AA, Bill Wilson, Carl Jung and LSD.

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an established resource for people suffering from alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, Bill Wilson, the co-founder of AA, in his second letter to Jung referred to its low success rate. One evidence-based alternative, dating back to the 1950s, is the clinical use of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) for treating AUD. Bill Wilson was a strong advocate of using LSD as a preparation for alcoholics who had difficulty grasping the spiritual aspect of the 12-step programme. Bill Wilson wrote a "secret" four-page letter to Carl Jung detailing his own use of LSD and the success two psychiatrists in Canada had in treating alcoholics and asked for his advice on using LSD to help alcoholics. Aniela Jaffé, a Jungian analyst and co-worker of Jung, replied to Wilson on May 29, 1961, "… as soon as Dr. Jung feels better and has enough strength to begin again his mail, I will show it to him." Jung died a week later. This article quotes Jung's previous hostile opinions on psychedelics and asks: Just as Jung overcame his negative views on groups when giving "complete instructions" on extending the 12-step programme of AA to "general neurotics", might he similarly have changed his mind when he saw the documented success of using LSD with recalcitrant alcoholics?

Alcooliques Anonymes (A.A.) est une ressource reconnue pour les personnes souffrant du Trouble de l'Usage de l'Alcool (TUA). Bill Wilson, co­fondateur des AA, dans sa deuxième lettre à Jung, a fait référence à son faible taux de réussite. Une alternative fondée sur des preuves, et qui remonte aux années 1950, est l'utilisation médicale de l'acide lysergique diéthylamide (LSD) pour le traitement du TUA. Bill Wilson a fortement préconisé l'utilisation du LSD pour la préparation des alcooliques qui avaient des difficultés à saisir l'aspect spirituel du programme en douze étapes. Bill Wilson écrivit à Carl Jung une lettre de quatre pages, « secrète ¼, exposant en détails sa propre utilisation du LSD et le succès de deux psychiatres canadiens dans le traitement de personnes alcooliques avec le LSD. Il demandait conseil à Jung sur l'utilisation du LSD pour aider les alcooliques. Aniela Jaffé, une analyste jungienne et collaboratrice de Jung répondit à Wilson le 29 mai 1961 : « … dès que le Dr Jung se sentira mieux et aura suffisamment de force pour recommencer à s'occuper de son courrier, je lui montrerai. ¼ Jung est mort une semaine plus tard. Cet article cite les opinions antérieures négatives de Jung concernant les drogues psychédéliques et pose la question suivante: tout comme Jung avait dépassé ses perspectives négatives sur les groupes en donnant des « instructions complète ¼ sur l'extension du programme en douze étapes pour les « névrosés de base ¼, aurait­il de la même manière changé d'avis s'il avait vu les résultats probants de l'utilisation du LSD avec les alcooliques récalcitrants?

Alcohólicos Anónimos (A.A.) es un recurso establecido para las personas que padecen Trastorno por Consumo de Alcohol (AUD). Sin embargo, Bill Wilson, cofundador de AA, en su segunda carta a Jung se refirió a su baja tasa de éxito. Una alternativa basada en la evidencia, que se remonta a la década de 1950, es el uso clínico de la dietilamida del ácido lisérgico (LSD) para tratar el AUD. Bill Wilson era un firme defensor del uso del LSD como preparación para los alcohólicos que tenían dificultades para captar el aspecto espiritual del programa de 12 pasos. Bill Wilson escribió una carta "secreta" de cuatro páginas a Carl Jung en la que detallaba su propio uso del LSD y el éxito que habían tenido dos psiquiatras en Canadá en el tratamiento de alcohólicos con LSD y le pedía consejo a Jung sobre el uso del LSD para ayudar a los alcohólicos. Aniela Jaffé, analista Junguiana y compañera de trabajo de Jung, respondió a Wilson el 29 de mayo de 1961: "…tan pronto como el Dr. Jung se sienta mejor y tenga fuerzas suficientes para mirar de nuevo su correo, se lo mostraré". Jung murió una semana después. Este artículo cita las anteriores opiniones hostiles de Jung sobre los psicodélicos y pregunta: Del mismo modo que Jung superó sus opiniones negativas sobre los grupos al dar "instrucciones completas" sobre la extensión del programa de 12 pasos de A.A. a los "neuróticos en general", ¿podría haber cambiado de opinión de forma similar cuando vio el éxito documentado del uso del LSD con alcohólicos recalcitrantes?

