We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
Gambling is widespread in modern society and new ways of gaming still keep emerging. However, Lithuania still lacks research on gambling; the prevalence of gambling and the extent of addiction has not been revealed yet. In particular, there is a lack of comparative studies allowing a more accurate assessment of national gambling peculiarities, providing a basis for a foreign know-how application in gambling supervision. The article presents a representative Lithuanian population survey (January-February 2017) data which is compared with the data of the United Kingdom‘s regular polls. This survey was carried out by a public opinion and market research „Vilmorus“ Ltd. in cooperation with Mykolas Riomeris University. The Lithuanian study was performed in line with the UK Gambling Commission‘s methodology regularly used for researches on gambling reasons, prevalence and consequences, yet adapting it to the Lithuanian conditions. The United Kingdom surveyed 7756 respondents, Lithuania - 1000 respondents. The study shows that the prevalence of gambling in Lithuania and the United Kingdom is significantly different. These differences are most prominent in participation in various forms of lotteries – participation of Lithuanian respondents is obviously higher. Lithuanian gamblers, compared to the United Kingdom, take less interest in casinos, Category A machines in the casino premises and Category B machine halls. They consist only 2 percent of all gamblers. Meanwhile, in the UK almost a quarter of respondents played at casino table games. A number of UK‘s gamblers at slot machine halls and betting stations significantly exceeds a number of such gamblers in Lithuania either. Gambling reasons can be divided into three larger groups, that can be described as “financial” (striving to improve a financial situation, win money), “emotional” (desire to experience the thrill, feeling of hazard, overcome boredom) and “leisure” (desire to relax, rest, experience an unusual leisure time). Lithuania, same as the United Kingdom, is dominated by “financial” gambling motives. The “leisure” perception of gambling is much more common in the United Kingdom than in Lithuania.
More...
Steadily increasing access to psychoactive drugs and often fascinated positive image of drugs, artificially created by the media and various subcultures requires drastic increase in prevention activities. The first contact with drugs usually falls on puberty and experiment with new experiences psycho physical. Often young people during this period seek to identify and accept their own „self” in society. Unfortunately, this creates a high risk of addiction to psychoactive substances.The publication trying to bring any circumstances and causes of first contact with the drug, the risks it may bring in the future and preventive measures to be taken to avoid or significantly reduce the phenomenon. The rest of the article is devoted to the treatment of addiction and prophylactic methods to prevent and largely can help to reduce the incidence of drug abuse.
More...
The article provides an analysis of security in Latin America in 2016, taking into account the nature of threats that exist in the region. The first part of the paper presents the problems arising from ongoing border disputes between Latin American countries. Then, the issue of Latin American terrorism is discussed in light of events 2016. The third part is dedicated to organized crime in Latin America and the threats it generates. A special focus has been placed on the issue of illegal drug trade. The last part covers the conclusion stemming from the considerations developed in the article, as well as a two-part forecast. The first one is short-term and applies for 2017. The second one is a long-term forecast and goes beyond 2017.
More...
Human rights are universal principles and rules that aim to protect and develop the personality and values of man and human has them just because he is only human. Rights to life, human immunity, torture prohibition, slavery ban, immunity of housing, protection and privacy of private life, religion and conscience, freedom of thought and opinion, equality before the law, prevention of unjust arrests, right to vote and election, education, social security, life standards, health, rest, entertainment and holiday rights are the most natural rights. Basic human rights are universal, individual, untouchable, inalienable and indispensable. Likewise, in Western culture the saving on the individual's body has been left to his own choice. It is considered to be the right of ownership. The individual is the owner of his or her own material and spiritual existence. It is free to live a life as long as it is not contrary to the law. Life-threatening issues such as suicide attempts and substance abuse are generally not criminalized. However, in our own culture, the body is regarded as a trustee. The individual must be protected, protected, cared for, protected, and not be betrayed. In the research, answers were given to the questions of what life's task is and how much it can appropriate its own material and spiritual existence and body. In the research, it has been achieved that the individual should fulfill his / her duties on living, to protect his / her health, to avoid self-harmful attitudes and behaviours, and to demonstrate the necessary care for his own material and spiritual existence. The study is concluded with the discussion, conclusions and recommendations.
More...
