Talk therapy for opioid crisis

Recent study found people who received psychotherapy, such as simplified pain education and cognitive behavioral therapy, had a greater reduction in pain intensity than those who received usual care such as opioids and other pain medications. Opioids are commonly prescribed for chronic pain.

The new study, conducted by researchers from the University of Alabama, suggests talk therapy could provide a new approach to pain management. 'We need more than just medication and surgery for chronic pain because they do not eradicate the problem or increase physical function,' Dr Beverly Thorn, professor of clinical health psychology.

For the study, Dr Thorn and her colleagues collected data from 290 patients. They either received cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), simplified pain education (EDU) or usual care. CBT and EDU therapies were delivered in 10 weekly 90-minute group sessions, with all information and materials modified to be accessible to patients reading at or even below the fifth grade level.

Researchers found that CBT and EDU interventions significantly improved pain and physical function between pre- and post-treatment. Patients enrolled in the talk therapies decreased their pain ratings by 1.5 points, which met the threshold of being a 'clinically meaningful effect.'
These talk therapies were so effective in reducing pain because physical issues are also psychological. Pain involves emotions and thoughts, and all of these are processed by the brain.
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Social and emotional behaviours improve learning

Students with well-developed and adaptive social and emotional behaviours are most likely to excel in school, according to UNSW researchers in educational psychology. The two-part study of 153,437 NSW kindergarten students shows that adaptive social and emotional behaviours in kindergarten correspond with better results in school years later.

The UNSW researchers, in partnership with the University of Sydney, assessed children on their cooperative, socially responsible, helpful, anxious, and aggressive-disruptive behaviours in kindergarten. These ratings were then used to identify social and emotional behavioural profiles to understand how students tend to fare on the five behaviours.

Children in profiles that were higher in cooperative, socially responsible, and helpful behaviours in kindergarten were more likely to achieve better results in grades 3 and 5. Children in profiles with higher levels of aggressive-disruptive behaviours-such as physical violence, excluding other children, or temper tantrums-tended to receive lower results.

Children who were in profiles higher in anxious behaviours had less obvious outcomes, but often achieved slightly lower school results, possibly because they tended to also exhibit lower helpful and cooperative behaviours. This may have been due to anxiety making socialisation with other students more difficult.

Children's social and emotional behaviours in the early years were powerful predictors of later outcomes, making it essential to teach social and emotional skills and behaviours from an early age.
Five major social and emotional skills that were important precursors to adaptive social and emotional behaviours: self-awareness, which refers to a person's ability to be aware of and understand their emotions, values, strengths, and weaknesses (such as being able to identify feelings of frustration or anger when they occur)

Self-management, which refers to the ability to control or adjust emotions and behaviour as needed in different situations. Social awareness, which refers the ability to take other people's perspective and feel empathy (such as being able to consider how a situation may be perceived by others) relationship skills, which entail the capacity to listen effectively, communicate clearly, cooperate with others, and offer help as needed (such as being able to work well in a group) responsible decision-making, which refers to the capacity to make choices in diverse settings that are respectful and constructive (such as understanding that actions appropriate at home may be different from those appropriate at school).

Social and emotional skills helped children and adolescents form and maintain positive relationships at school and beyond, behave in ways that allowed them to get on well with others, and perform well academically. These skills are fundamental to the way we interact and our capacity to respond to  what life throws our way.
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Use of marijuana is associated with psychosis

 Psychosis is a severe mental disorder that affects thought and emotions which leads to impaired contact with external reality.

Ingredients in marijuana have opposite effects on human brain, tetrahydrocannabinol THC, increases the brain processes that can lead to symptoms of psychosis.

Marijuana users may experience psychosis because THC interferes with the brain's ability to distinguish between stimuli that are important, and those that are not.

Psychotic symptoms have been linked to abnormal salience attribution, meaning that the brain has difficulty telling the difference between stimuli that are important and those that are not.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans was used to observe participants brains after they took pills containing THC. The images showed changes in the areas of the brain that linked to symptoms of psychosis.

Taking THC increased the activity in the prefrontal cortex, but lower activity in the striatum because THC alters the brain's levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine.
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