Three Pillars of Support for Orphan Drug Programs: Individual Valuations, Societal Valuations, and Anonymous Altruism.

OBJECTIVES: To identify and describe potential societal and individual sources of support for orphan drug programs. METHODS: The Generalized Risk-Adjusted Cost-Effectiveness method shows that acute illness and disability severity increase individuals' willingness to pay for health gains. We develop a social welfare function (SWF) that incorporates individuals' own values, combined with politically or ethically determined weights. We introduce the concept of horizontal equity-that individuals in similar situations should be treated similarly-into the SWF. Finally, we introduce anonymous altruism into individuals' utility functions-the desire to help others, without knowing their identity. RESULTS: Combined with the empirical link between disease severity and rarity, the Generalized Risk-Adjusted Cost-Effectiveness method demonstrates heightened willingness to pay for health gains for people with rare diseases, leading rational individuals to support orphan drug programs, our first pillar of support. Adding horizontal equity to the SWF further increases societal support for orphan drug programs. Anonymous altruism, focusing most strongly on those in the most-dire circumstances, leads to altruistic support for those with severe disorders. Because innovators' economic incentives lead them to focus on larger markets, anonymous altruistic individuals will increasingly prefer public investments into rare diseases over time, as private markets systematically produce gains for common diseases. CONCLUSIONS: We identified 3 supporting pillars for orphan drug programs: (1) individuals' propensity to prefer treatments for severe diseases; (2) the preference for horizontal equity in our social welfare; (3) anonymous altruism, the desire to help strangers, coupled with market incentives that underserve strangers with rare diseases.

Resolving the Current Controversy of Use and Reuse of Housekeeping Proteins in Ageing Research: Focus on Saving People's Tax Dollars.

The use of housekeeping genes and proteins to normalize mRNA and protein levels in biomedical research has faced growing scrutiny. Researchers encounter challenges in determining the optimal frequency for running housekeeping proteins such as ß-actin, Tubulin, and GAPDH for nuclear-encoded proteins, and Porin, HSP60, and TOM20 for mitochondrial proteins alongside experimental proteins. The regulation of these proteins varies with age, gender, disease progression, epitope nature, gel running conditions, and their reported sizes can differ among antibody suppliers. Additionally, anonymous readers have raised concerns about peer-reviewed and published articles, creating confusion and concern within the research and academic institutions. To clarify these matters, this minireview discusses the role of reference housekeeping proteins in Western blot analysis and outlines key considerations for their use as normalization controls. Instead of Western blotting of housekeeping proteins, staining of total proteins, using Amido Black and Coomassie Blue can be visualized the total protein content on a membrane. The reducing repeated Western blotting analysis of housekeeping proteins, will save resources, time and efforts and in turn increase the number of competitive grants from NIH and funding agencies. We also discussed the use of dot blots over traditional Western blots, when protein levels are low in rare tissues/specimens and cell lines. We sincerely hope that the facts, figures, and discussions presented in this article will clarify the current controversy regarding housekeeping protein(s) use, reuse, and functional aspects of housekeeping proteins. The contents presented in our article will be useful to students, scholars and researchers of all levels in cell biology, protein chemistry and mitochondrial research.

[Features of the implementation of 12-step treatment programs for Alcoholics Anonymous and other programs for the treatment of alcohol use disorders].

