Paying people to change their behaviour can work, at least in the short term – so says a review of the use of financial incentives in health, published today in the online version of the British Medical Journal.
Personal financial incentives are increasingly being used to motivate patients and general populations to change their behaviour, most often as part of schemes aimed at reducing rates of obesity, smoking, and other addictive behaviours. Opinion on their use varies, with incentives being described both as “key to reducing smoking, alcohol and obesity rates” and as “a form of bribery” and “rewarding people for unhealthy behaviour.” So do financial incentives work? Theresa Marteau, professor of health psychology at Kings College, London, lead author of the review suggests there are many unanswered questions about this approach link to read the report
A precise, new nanotechnology treatment for drug addiction may be on the horizon as the result of research conducted at the University at Buffalo. Scientists in UB’s Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics and UB’s Department of Medicine have developed a stable nanoparticle that delivers short RNA molecules in the brain to “silence” or turn off a gene that plays a critical role in many kinds of drug addiction.
The UB team’s in vitro findings were published online the week of March 23 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [continue reading…]
Author and journalist David Sheff discusses his bestselling book Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction, the compelling, heartbreaking, and true story of his drug addictions, getting sober, violent relapses and the road to recovery.
His son Nic Sheff discusses his memoir,Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetaminesthe compelling, heartbreaking, and true story of his drug addictions, getting sober, violent relapses and the road to recovery.
A new study from researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University sheds light on why smokers’ intentions to quit “cold turkey” often fizzle out within days or even hours.If a smoker isn’t yearning for a cigarette when he makes the decision to kick the habit-and most aren’t-he isn’t able to foresee how he will feel when he’s in need of a nicotine buzz.
Published in the September issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, the study, “Exploring the Cold-to-Hot Empathy Gap in Smokers,” bolsters the theory that smokers not in a state of craving a cigarette will underestimate and underpredict the intensity of their future urge to smoke. [continue reading…]
, the compelling, heartbreaking, and true story of his drug addictions, getting sober, violent relapses and the road to recovery.
the compelling, heartbreaking, and true story of his drug addictions, getting sober, violent relapses and the road to recovery. 