After elucidating the issue of political (in)correctness, in the present context generally con-sistent with the Realpolitik of a given state, it shall be indicated how relative this issue may appear to be with reference to drugs (Cocteau's idea of opium as rebellion, differences be-tween narcotics and psychedelics, often confusingly put into the same category). Then, with reference mainly to selected works by A. Huxley, two political functions of drugs shall be identified: the one of authoritarian control (Brave New World), and the one of liberating illumination (Island). The latter is, in fact, part of a utopian reality that inescapably meets a dystopian, or rather real-life end. As a result, the positive, illuminating aspect of drug con-sumption becomes reduced to individual choices, usually seen as politically incorrect: con-sidering not only Cocteau's aforementioned concept, but, even more important in this refer-ence, Huxley's The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell, with the „subversive” idea of individual consciousness change and its global consequences. This idea was definitely con-troversial by itself, as became clearly exemplified by its numerous applications during the Psychedelic (Hippie) Revolution that exaggeratedly elevated Huxley to the position of a spir-itual father.
More...
In scientific literature, two concepts are used – medicalization and biomedicalization. There rises a question which of these concepts and when they should be used when old age is analyzed? Term medicalization is quite familiar and for many decades has been used in sociological and biomedical discourses. Conrad (2007, p. 4) defines medicalization as a “process by which nonmedical problems become defined and treated as medical problems, usually in terms of illness and disorders”. The first research examined medicalization of deviance: alcoholism, substance abuse, mental disability, etc. However, scientists identified that more and more humans conditions which have been considered as normal or natural became medicalized, and old age is one example of such alteration. The medicalization of old age manifests in various ways. First of all, old age itself and ageing process are defined as medical condition which should be treated (Estes and Binney, 1987; Weitz, 2010, Kaufman et al., 2004). Medicalization of old age manifests in attempts to control and to treat natural processes which take place in aging body: hormonal imbalances, flabby skin, boldness, graying hair, erectile dysfunction, etc. (Conrad, 2007; Marshall, 2007; Watkins, 2008). Physicians, pharmacists and ageing people themselves actively try to find cure or be cured from ageing “disease”; a wide spectrum of preparations, supplements, cosmetics and drugs are offered in purpose to do so. Scientists (Clarke et al., 2003; Joyce and Mamo, 2006; Maturo, 2012; Bell and Figert, 2010) noticed changes which have emerged in health care sector firstly in Western countries since the end of last century and argued that medicalization concept and medicalization theoretical framework is not adequate to explain all of these changes. Thus, a new concept was introduced. Adele Clarke and her colleagues (2003) suggested term biomedicalization which supposes to encompass and explain these shifts. Biomedicalization is defined as “increasingly complex, multisited, multidirectional processes of medicalization, both extended and reconstituted through the new social forms of highly technoscientific biomedicine” (Clarke et al., 2003, p. 161). The main role in biomedicalization process is performed by technoscientific innovations, such as biotechnologies, genetic engineering, the newest medical innovations and interventions, molecular biology, etc. Biomedicalization of old age refers to radical and even drastic health care sector specialists’ intervention into ageing process with the purpose to control and manipulate of ageing process: stop, slow or even eliminate it from human life time.
More...
This article articulates and examines the problem of how to represent addicts and addiction in media content. The authors conduct a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of selected daily press in Croatia (Jutarnji list, Večernji list and 24 sata) from 2015 and a sub-analysis of the target period (Anti-addiction Month) serving to compare two different news cycles. The media coverage of the examined themes, the connotation of such media content and the approach to this issue are analysed. This article provides insight into how addiction, as well as drug addicts, is represented in the selected media, and the implications and consequences such representations carry with them, while exploring the questions such as why these types of representations are present, and whose interests are represented in such representations.
More...
The article deals with the problem of socially significant drug threat. Much attention is paid to the results of a study conducted among first- year students of the National Academy of Culture and Arts for their attitude and possible involvement in drug use.
More...
Objective. The aim of this study is to evaluate differences in emotional expressivity according to the motivation to refuse alcohol in a sample of alcohol dependent patients. Methods. The study sample consists of 142 alcohol-dependent patients (96 males and 46 females) undergoing treatment in Lithuania, Kaunas centre for addictive disorders. Emotional expressivity, motivation to refuse alcohol and alcohol dependency are measured by Lithuanian versions of The Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scale (SOCRATES), Five Expressivity Facet Scale and AUDIT test. Results. Highly motivated alcohol-dependent males express more positive and negative emotions; also, they have significantly higher expressive confidence and higher emotional impulse intensity than those alcohol-dependent males with low motivation to refuse alcohol. Highly motivated alcohol-dependent females have higher emotional impulse intensity and they express more positive emotions comparing to low motivated females. Conclusions. Increased motivation to refuse alcohol is significantly related to some positive aspects of emotional expressivity. Highly motivated alcohol-dependent patients (both males and females) show higher emotional impulse intensity and higher expression of positive emotions. So, applied psychosocial interventions make significant changes in emotional expressivity and this perhaps is significant for the development of new perception of alcohol dependency and for making behavioural changes.