Alcoholism remains an urgent problem, as alcohol-related mortality is approximately 10 times higher than that from all drugs and accounts for 5.1% of the total global burden of disease. The solution to this problem is multifaceted and includes a wide range of medical services. The article on alcohol use disorders provides an overview of one of the largest support programs for people with alcohol dependence - Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). It is noted that the initial AA intervention includes work through social communication and the «12 steps¼ program. Its purpose is to facilitate internal psychological, emotional and spiritual changes that are considered necessary to maintain the status of abstinence from alcohol.

Polyphonic narratives: The mixing of Alcoholics Anonymous and relapse prevention in stories about recovery and relapse.

Aim: This exploratory study analyses the interplay between the treatment philosophies of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Relapse Prevention (RP) in personal stories of addiction. While the basic ideas of AA and RP are compatible in many ways, they also carry some fundamental differences. Methods: The data consisted of interviews with 12 individuals recovering from substance use problems, who had experience of both AA and RP. The analysis drew on a dialogical narrative perspective, and the concept polyphony was used to shed light on the interplay between different treatment philosophies in personal stories of relapse. Findings: Although sometimes resulting in incoherence, the treatment philosophies were combined idiosyncratically, in ways that appeared productive for the participants' self-images and recovery journeys. Conclusion: The combination of AA and RP philosophies in narratives of relapse and recovery may reflect a new treatment discourse where individualisation and responsibilisation stand in a complicated relationship with collectivism and surrendering to so-called addicting processes.

Engaging Law Enforcement Employees in Mental Health Help-Seeking: Examining the Utilization of Interactive Screening Program and Motivational Interviewing Techniques.

AIM: The Interactive Screening Program (ISP) is an anonymous screening and dialogue platform used in workplaces to encourage mental health help-seeking. This study examined utilization of ISP among law enforcement workplaces and assessed how motivational interviewing techniques were associated with various help-seeking outcomes. METHOD: This retrospective study used secondary ISP screening and dialogue data collected from 2013 to 2019 at four law enforcement workplaces or unions (N = 691). Independent variables include counselors' use of motivational interviewing techniques in their dialogue such as asking questions and showing empathy in their response. Help-seeking outcomes include requesting a referral, making a commitment to counseling services, decreased ambivalence about mental health services, and increased willingness to seek future services. RESULTS: Two-thirds of participants screened within the high distress level of ISP. Among them, 53% responded to the counselor's initial email and 50% of those who responded requested a referral for future services. Binary logistic regression models showed that counselors' use of confrontation in the dialogue was associated with improved willingness to seek services among ISP users (OR = 2.88, 95% CI = 1.24, 6.64). Further, ISP users who accessed ISP through their workplace peer support program, as compared to their employee assistance program (EAP), are more likely to show decreased ambivalence about seeking future services over time (OR = 0.28, 95% CI = 0.09, 0.80). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that the anonymous ISP program can successfully engage employees with high distress levels, including employees with suicidal ideation. Results highlight the importance of customizing ISP counselors' responses to be responsive for law enforcement employees.

Website posts and the voice of frontline healthcare workers: a thematic analysis.

PURPOSE: With the soaring rise in popularity of social media platforms in recent decades, the use of website posts for the expression of work-related views has also increased. Despite websites being extensively used, there has been no examination of the views and concerns expressed by frontline workers through website posts. The present research aims to contribute to the "voice literature" first by evaluating how frontline workers utilize anonymous media platforms to express their views and work-related concerns and, second, by demonstrating how anonymous voice systems can encourage frontline health workers in providing feedback and dissatisfaction. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The study utilizes the thematic analysis method to analyze the content of posts by psychologists on a collaborative consultation website administrated by Israel's Ministry of Health, discussing their perceptions of work-related concerns. FINDINGS: The analysis identified three work-related themes through the employees' voices. These include insufficient support from management, conflicts and excessive occupational demands. The workers expressed their apprehension with regard to organizational pressures, deficient budget allocations, excessive workloads, lack of recognition and work-life imbalances. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The application of thematic analysis method to anonymous open-public data should be viewed as an effective, affordable, genuine and unique research method for data analysis. Anonymous platforms can generate unique insights that may not be possible through traditional means. This can provide practitioners with a comprehensive understanding of various issues and challenges and be a useful tool for identifying shortcomings within health settings.

