care providers to plan a patient's treatment; knowing how abuse-deterrent antidepressants function and what they can't do. Pharmacists can help mitigate substance misuse and improve patient outcomes by implementing these techniques. All patients who require legitimate and effective pain management through the use of opioids must have access to them. While further study is needed in a variety of areas, pharmacists may make efforts today to follow proposed recommendations, rules, and legislation to reduce drug misuse and diversion of restricted drugs.

A Research Domain Criteria Approach to Gambling Disorder and Behavioral Addictions: Decision-Making, Response Inhibition, and the Role of Cannabidiol

Gambling Disorder (GD) has been recently re-classified in the DSM-5 under the “substance-related and addictive disorders,” in light of its genetic, endophenotypic, and phenotypic resemblances to substance dependence. Diminished control is a core defining concept of psychoactive substance dependence or addiction and has given rise to the concept of “behavioral” addictions, which are syndromes analogous to substance addiction, but with a behavioral focus other than ingestion of a psychoactive substance. The main symptom clusters are represented by loss of control, craving/withdrawal, and neglect of other areas of life, whereas in a Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) perspective, GD patients exhibit deficits in the domain of “Positive valence systems,” particularly in the “Approach motivation” and “Reward learning” constructs, as well as in the “Cognitive systems,” primarily in the “Cognitive control” construct. In the Addictions Neuroclinical Assessment (ANA), three relevant domains for addictions emerge: “Incentive salience,” “Negative Emotionality,” and “Executive Function.” The endocannabinoid system (ECS) may largely modulate these circuits, presenting a promising pharmaceutical avenue for treating addictions. Up to now, research on cannabidiol has shown some efficacy in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), whereas in behavioral addictions its role has not been fully elucidated, as well as its precise action on RDoC domains. Herein, we review available evidence on RDoC domains affected in GD and behavioral addictions and summarize insights on the use of cannabidiol in those disorders and its potential mechanisms of action on reward, decisional, and sensorimotor processes.