More...
Excessive gambling is considered to be a part of the addiction spectrum. Stress-like emotional states are a key feature both of pathological gambling (PG) and of substance addiction. In substance addiction, stress symptomatology has been attributed in part to “anti-reward” allostatic neuroadaptations, while a potential involvement of anti-reward processes in the course of PG has not yet been investigated. Methods: To that end, individuals with PG (n = 22) and mentally healthy subjects (n = 13) were assessed for trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress symptomatology (PTSS) using the Life Events Checklist and the Civilian Mississippi Scale, respectively. Results: In comparison with healthy subjects, individuals with PG had significantly greater PTSS scores including greater physiological arousal sub-scores. The number of traumatic events and their recency were not significantly different between the groups. In the PG group, greater gambling severity was associated with more PTSS, but neither with traumatic events exposure nor with their recency. Conclusions: Our data replicate prior reports on the role of traumatic stress in the course of PG and extend those findings by suggesting that the link may be derived from the anti-reward-type neuroadaptation rather than from the traumatic stress exposure per se.
More...
Problematic practice of physical exercise (PPPE) has been suggested to be a behavioral addiction. Impulsivity represents a core dimension of behavioral addictions. However, little is known about impulsivity facets in PPPE. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of impulsivity facets in PPPE. Methods: A total of 684 students (between 18 and 25 years) took part in this study and filled up a battery of questionnaire, which consisted of following measures – Global Physical Activity Questionnaire, Exercise Dependence Scale – Revised, and the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale. Multiple regression analyses were utilized to investigate the predictive role of each impulsivity facet in PPPE. Results: Age, the total level of physical activity per day, sex (male), negative urgency, and sensation seeking were found to be significant predictors of PPPE. A categorical analysis of PPPE revealed that negative urgency, positive urgency, and sensation seeking were significantly higher in the dependent category of PPPE. Discussion and conclusions: Associations to negative urgency and sensation seeking might indicate that PPPE serves to regulate or alleviate negative affect or aversive emotional states. Thus, PPPE could be conceptualized as a short-term coping strategy dedicated to relieving negative affective states, like other maladaptive behaviors such as binge eating, binge drinking, or compulsive buying.
More...
Although alcohol intake and gambling often co-occur in related venues, there is conflicting evidence regarding the effects of alcohol expectancy and intake on gambling behavior. We therefore conducted an experimental investigation of the effects of alcohol expectancy and intake on slot machine gambling behavior. Methods: Participants were 184 (females = 94) individuals [age range: 18–40 (mean = 21.9) years] randomized to four independent conditions differing in information/expectancy about beverage (told they received either alcohol or placebo) and beverage intake [actually ingesting low (target blood alcohol concentration [BAC] < 0.40 mg/L) vs. moderate (target BAC > 0.40 mg/L; ≈0.80 mg/L) amounts of alcohol]. All participants completed self-report questionnaires assessing demographic variables, subjective intoxication, alcohol effects (stimulant and sedative), and gambling factors (behavior and problems, evaluation, and beliefs). Participants also gambled on a simulated slot machine. Results: A significant main effect of beverage intake on subjective intoxication and alcohol effects was detected as expected. No significant main or interaction effects were detected for number of gambling sessions, bet size and variation, remaining credits at termination, reaction time, and game evaluation. Conclusion: Alcohol expectancy and intake do not affect gambling persistence, dissipation of funds, reaction time, or gambling enjoyment.
More...
The current DSM-5 diagnosis of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013) has led to a number of issues and concerns that we highlighted in our recent paper (Kuss, Griffiths, & Pontes, 2017). Experts in the field responded to our evaluation of these issues resulting in six commentaries. Methods: In this paper, we offer responses to the six commentaries to move the scientific field forward. All of the responses to our original paper highlighted many conceptual, theoretical, and/or methodological problems with the proposed IGD diagnosis as outlined in the DSM-5. We outline some ways forward in overcoming issues and concerns in the gaming studies field. Results: We argue that rather than stigmatizing gaming per se, the role of scientists and practitioners is to establish a clear-cut distinction between someone who may use games excessively but non-problematically and someone who is experiencing significant impairment in their daily lives as a consequence of their excessive gaming. This responsibility needs to be shared by popular media who are often quick to build a moral panic around gaming behaviors, often based on cherry-picking specific case studies and pieces of research which support their headlines. Conclusion: Researchers, practitioners, gaming developers, and the media need to work together and collaboratively to build a realistic and comprehensive understanding of gaming as a normal, enjoyable, and often beneficial sociocultural practice, which for a small minority of excessive users may be associated with the experience of addiction-related symptoms that may require professional support.