Internet-based, continuously available Narcotics Anonymous meetings: a new resource for access to Twelve Step support for abstinence.

Background: A Zoom-based website was developed in 2020 that offers continuous access to online Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings for the first time. This website provides immediate access for persons with substance use disorder to support abstinence from substance-related addictive disorders.Objectives: This study is designed to characterize attendees employing this online format; to evaluate their experiences for gaining support to maintain abstinence; and to compare the 24/7 experience to face-to-face (FF) meetings they attend.Methods: An anonymous 33-item survey was made available on the 24/7 NA website that links to the 24/7 meetings. Persons accessing the site could choose to fill out the survey.Results: 530 respondents completed the survey (64.9% female/35.1% male). Most had stable prior involvement in NA. They had attended more 24/7 meetings (14.9, SD 19.7) than FF meetings (4.6, SD 7.8) in the previous month. 86% had previously attended FF meetings, 48% had served as sponsors, and 92% reported that the 24/7 meetings were more comfortable for them than the FF meetings (p < .001, Cohen's d = 0.65) and more supportive of abstinence (p < .001, Cohen's d = 0.91). Of the respondents, 8% were still using drugs, of whom 52% had previously completed some of the Twelve Steps.Conclusions: The 24/7 format provides a new and easily accessible way for NA members to gain support for abstinence and is positively rated by attendees seeking support for recovery from substance use disorders. It may serve as a valuable adjunct to the traditional FF format.

Personality correlates of past-year alcohol use in individuals with severe alcohol use disorder and a lifetime history of involvement in alcoholics anonymous.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a highly impairing condition with important public health impacts. Despite the availability of treatment options for AUD, research shows that few people receive treatment, and even fewer can maintain abstinence/low-drinking levels. This study investigated the role of personality traits in past-year alcohol use among individuals with severe AUD who ever attended Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), a widespread and easily accessible self-help group for alcohol problems. METHODS: Univariable and multivariable regressions were performed separately in females and males with alcohol consumption as an outcome. Socioeconomic factors, genetic liability, and psychopathology were included as covariates in the analyses. RESULTS: Results from the multivariable model indicated that in females who attended AA, greater alcohol use was related to both positive and negative urgency and low sensation seeking, while in males, greater alcohol use was related to positive urgency. Results also showed that, in both sexes, younger age and lower educational levels were associated with greater alcohol use. Moreover, single males and individuals with lower AUD severity were at higher risk of using alcohol in the past year. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight sex-specific correlates of drinking in individuals with AUD who engaged in self-help groups. These findings may help to improve treatment options, as personality encompasses modifiable traits that can be targeted in psychological interventions.

Parents' disclosure to their donor-conceived children in the last 10 years and factors affecting disclosure: a narrative review.

