Issue 4/2022

Investigation of the relationships between addictive behaviour, prevention, and treatment

The treatment of the addicted patients is a comprehensive process and hence, it involves several medical as well as socioeconomic dimensions. The goal of the addiction treatment is a restoration of health, better self-knowledge, self-evaluation, and self-awareness. A cured patient should be able to manage the problems and conflicts she or he will encounter after treatment more efficiently. It is clear from clinical practice that despite all the efforts, the treatment is not always successful. There is still a segment of patients whose problem has not been solved after completion of the treatment. Nevertheless, its success is also the decreased rate of the health and other problems achieved after completion of the treatment compared to the state before the treatment. Drug addiction and the related health and social problems can be treated effectively, but the availability of healthcare is important. It is a solution of the complex problems that are influenced by many factors. It is important to know that all the obstacles preventing a person from a direct access to the treatment she or he needs. An important role is also played by personnel in the healthcare facilities or in the other specialised departments and clinics. The prevention programmes play an important role in the entire system of fighting with the addictions, but their success is also influenced by information from the treatment processes as well as static and dynamic data on the development of the addictions, the determinants of the emergence and development of the addictions, and so forth. A high-quality database and the institutional collaboration in the health and social system will form a elementary platform in the creation process of the effective prevention programmes and treatment. The fourth issue of the Addictology journal was created with these intentions as well, which offers several interesting articles. The first contribution brings interesting information from the field of prevention, which the authors examine the effectiveness of the anti-smoking messages to motivate smoking cessation. Although many researches have been carried out in this area, this issue is relevant constantly, influenced by the demographic aspects, the socio-economic changes in the society, the globalisation processes and many other factors. The permanent implementation of research in the field of prevention and the investigation of the effectiveness of the preventive regulations in time and space will be necessary for improving the health literacy of the population as well as for the search for the optimal tools to eliminate the addictive behaviour. Macroeconomists offer an interesting view on solving the problem of addiction and its elimination. They see the possibilities in reduction of the alcohol consumption and tobacco smoking through excise taxes on the legal drugs. The effectiveness of this tool is still debatable and it may have the different effects in the various countries. The authors of the second paper examine excise taxes on legal drugs and they compare their consumption in the European countries as well as within the European Union. They confirm that the amount of excise taxes affects the consumption of legal drugs in many countries. The third contribution is oriented to the field of the addictive behaviour. The authors investigate whether there is a relationship between the alteration of the preferences and the behaviour of the respondents in a relation to prohibited AAS in the pre- and post-covid period and the country, which the respondents come from. The results of this study also provide many valuable topics for the future research and for the construction of the effective prevention programmes. The interesting research results are also presented by the authors of the successive paper. The contribution is focused on the investigation of the Bion groups of the assumptions in the addiction treatment regime. The authors discuss the clinical implications in the terms of the applicability of the Bion model and its possible benefits for patients in the addiction treatment regimes. At the same time, they open up a further research space in this field. Abuse of the prescribed psychoactive drugs is also a persistent social problem. This issue is actively addressed by the authors of the fifth contribution represented by a protocol study, whose aim was to describe the selected psychological symptoms and the quality of life of the psychoactive drug users in the addiction treatment. The authors draw an attention to the serious problems associated with the long-term use of the prescription psychoactive drugs and to create a space for complementary studies in this field.

An interesting topic is also presented in the form of a protocol study by the authors of the last paper focused on the investigation of the media image and the influence of hidden advertising presented through social media. The authors bring valuable knowledge in the field of identifying new risk factors, for the prevention programmes, as well as for the decision-making processes in the field of health policy. All the presented studies bring interesting knowledge not only for practitioners, scientific and research workers, students, but also for experts in the field of health policy and economics. The constant sharing of research and clinical knowledge in the field of prevention, diagnosis, and the addiction treatment will also create a space for a strong appeal for a systematic solution of this issue, the creation of high-quality databases, and the construction of the effective prevention programmes.

Košice, 30 December 2022

Professor Beáta Gavurová, PhD, MBA

Executive Editor of Addictology

beata [dot] gavurova [at] lf1 [dot] cuni [dot] cz