Current and Evolving Trends in the Field of Addictions

Current and Evolving Trends in the Field of Addictions

The society is changing, as are the medical issues and the remedies to these medical issues. The field of addiction, which is within the larger field of mental and emotional illnesses, is also experiencing these changes. Studies on current research reveal that there are newly emerging addictions that were not there about five decades ago. Other studies show new ways of offering treatment to people with an addiction. Such information means that the field of addiction is changing, and the experts in this field should consider being up-to-date with the changes while they also adjust to the new approaches. This discussion examines the current and evolving trends in the field of addictions, and through the review of the literature, there is enough evidence to show that new additive challenges and treatments are emerging; thus, experts should be up-to-date with these changes.

Literature Review

The changes in society have led to the emergence of new forms of addiction and new issues in the field of addiction. One of the trends in this field is the emergence of a new form of addiction: digital addiction. Karakose et al. (2023) conducted a study to evaluate the changing trends in addiction. In their research that relied on science mapping analysis and the bibliometric technique, the researchers found out that digital addiction was among the new forms of addiction in society today. The reviewed articles showed that social media addiction is the second most common and most serious addiction in society today. The study also revealed that this form of addiction is closely associated with depression and anxiety. The worst part of this report was that the addictive tendencies in social media were spreading widely among children and adolescents (Hawi et al., 2019). Another issue that was found to be of concern as an emerging trend is research among women. The research done by Fonseca et al. (2021) revealed that there is an outstanding gender inequality when it comes to research on addiction in women. In other words, very few studies are done on women with addiction or the treatment they receive for their addictive tendencies. The studies showed that in this era of gender equality, there was inequality existing in the research on women’s addiction, with more emphasis on male individuals. This was a new trend that affected the way experts in this field should act in response to addiction therapy.

Another new trend noted in this field of addiction was the new approaches to treating mental illnesses. The reviewed studies revealed that many new treatment methods are being developed. Some involve pharmaceutics, and others involve therapies. Ivan Ezquerra-Romano et al. (2018) did a study on the use of ketamine to treat alcohol and drug addiction. This was research that was conducted specifically with an interest in the effectiveness of ketamine in the treatment of alcohol abuse. The researchers found out that even though there were still studies going on to see the effectiveness of this new medical therapy for alcohol abuse, there were promising signs that it could be effective in the future. This was an indicator that new studies are going on the treatment of addictions. Experts in this field should know of these new findings since they can contribute to ensuring that new medicine is an evidence-based treatment approach. Another study in the area of addiction treatment was done by Jones et al. (2019). This research showed that in most cases, the therapists used three different therapy approaches, which included the use of drugs to help patients with opioid addiction. This study showed that it is impossible to rely on only one treatment approach when it comes to addiction to some of the drugs and substances. Columb, Hussain, and O’Gara (2020) on their part found out that there is a need for adjustment to determine the new ways that therapy can be adopted, especially after the pandemic disoriented the one-on-one therapy sessions. These new developments and global events are indicators that the changes that are taking place in the addiction field call for experts in this field to increase their knowledge.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Most of the literature reviewed in this study shows that there are significant changes taking place in the addiction field. Firstly, new addictions are emerging as a result of changes in the society. Social media addiction is one new form of addiction that is expanding due to the emergence and increased spread of internet use. Also, this literature shows that there are new treatments currently underway or already in use for treating people with substance and drug abuse tendencies. One thing that stands out is the fact that this field has failed to place equal emphasis on studies on women as it has emphasized studies on men with addiction. Consistently, emerging changes, like the COVID-19 pandemic’s lockdown, drive the addiction treatment community to look toward innovative methods of providing therapy to clients who are distant. Therefore, it is evident that the field of addiction and treatment is becoming complex as society changes and new challenges emerge.

Given the circumstances as stated above, there are three recommendations for experts working in the field of addiction psychology. The first recommendation is to increase research and studies on treatment for persistent and newly emerging addictions. The emergence of social media and internet addiction is a sign that as long as society changes, new addictions may emerge; therefore, experts should constantly undertake research. Secondly, the experts should be aware of the changes that may affect the traditional therapy approaches. For instance, the pandemic led to lockdown and the emergence of social distancing, which affected one-on-one therapy. As such, new approaches like technology might help solve such challenges. The third recommendation is sensitivity to gender. One study has shown that drug addiction research has left women out. This means that treatment for women is also limited because there is little data about them. Experts in the field of addiction should, therefore, consider doing more studies on female addicts.

References

Columb, D., Hussain, R., & O’Gara, C. (2020). Addiction psychiatry and COVID-19: impact on patients and service provision. Irish journal of psychological medicine, 37(3), 164–168. https://doi.org/10.1017/ipm.2020.47

Fonseca, F., Robles-Martínez, M., Tirado-Muñoz, J., Alías-Ferri, M., Mestre-Pintó, J., Coratu, A.            M. & Torrens, M. (2021). A Gender Perspective of Addictive Disorders. Curr Addict Rep 8, pp. 89–99

Hawi, N. S., Samaha, M., & Griffiths, M. D. (2019). The Digital Addiction Scale for Children: Development and Validation. Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking, 22(12), 771–778. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2019.0132

Ivan Ezquerra-Romano, I., Lawn, W., Krupitsky, E., & Morgan, C. J. A. (2018). Ketamine for the treatment of addiction: Evidence and potential mechanisms. Neuropharmacology, 142, 72–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2018.01.017

Jones, C. M., Byrd, D. J., Clarke, T. J., Campbell, T. B., Ohuoha, C., & McCance-Katz, E. F.       (2019). Characteristics and current clinical practices of opioid treatment programs in the   United States. Drug and alcohol dependence, 205, 107616.     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.107616

Karakose, T., Yıldırım, B., Tülübaş, T., & Kardas, A. (2023). A comprehensive review of emerging trends in the dynamic evolution of digital addiction and depression. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1126815. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1126815

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Current and Evolving Trends in the Field of Addictions

In Week 3, you conducted a literature review using the course competencies as a guide in choosing the articles. In this week, you will take the information gathered in Week 3 and incorporate it into a final paper. The paper is not just a literature review. It is a culmination of what you have learned over the course, and as in Week 3, use the following course competencies as a guide to developing your paper.

Major psychological theories and principles in the field of addictions
Historical link to modern issues and trends in the field of addictions
Current and evolving trends in the field of addictions
Nature of geographic, social, cognitive, and emotional factors in the development, course, and duration of addictions
Differences in patterns of addiction in the context of gender and developmental issues
Illegal and legal substance use issues regarding physical, social, and psychological effects
Impact of treatment and prevention methods on the incidence, course, and duration of addictive behaviors