BACKGROUND: Disclosure of donor conception has been advocated in several jurisdictions in recent years, especially in those that practice identity-release donation. However, research on disclosure decisions has not been consolidated systematically in the last 10 years to review if parents are telling and what factors may be impacting their decisions. OBJECTIVE AND RATIONALE: Are parents disclosing to their donor-conceived children, and what factors have influenced their disclosure decisions across different contexts and family forms in the last 10 years? SEARCH METHODS: A bibliographic search of English-language, peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2012 and 2022 from seven databases was undertaken. References cited in included articles were manually scrutinized to identify additional references and references that cited the included articles were also manually searched. Inclusion criteria were articles focused on parents (including heterosexual, single mothers by choice, same-sex couples, and transsexual) of donor-conceived persons in both jurisdictions with or without identity-release provisions. Studies focused solely on surrogacy, donors, donor-conceived persons, or medical/fertility staff were excluded as were studies where it was not possible to extract donor-recipient parents' data separately. Both quantitative and qualitative studies were included. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed and Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tools for Systematic Reviews were used to assess article quality and bias. OUTCOMES: Thirty-seven articles met the inclusion criteria representing 34 studies and 4248 parents (including heterosexual, single, same-sex, and transsexual parents although the majority were heterosexual) from countries with anonymous donation and those with identity-release provisions or who had subsequently enacted these provisions (Australia, Belgium, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Middle East, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the USA) A general trend towards disclosure was noted across these groups of parents with most disclosing to their donor-conceived children before the age of 10 years. Further, the majority of those who had not yet told, reported planning to disclose, although delayed decisions were also associated with lower disclosure overall. Same-sex and single parents were more likely to disclose than heterosexual parents. There was recognition of disclosure as a process involving ongoing conversations and that decisions were impacted by multiple interacting intrapersonal, interpersonal, and external contextual and social factors. Methodological limitations, such as the different population groups and contexts from which participants were drawn (including that those parents who choose not to disclose may be less likely to participate in research), are acknowledged in integrating findings. WIDER IMPLICATIONS: This review has reinforced the need for a theoretical model to explain parents' disclosure decisions and research exploring the role of legislative provisions, culture, and donor/family type in decision-making. Greater ongoing access to psychological support around disclosure may be important to promote parent and family well-being.

Anonymous Traffic Detection Based on Feature Engineering and Reinforcement Learning.

Anonymous networks, which aim primarily to protect user identities, have gained prominence as tools for enhancing network security and anonymity. Nonetheless, these networks have become a platform for adversarial affairs and sources of suspicious attack traffic. To defend against unpredictable adversaries on the Internet, detecting anonymous network traffic has emerged as a necessity. Many supervised approaches to identify anonymous traffic have harnessed machine learning strategies. However, many require access to engineered datasets and complex architectures to extract the desired information. Due to the resistance of anonymous network traffic to traffic analysis and the scarcity of publicly available datasets, those approaches may need to improve their training efficiency and achieve a higher performance when it comes to anonymous traffic detection. This study utilizes feature engineering techniques to extract pattern information and rank the feature importance of the static traces of anonymous traffic. To leverage these pattern attributes effectively, we developed a reinforcement learning framework that encompasses four key components: states, actions, rewards, and state transitions. A lightweight system is devised to classify anonymous and non-anonymous network traffic. Subsequently, two fine-tuned thresholds are proposed to substitute the traditional labels in a binary classification system. The system will identify anonymous network traffic without reliance on labeled data. The experimental results underscore that the system can identify anonymous traffic with an accuracy rate exceeding 80% (when based on pattern information).

What Do Prospective Parents Owe to Their Children?

I consider the question of what moral obligations prospective parents owe to their future children. It is taken as an almost axiomatic premise of a wide range of philosophical arguments that prospective parents have a moral obligation to take such steps as ensuring their own financial stability or waiting until they are emotionally mature before conceiving. This is because it is assumed that parents have a moral obligation to lay the groundwork for their children's lives to go well. While at first glance such a premise seems benign, I will argue that when it is applied to arguments in assisted reproductive technology, as it is in Julian Savulescu's procreative beneficence argument or as it is in Daniel Groll's recent argument for open gamete donation, we see problems with this premise. Problems in Groll's argument also become apparent when it is scrutinized in connection with this premise.

A systematic qualitative study investigating why individuals attend, and what they like, dislike, and find most helpful about, smart recovery, alcoholics anonymous, both, or neither.