More...
The proposed inclusion of Internet gaming disorder (IGD) into the upcoming ICD-11 has caused mixed reactions. Having a sound diagnostic framework for defining this new phenomenon has been applauded but concerns have risen regarding overpathologizing a mere pastime activity. The review by Aarseth et al. (2016) provides a fine but one-sided impression on IGD. What has been totally left out in the argumentation is the clinical perspective. Although the concerns depicted must not be ignored, the conclusion provided by the authors is reflecting quite subjective speculations while objectivity would rather be needful.
More...
The recent paper by Aarseth et al. (2016) questioned whether problematic gaming should be considered a new disorder particularly because “Gaming Disorder” (GD) has been identified as a disorder to be included in the next (11th) revision of the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). Methods: This study uses contemporary literature to argue why GD should be included in the ICD-11. Results: Aarseth and colleagues acknowledge that there is much literature (including papers by some of the authors themselves) that some individuals experience serious problems with video gaming. How can such an activity be seriously problematic yet not disordered? Similar to other addictions, gaming addiction is relatively rare and is in essence a syndrome (i.e., a condition or disorder characterized by a set of associated symptoms that tend to occur under specific circumstances). Consequently, not everyone will exhibit exactly the same set of symptoms and consequences, and this partly explains why those working in the problematic gaming field often disagree on symptomatology. Conclusions: Research into gaming is not about pathologizing healthy entertainment, but about pathologizing excessive and problematic behaviors that cause significant psychological distress and impairment in an individual’s life. These are two related, but (ultimately) very distinct phenomena. While being aware that gaming is a pastime activity which is enjoyed non-problematically by many millions of individuals worldwide, it is concluded that problematic gaming exists and that it is an example of disordered gaming.
More...
Online gaming has greatly increased in popularity in recent years, and with this has come a multiplicity of problems due to excessive involvement in gaming. Gaming disorder, both online and offline, has been defined for the first time in the draft of 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). National surveys have shown prevalence rates of gaming disorder/addiction of 10%–15% among young people in several Asian countries and of 1%–10% in their counterparts in some Western countries. Several diseases related to excessive gaming are now recognized, and clinics are being established to respond to individual, family, and community concerns, but many cases remain hidden. Gaming disorder shares many features with addictions due to psychoactive substances and with gambling disorder, and functional neuroimaging shows that similar areas of the brain are activated. Governments and health agencies worldwide are seeking for the effects of online gaming to be addressed, and for preventive approaches to be developed. Central to this effort is a need to delineate the nature of the problem, which is the purpose of the definitions in the draft of ICD-11.
More...
In their debate contribution, Aarseth et al. (2016) strongly argue against the proposal of WHO ICD-11 (International Classification of Diseases, 11th revision) to include Gaming Disorder as a new diagnostic category emphasizing the fact that no consensus exists on the definition and the risk that gaming will be demonized and gamers stigmatized resulting in a tsunami of false positive referrals to treatment. In this commentary, it is argued that gaming is indeed just another relatively innocent recreational activity with only a small minority losing control resulting in gaming-related problems. It is also argued that – despite a lack of full consensus on the diagnostic criteria – there are clear indications that Gaming Disorder is a relevant clinical entity worldwide and that official recognition as a mental disorder is urgently needed to facilitate the further development, accessibility, and reimbursement of the treatment.
More...
Internet addiction (IA) was recently defined as a disorder tagging both the impulse control and the reward systems. Specifically, inhibitory deficits and reward bias were considered highly relevant in IA. This research aims to examine the electrophysiological correlates and autonomic activity [skin conductance response (SCR) and heart rate] in two groups of young subjects (N = 25), with high or low IA profile [tested by the Internet Addiction Test (IAT)], with specific reference to gambling behavior. Methods: Oscillatory brain activity (delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma) and autonomic and behavioral measures [response times (RTs) and error rates (ERs)] were acquired during the performance of a Go/NoGo task in response to high-rewarding (online gambling videos and video games) or neutral stimuli. Results: A better performance (reduced ERs and reduced RTs) was revealed for high IAT in the case of NoGo trials representing rewarding cues (inhibitory control condition), probably due to a “gain effect” induced by the rewarding condition. In addition, we also observed for NoGo trials related to gambling and video games stimuli that (a) increased low-frequency band (delta and theta) and SCR and (b) a specific lateralization effect (more left-side activity) delta and theta in high IAT. Discussion: Both inhibitory control deficits and reward bias effect were considered to explain IA.
More...