The Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS)

ASHES 4(6) - Using an Integrative Model: Will Smoking Calm Your Nerves, Or Not? Part II

Research demonstrates that high levels of cigarette smoking are associated with an increased risk of panic attack, panic disorder, and agoraphobia (i.e., panic spectrum psychopathology, Breslau & Klein, 1999; Breslau, Novak, & Kessler, 2004; McLeish, Zvolensky, & Bucossi, 2007). Researchers suggest anxiety sensitivity (AS), “the fear of arousal-related physical and psychological sensations” (McLeish, Zvolensky, Yartz, & Leyro, 2008), encourages the development of panic-spectrum psychopathology and other anxiety disorders (Reiss & McNally, 1985). ASHES Vol. 4(3) illustrated Zvolensky and Bernstein’s (2005) integrative model relating smoking and panic disorder. This week’s ASHES reviews a study that examined the effects of the Physical... Read more →

ASHES 4(5) - An Integrative Model: Smoking Status, Panic Disorder, and the Role of Anxiety Sensitivity, Part I

Among patients diagnosed with panic disorder, between 19% to 56% have been estimated to be current smokers (Zvolensky, Feldner, Leen-Feldner, & McLeish, 2005). There tend to be fewer current smokers among people with other anxiety disorders, such as social phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (Lasser et al., 2000). Researchers have found that predispositions to panic, such as anxiety sensitivity (i.e., fear of anxiety), might moderate the association between smoking and panic disorder. This week’s ASHES describes an integrative model, created by Zvolensky and Bernstein (2005), that depicts the relationship between panic disorder and smoking. The next ASHES issue will review research... Read more →

The DRAM, Vol 4(4) - Let's Play House. I'll Bring the Wine and You Bring the Beer

Environmental factors influence attitudes and opinions. Together, these influences play a key role in one’s perception of substances of abuse (e.g., alcohol). Research examining the “nurture” of nature vs. nurture is rarely conducted using preschool-aged children. Dalton et al.(2005) studied preschool age children using a role play and observation style study. This week’s BASIS explores how exposure to parental social situations affects preschoolers’ ideas about alcohol. In this study, Dalton et al. (2005) gave children the following props: a Barbie store stocked with 133 miniature items representing 73 different products, a kitchen, a living room, a car, and 4 adult... Read more →

The WAGER Vol. 13(4) - Gambling Problems: All or Nothing?

The American Psychiatric Association diagnostic guidelines conceptualize pathological gambling (PG) as either present (five or more signs or symptoms) or absent (four or fewer signs or symptoms). This diagnostic scheme for PG weights all signs and symptoms equally. Many researchers and clinicians have suggested that a more continuous conceptualization, in which the diagnostic guidelines consider the severity of specific signs and symptoms, would be more appropriate for the disorder than this dichotomous unweighted approach. In this edition of the WAGER, we review a study by Strong & Kahler (2007) which investigated the psychometric properties of the 10 DSM-IV criteria, and... Read more →