BACKGROUND: Some individuals seeking recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD) attend Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) while others choose newer alternatives such as Self-Management and Recovery Training ("SMART" Recovery). Some even attend both, while some choose not to attend either. Little is known about why people choose which pathway(s), and what they like, dislike, and find helpful. Greater knowledge could provide insights into the phenomenology of recovery experiences and enhance the efficiency of clinical linkage to these resources. METHODS: Cross-sectional, qualitative, investigation (N = 80; n = 20 per condition; 50%female) of individuals attending either AA-only, SMART-only, both, or neither. Participants were asked why they initially chose that pathway, what they like and dislike, and what helps. Responses were coded using an inductive grounded theory approach with utterances recorded and categorized into superordinate domains and rank-ordered in terms of frequency across each question and recovery pathway. RESULTS: AA participants reported attending due to, as well as liking and finding most helpful, the common socio-community aspects, whereas SMART attendees went initially due to, as well as found most helpful, the different format as well as the CBT/science-based approach. Similar to AA, however, SMART participants liked the socio-community aspects most. "Both" participants reported liking and finding helpful these perceived relative strengths of each organization. "Neither" participants reported reasons for non-attendance related to lower problem severity - perceiving no need to attend, and anxiety about privacy, but reported using recovery-related change strategies similar to those prescribed by AA, SMART and treatment (e.g., stimulus control, competing behaviors). Common dislikes for AA and SMART centered around irritation due to other members behaviors, a need for more SMART meetings, and negative experiences with SMART facilitators. CONCLUSION: Common impressions exist among individuals selecting different recovery pathway choices, but also some differences in keeping with the group dynamics and distinct approaches inherent in AA and SMART. AA attendees appear to go initially for the recovery buoyancy derived from the social ethos and camaraderie of lived experience and may end up staying for the same reason; those choosing SMART, in contrast, appear to attend initially for the CBT/science-based content and different approach but, like AA participants, may end up staying due to the same camaraderie of lived experience. Those participating in both AA and SMART appear to capitalize on the strengths of each organization, suggesting that some can psychologically accommodate and make use of theoretically distinct, and sometimes opposing, philosophies and practices.

Examining the effects of response monitoring instructions on endorsements of suicidal ideation in an online study.

INTRODUCTION: It is common practice for researchers to monitor responses to items assessing suicidal ideation and follow-up with high-risk participants, when their identities are known. However, it is becoming increasingly common for researchers to administer fully anonymous online surveys that do not allow for follow-ups with participants at higher risk. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether these two different approaches-monitoring and follow-up versus no monitoring or follow-up-affect the willingness of participants to endorse suicidal ideation. METHODS: The sample included N = 555 undergraduate students, who were randomly assigned to the monitoring (n = 275) or anonymous (n = 280) instruction conditions, with the monitoring condition shifting to anonymous, non-monitored responses at Time 2. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in self-reported suicidal ideation between those in the monitoring and anonymous condition at Time 1. At Time 2, no significant interaction was identified between condition and time, suggesting that the change in instructions across timepoints for the monitoring condition had no impact on endorsement of suicidal ideation. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that both monitoring and anonymous instruction methods should elicit the same pattern of endorsements of suicidal ideation.

Prevalence and correlates of 12-step and second-wave mutual-help attendance in a nationally representative US sample.

