Addiction and related disorders
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Talking With Young People About Their Online Lives: Evidence and Practical Strategies for Professionals
How do we support young people to safely navigate the online world? Discover collaborative insights from academic experts, mental health professionals and young people, at this FREE training session.
- Event type
- FREE live stream
- Location
- Online
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Neuroanatomical Variability and Early Substance Use Initiation: Insights from the ABCD Study
Adolescence is a period of rapid brain development, making it a sensitive window for experiences that may shape long-term outcomes. A new study from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) project examined whether neuroanatomical variability is linked to early initiation of alcohol, nicotine, or cannabis. Drawing on baseline brain images taken before substance use began, the researchers found regionally specific differences in cortical thickness and surface area among early initiators. The findings highlight the complexity of adolescent neurodevelopment and point to the value of large-scale, longitudinal studies in clarifying how brain structure and behaviour unfold together.
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Substance use and the adolescent brain
Depending on the substance, they impact health in various ways, both in the short and long term, with some of the most profound effects occurring during adolescence.
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Professor Bernadka Dubicka – Editor in Chief
Editor in Chief, Bernadka qualified in medicine and psychology at the University of London, completing child psychiatry training and her thesis in adolescent depression at the University of Manchester. She is the chief investigator of the National Institute of Health Research multi-site BAY trial of web-based Behavioural Activation in young people with depression (2022-26).
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Do brain function abnormalities lead to substance use, or vice versa?
New research has, for the first time, investigated the direction of links between brain function and substance use throughout adolescence. Jungmeen Kim-Spoon and colleagues studied 167 adolescents who were assessed annually for four years from 13-14 years old.
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Does an internet gaming disorder prospectively predict psychiatric symptoms?
A minority of children and adolescents develop addiction-like engagement in gaming that is associated with impaired function.1 Preliminary data suggest that affected children with these symptoms, indicating an Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD), might present with more symptoms of common psychiatric disorders than those without an IGD.
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Presenting as ‘in control’ may mask risk for alcohol misuse in adolescents with symptoms of BPD
An association between borderline personality disorder (BPD) and alcohol and/or drug misuse is widely acknowledged in adults. However, not much data exists to explain the factors underlying such an association in adolescents.
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Global development and injecting drug use in a new generation of adolescents
People who inject drugs tend to begin doing so in adolescence, and countries that have larger numbers of adolescents who inject drugs may be at risk of emerging epidemics of blood borne viruses unless they take urgent action.
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Blog of ACAMH event: “Responding to a Digital Generation”
Professionals gave insights into the challenges faced by multidisciplinary staff teams and their services in understanding where necessary to help young people and their families manage the impact of mobile and online technologies on young people’s quality of life.
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Sleep and Mental Health
Dr Sally Hobson, Specialty Community Paediatrician, Evelina Children’s Secondary Community Sleep Clinic on the relationship between sleep and mental health.
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