Background Despite evidence that treatment reduces addiction-related harms, including crime and overdose, only a minority of addiction-affected individuals receive it. Linking individuals who committed an addiction-related crime to addiction treatment could improve outcomes. Methods The aim of this city-wide, pre-arrest diversion program, Madison Addiction Recovery Initiative (MARI) is to reduce crime and improve health (i.e., reduce the overdose deaths) among adults who committed a minor, non-violent, drug use-related offense by offering them a referral to treatment in lieu of arrest and prosecution of criminal charges. This manuscript outlines the protocol and methods for the MARI program development and implementation. MARI requires its participants to engage in the recommended treatment, without reoffending, during the six-month program, after which the initial criminal charges are “voided” by the law enforcement agency. The project, implemented in a mid-size U.S. city, has involved numerous partners, including law enforcement, criminal justice, public health, and academia. It includes training of the police officer workforce and collaboration with clinical partners for treatment need assessment, treatment placement, and peer support. Program evaluation includes formative, process, outcome (participant-level) and exploratory impact (community-level) assessments. For outcome evaluation, we will compare crime (primary outcome), overdose-related offenses, and incarceration-related data 12 months before and 12 months after the index crime between participants who completed (Group 1), started but not completed (Group 2), and were offered but did not start (Group 3) the program, and adults who would have been eligible should MARI existed (Historical Comparison, Group 4). Clinical characteristics will be compared at baseline between Groups 1–2, and pre-post the program within Group 1. Participant baseline data will be assessed as potential covariates. Surveys of police officers and program completers, and community-level indicators of crime and overdose pre- versus post-program will provide additional data on the program impact. Discussion By offering addiction treatment in lieu of arrest and prosecution of criminal charges, this pre-arrest diversion program has the potential to disrupt the cycle of crime, reduce the likelihood of future offenses, and promote public health and safety.

Connecting individuals to substance use disorder and/or mental health treatment as an alternative to arrest.

As opioid addiction has risen in recent years, racial disparities in drug arrests may be changing in their size and sources. Neighborhood conditions, like econo...

Journal of Experimental Criminology - Our paper presents the results of a meta-analytical review of street level drug law enforcement. We conducted a series of meta-analyses to compare and contrast...

Rising rates of opioid use disorder, overdoses, and opioid-related criminal offenses have prompted U.S. law enforcement agencies to adopt alternatives to arrest...

Despite its relevance for human sexuality, literature on potential effects of ejaculation frequency and masturbation on general and mental health outcomes is sparse. Reasons for this knowledge gap include a general lack of interest, but also methodological challenges and still existing superstition. …

This paper explores a subjective experience-and identification-that a cohort of Indian women identifies as "home." This experience of "home" provides an attachment to a collective melancholia that keeps in place a prohibited female sexual subjectivity. The paper provides a brief historical overview …

Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands: Abstinence from Pornography, Masturbation, and Orgasm on the Internet

Men's Reasons to Abstain from Masturbation May Not Reflect the Conviction of "reboot" Websites

The findings underscore the significance of the negative consequences of POPU and underline the importance of working on this and its effects on psychological stress and emotion dysregulation to limit insomnia.

Our results demonstrate the usefulness of network analytics to hypersexuality in a non-clinical sample and we encourage future clinical and longitudinal explorations of hypersexuality using this novel approach. Werner M, Štulhofer A, Waldorp L, et al. A Network Approach to Hypersexuality: Insights a …

Non-substance addictive behaviors may involve repetitive rewarding behaviors including gambling, gaming, sexual activities, internet-use, and buying-s…

The present study aims to provide electrophysiological evidence for deficient inhibitory control in problematic mobile phone use and to investigate wh…

Human neuroimaging research suggests the existence of one core network for the subjective valuation of rewards, including the striatum and orbitofront…

Addictive behaviors are gaining recognition in the clinical community, leading to more attention for the effects of problematic porn use. As many addi…

RESUMO A associação entre mindfulness (MF) e Realidade Virtual (RV) é recente. O MF vem sendo...

Recent years have seen a massive increase in research on mindfulness as both a therapeutic practice as well as a protective health factor. While many associations have been made between mindfulness and clinical outcomes, understanding of the underlying mechanistic processes is still in its infancy. In this review, associations between mindfulness and other established frameworks in cognitive control are explored—in particular the dual modes of control framework in cognitive control theory. Studies in mindfulness providing evidence towards a dual-mode mindfulness model are reviewed and compared with the proactive and reactive modes of cognitive control to identify common underlying principles. Studies involving cognitive testing, advanced neuroimaging, and neurotransmitter levels and their associations with proactive and reactive control are reviewed in the context of the dual modes of mindfulness. While evidence supporting relationships between proactive and reactive modes of mindfulness and cognitive control are preliminary, existing literature on mindfulness already supports the notion of two components of mindfulness and is in line with the hypothesis that cognitive control and mindfulness are closely related. Since preliminary evidence suggests that proactive forms of mindfulness are more associated with improvement in clinical outcomes, mindfulness programs could be modified to target proactive mindfulness practices to maximize outcomes. The implications of proactive and reactive mindfulness on therapy, limitations of the framework, and necessity of studies providing direct evidence are further discussed.

Mindfulness - Technology is increasingly being used to help practise mindfulness. Immersive virtual reality-enhanced mindfulness may prove especially effective for a wide range of clinical...

(1) Background: Virtual reality (VR) has been investigated in a variety of psychiatric disorders, including addictive disorders (ADs); (2) Objective: This systematic review evaluates the current evidence of immersive VR (using head-mounted displays) in the clinical assessment and treatment of ADs; (3) Method: PubMed and PsycINFO were queried for publications up to November 2020; (4) Results: We screened 4519 titles, 114 abstracts and 85 full-texts, and analyzed 36 articles regarding the clinical assessment (i.e., diagnostic and prognostic value; n = 19) and treatment (i.e., interventions; n = 17) of ADs. Though most VR assessment studies (n = 15/19) showed associations between VR-induced cue-reactivity and clinical parameters, only two studies specified diagnostic value. VR treatment studies based on exposure therapy showed no or negative effects. However, other VR interventions like embodied and aversive learning paradigms demonstrated positive findings. The overall study quality was rather poor; (5) Conclusion: Though VR in ADs provides ecologically valid environments to induce cue-reactivity and provide new treatment paradigms, the added clinical value in assessment and therapy remains to be elucidated before VR can be applied in clinical care. Therefore, future work should investigate VR efficacy in randomized clinical trials using well-defined clinical endpoints.

(2021). Targeting automatic processes to reduce unhealthy behaviours: a process framework. Health Psychology Review. Ahead of Print.

(2021). Creating Virtual Reality Based Interventions for Older Adults Impacted by Substance Misuse: Safety and Design Considerations. Journal of Technology in Human Services: Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 275-294.

(2003). Using Masturbation in Sex Therapy. Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality: Vol. 14, No. 2-3, pp. 123-141.

The role of masturbation in the treatment of orgasmic dysfunction