Factors associated with problematic substance use before and during the COVID-19 pandemic among a drug addiction recovery cohort: A prospective study in the Netherlands, Belgium, and UK

Martinelli, Thomas F.; Nagelhout, Gera E.; Best, David; Vanderplasschen, Wouter; Mheen, Dike van de

doi:10.1016/j.josat.2023.209025

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Any potential doubts about the impact of COVID-19 on mental health have been largely put to rest by the most recent papers on the topic [90][91][92][93][94]. Loneliness, physical exhaustion, sleep disturbances, and anhedonia linked to compulsive or addictive behaviors such as binge-eating [95,96], substance abuse [97], and digital reward craving [98] were identified asbeing linked to suicidal ideation [95,99,100]-in particular, in younger individuals-during and after the pandemic. These reflect some of the most negative effects of pandemic-related adversity on mental health worldwide.…”

Section: Covid-19 Pandemic and Mental Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Reward to <em>Anhedonia : </em>Dopamine Function in The Global Mental Health Context

Dresp-Langley¹

2023

Preprint

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When “hijacked” by compulsive behaviors that affect the reward and stress centers of the brain, functional changes in dopamine circuitry occur as the consequence of pathological brain adaptation. As a brain explanans for mental health, with a central functional role in behavioral regulation from healthy reward seeking to pathological adaptation to stress in response to adversity, we may use dopamine regulation in interaction with other brain mechanisms, as discussed herein, to gather a deeper insight into environmentally triggered mental health changes to understand, for example, specific behavioral changes observed during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Pandemic-related adversities, the stresses they engendered, and the long lockdown periods where people had to rely on digital tools to get feed-back rewards via the internet can be seen as the major triggers of changes in motivation and reward seeking behavior worldwide. The pathological adaptation of dopamine-mediated reward circuitry in the brain offers a highly plausible explanation why, when pushed by fate and circumstance into a physiological brain state of anti-reward, human behavior and mental health changes almost inevitably depending on individual vulnerability to stress. A unified conceptual account that places dopamine function at the centre of the current global mental health context is proposed.

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Section: Covid-19 Pandemic and Mental Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Reward to <em>Anhedonia : </em>Dopamine Function in The Global Mental Health Context

Dresp-Langley¹

2023

Preprint

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“…Any potential doubts about the impact of COVID-19 on mental health have been largely put to rest by the most recent papers on the topic [ 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 ]. Loneliness, physical exhaustion, sleep disturbances, and anhedonia linked to compulsive or addictive behaviors such as binge-eating [ 95 , 96 ], substance abuse [ 97 ], and digital reward craving [ 98 ] were identified asbeing linked to suicidal ideation [ 95 , 99 , 100 ]—in particular, in younger individuals—during and after the pandemic. These reflect some of the most negative effects of pandemic-related adversity on mental health worldwide.…”

Section: Covid-19 Pandemic and Mental Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Reward to Anhedonia-Dopamine Function in the Global Mental Health Context

Dresp-Langley

2023

Biomedicines

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When “hijacked” by compulsive behaviors that affect the reward and stress centers of the brain, functional changes in the dopamine circuitry occur as the consequence of pathological brain adaptation. As a brain correlate of mental health, dopamine has a central functional role in behavioral regulation from healthy reward-seeking to pathological adaptation to stress in response to adversity. This narrative review offers a spotlight view of the transition from healthy reward function, under the control of dopamine, to the progressive deregulation of this function in interactions with other brain centers and circuits, producing what may be called an anti-reward brain state. How such deregulation is linked to specific health-relevant behaviors is then explained and linked to pandemic-related adversities and the stresses they engendered. The long lockdown periods where people in social isolation had to rely on drink, food, and digital rewards via the internet may be seen as the major triggers of changes in motivation and reward-seeking behavior worldwide. The pathological adaptation of dopamine-mediated reward circuitry in the brain is discussed. It is argued that, when pushed by fate and circumstance into a physiological brain state of anti-reward, human behavior changes and mental health is affected, depending on individual vulnerabilities. A unified conceptual account that places dopamine function at the centre of the current global mental health context is proposed.

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The Ambiguous Nature of Contextual Dynamics During Drug Addiction Recovery: A Qualitative Study of Personal Narratives

Bellaert

Ruysscher

Martinelli

et al. 2023

Journal of Drug Issues

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The concept of recovery has emerged as a prominent paradigm to understand processes of change in individuals with substance use problems. To date, most studies have focused on personal recovery as the key driving force of recovery journeys, generally individualizing the often-disabling social realities that persons in recovery face. To counterbalance this bias, this paper focuses on the contextual dynamics at stake during recovery processes, based on the lived experiences of 30 persons in drug addiction recovery in Flanders (Belgium). A Lifeline Interview Method was applied to elicit recovery narratives, which were thematically analysed. We found that interpersonal relationships, enabling and disabling places, and socio-economic factors facilitate or impede recovery in meaningful ways. The findings also show how these diverse contextual dimensions are interrelated and ambiguous. Researchers, policymakers, and treatment providers should acknowledge the relational nature of recovery and the invalidating impact of stigma across the three identified contextual levels.

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Factors associated with problematic substance use before and during the COVID-19 pandemic among a drug addiction recovery cohort: A prospective study in the Netherlands, Belgium, and UK

Cited by 4 publications

References 54 publications

From Reward to <em>Anhedonia : </em>Dopamine Function in The Global Mental Health Context

From Reward to <em>Anhedonia : </em>Dopamine Function in The Global Mental Health Context

From Reward to Anhedonia-Dopamine Function in the Global Mental Health Context

The Ambiguous Nature of Contextual Dynamics During Drug Addiction Recovery: A Qualitative Study of Personal Narratives

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