Too painful to think about: chemsex and trauma
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Ahead of Print. Purpose Whilst chemsex is a relatively new phenomenon, trauma is not. Freud borrowed the word from physical medicine, where it was used to describe tissue damage, and applied it, for the first time, as a metaphor to a psychological process by which the protective functioning of the mind can too be pierced and wounded by events. The chemsex environment hosts a myriad of potentially traumatising scenarios and experiences, though perhaps disguised as exhilaration or excitement. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The paper is a practitioner ’s experi...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - January 7, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
What is sober sex and how to achieve it?
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Ahead of Print. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide the first definition of sober sex and recommendations for health care professionals who work therapeutically with patients who struggle with intimacy after experiencing chemsex. Design/methodology/approach The recommendations are based on the clinical experience of a psychosexual therapist working with men having sex with men (MSM) in a Sexual Health clinic in central London. Findings The paper concludes that having a clear definition of sober sex and specific tools, such as healthy masturbation exercise, could prove helpful for hea...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - January 7, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Severe alcohol withdrawal syndrome: review of the literature
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Ahead of Print. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify published literature from a general hospital setting that may highlight variables implicated in the development of severe alcohol withdrawal syndrome (SAWS) in patients who have alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS). Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review was carried out using the electronic databases: MEDLINE, Medline in Process, Cinahl, Embase and PsycINFO from 1989 to 2017. The focus of this search was on English language studies of individuals over 16 years admitted to general hospital with ADS, delirium tremens ...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - January 7, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Silent deaths: a commentary on new mortality data relating to volatile substance abuse in Great Britain
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Ahead of Print. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on new information from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on deaths caused by volatile substance abuse (VSA) in Great Britain which occurred between 2001 and 2016. Design/methodology/approach Comparing the new study with previous mortality data, the authors consider the strengths and some limitations of the analysis provided by ONS. Findings By utilising a broader range of codes and collating additional information from death certificates, the new report provides a more comprehensive measure of VSA mortality than...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - January 7, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: the strange case of the two selves of clandestine drug users in Scotland
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Ahead of Print. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the hidden social worlds of competent clandestine users of drugs controlled within the confines of the UK Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, which now includes NPS substances. The authors explore how and in what way socially competent drug users differ from others who are visible to the authorities as criminals by criminal justice bureaucracies and known to treatment agencies as defined problem drug users. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative research utilises a bricoleur ethnographic methodology considered as a critical, multi-perspe...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - January 7, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Too painful to think about: chemsex and trauma
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Ahead of Print. Purpose Whilst chemsex is a relatively new phenomenon, trauma is not. Freud borrowed the word from physical medicine, where it was used to describe tissue damage, and applied it, for the first time, as a metaphor to a psychological process by which the protective functioning of the mind can too be pierced and wounded by events. The chemsex environment hosts a myriad of potentially traumatising scenarios and experiences, though perhaps disguised as exhilaration or excitement. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The paper is a practitioner ’s experi...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - January 7, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
What is sober sex and how to achieve it?
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Ahead of Print. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide the first definition of sober sex and recommendations for health care professionals who work therapeutically with patients who struggle with intimacy after experiencing chemsex. Design/methodology/approach The recommendations are based on the clinical experience of a psychosexual therapist working with men having sex with men (MSM) in a Sexual Health clinic in central London. Findings The paper concludes that having a clear definition of sober sex and specific tools, such as healthy masturbation exercise, could prove helpful for hea...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - January 7, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Severe alcohol withdrawal syndrome: review of the literature
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Ahead of Print. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify published literature from a general hospital setting that may highlight variables implicated in the development of severe alcohol withdrawal syndrome (SAWS) in patients who have alcohol dependence syndrome (ADS). Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review was carried out using the electronic databases: MEDLINE, Medline in Process, Cinahl, Embase and PsycINFO from 1989 to 2017. The focus of this search was on English language studies of individuals over 16 years admitted to general hospital with ADS, delirium tremens ...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - January 7, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Silent deaths: a commentary on new mortality data relating to volatile substance abuse in Great Britain
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Ahead of Print. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on new information from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on deaths caused by volatile substance abuse (VSA) in Great Britain which occurred between 2001 and 2016. Design/methodology/approach Comparing the new study with previous mortality data, the authors consider the strengths and some limitations of the analysis provided by ONS. Findings By utilising a broader range of codes and collating additional information from death certificates, the new report provides a more comprehensive measure of VSA mortality than...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - January 7, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: the strange case of the two selves of clandestine drug users in Scotland
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Ahead of Print. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the hidden social worlds of competent clandestine users of drugs controlled within the confines of the UK Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, which now includes NPS substances. The authors explore how and in what way socially competent drug users differ from others who are visible to the authorities as criminals by criminal justice bureaucracies and known to treatment agencies as defined problem drug users. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative research utilises a bricoleur ethnographic methodology considered as a critical, multi-perspe...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - January 7, 2019 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Challenges, relationship and outcomes in low-threshold drug services
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Ahead of Print. Purpose This paper reports on the findings of an action research study that sought to explore the development and provision of community-based low-threshold services within a socially disadvantaged area. In the context of debates, in regard to both the nature and efficacy of low-threshold drugs services and increasingly neo-liberal policy approaches to drug service provision that prioritise outcomes and drug treatment interventions, the purpose of this paper is to report on practitioners ’ understandings of challenges, relationship building and outcomes within community-based low...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - December 28, 2018 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Harm reduction in Italy: the experience of an unsanctioned supervised injection facility run by drug users
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Ahead of Print. Purpose Efforts to establish harm reduction interventions in Italy have persisted since the mid-1990s. Despite this, no sanctioned SIF has ever been implemented. The purpose of this paper is to provide information about a 10 year unsanctioned drug user-run SIF experience in Italy called Stanzetta. Design/methodology/approach The aim of the paper is to assess how Stanzetta met its objectives. Analysis was conducted compiling narrative accounts from the staff working in the NSP, which is adjacent to the Stanzetta, and conducting a simple frequency analysis of the available statistic...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - December 28, 2018 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Challenges, relationship and outcomes in low-threshold drug services
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Ahead of Print. Purpose This paper reports on the findings of an action research study that sought to explore the development and provision of community-based low-threshold services within a socially disadvantaged area. In the context of debates, in regard to both the nature and efficacy of low-threshold drugs services and increasingly neo-liberal policy approaches to drug service provision that prioritise outcomes and drug treatment interventions, the purpose of this paper is to report on practitioners ’ understandings of challenges, relationship building and outcomes within community-based low...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - December 28, 2018 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Harm reduction in Italy: the experience of an unsanctioned supervised injection facility run by drug users
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Ahead of Print. Purpose Efforts to establish harm reduction interventions in Italy have persisted since the mid-1990s. Despite this, no sanctioned SIF has ever been implemented. The purpose of this paper is to provide information about a 10 year unsanctioned drug user-run SIF experience in Italy called Stanzetta. Design/methodology/approach The aim of the paper is to assess how Stanzetta met its objectives. Analysis was conducted compiling narrative accounts from the staff working in the NSP, which is adjacent to the Stanzetta, and conducting a simple frequency analysis of the available statistic...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - December 28, 2018 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
Time to look beyond ageing as a factor? Alternative explanations for the continuing rise in drug related deaths in Scotland
Drugs and Alcohol Today, Ahead of Print. Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the reasons and risk factors that explain the threefold increase in drug-related deaths from 267 in 1996 to 934 in 2017 in Scotland. The authors explore the known links between deprivation and problem drug use (PDU) and discuss the impact of drug policy and service provision on PDU and drug-related deaths. Design/methodology/approach Using quantitative data sets from the National Records of Scotland (NRS) for drug-related deaths registered in 2017 and data sets from the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), we produce statis...
Source: Drugs and Alcohol Today - December 17, 2018 Category: Addiction Source Type: research