BACKGROUND: Mutual-help organizations (MHOs) are effective community-based, recovery support options for individuals with alcohol and other drug use disorders (i.e., substance use disorder; SUD). Greater understanding of second-wave MHOs, such as SMART Recovery, can help build on existing research that has focused primarily on 12-step MHOs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, to inform scientific, practice, and policy recommendations. METHODS: We conducted a secondary analysis of the National Recovery Study, a representative sample of US adults who resolved a substance use problem (N = 1984). Using survey-weighted estimates, we examined descriptive statistics for any lifetime, weekly lifetime, and past 90-day MHO attendance; we compared rates of 12-step and second-wave MHO attendance over time by descriptively examining distributions for calendar year of the first meeting attended. We also used two logistic regression models to examine demographic, substance use, clinical, and recovery-related correlates of weekly lifetime attendance separately for 12-step (n = 692) and second-wave MHOs (n = 32). RESULTS: For any attendance, 41.4% attended a 12-step MHO and 2.9% a second-wave MHO; for weekly attendance, 31.9% attended a 12-step MHO, and 1.7% a second-wave MHO. Two-thirds (64%) of initial second-wave attendance occurred between 2006 and 2017 compared to 22% of initial 12-step attendance during this time frame. Significant correlates of weekly 12-step MHO attendance included histories of SUD treatment and arrest. Significant correlates of weekly second-wave MHO attendance included Black identity (vs. White) and history of SUD medication. CONCLUSIONS: Attendance at second-wave MHOs is far less common than 12-step MHOs, but appears to be on the rise. Observed correlates of second-wave MHO attendance should be replicated in larger second-wave MHO samples before integrating these findings into best practices. Enhanced linkages from clinical and criminal justice settings to both second-wave and 12-step groups may help to "broaden the base" of MHOs.

Meeting-makers make meaning: alcoholics anonymous participation and personal meaningfulness.

AIMS: The central aim of this study was to determine whether intentional, voluntary alcoholics anonymous (AA) participation showed any independent association with affect, over and above that which has been observed in association with other recovery-related behaviors, such as abstinence, among individuals with a history of alcohol use disorder. Additionally, we sought to determine the nature of the affective changes associated with specific dimensions of AA participation (i.e. meeting  attendance, fellowship  involvement, 12-step  work). METHODS: Thirty abstinent alcohol use disorder individuals were recruited and evaluated. Multivariate linear regressions were used to examine associations between dimensions of AA participation, measured using the Multidimensional Mutual-Help Assessment Scale and standardized measures of affective experiences, including the Profile of Mood States, Subjective Happiness Scale, and the Twelve Promises Scale. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Increase in AA participation was associated with higher positive affective experiences. These associations were observed independently with AA meeting  attendance and fellowship  involvement, but not 12-step work. This study's findings suggest that greater AA meeting  attendance and fellowship  involvement are correlated with enhancements in the meta-emotional experience of personal meaningfulness. This study extends evidence on AA-related changes by considering affective improvements as a primary clinical outcome, thereby laying the foundation for subsequent, more comprehensive research into the relationship between dimensions of AA participation and recovery-related affective changes.

Spirituality in Addiction Recovery: A Narrative Review.

In the area of addiction, Canada has been in a public health crisis since 2016. Addiction takes a toll on an individual's self-worth and identity. In this narrative literature review, the distinct nature of spirituality was addressed. Next, individualized conceptualizations of spirituality were outlined. Subsequently, the importance of fellowship in addiction recovery was detailed. Next, the significance of being of service was presented. Meaningful and authentic spirituality were discussed in the context of recovery identity. Lastly, spirituality as a personal journey is described. A narrative literature review of 70 manuscripts published between 1999 and 2021 was undertaken to determine multiple approaches to treating addiction recovery in the context of spiritual development. An understanding of spirituality can inform counsellors regarding spiritual development in addiction recovery. Implications for counselling include a roadmap to support clients developing an individualized spiritual connection and operating as a functional system.

Predicting Tacit Coordination Success Using Electroencephalogram Trajectories: The Impact of Task Difficulty.

In this study, we aim to develop a machine learning model to predict the level of coordination between two players in tacit coordination games by analyzing the similarity of their spatial EEG features. We present an analysis, demonstrating the model's sensitivity, which was assessed through three conventional measures (precision, recall, and f1 score) based on the EEG patterns. These measures are evaluated in relation to the coordination task difficulty, as determined by the coordination index (CI). Tacit coordination games are games in which two individuals are requested to select the same option out of a closed set without the ability to communicate. This study aims to examine the effect of the difficulty of a semantic coordination task on the ability to predict a successful coordination between two players based on the compatibility between their EEG signals. The difficulty of each of the coordination tasks was estimated based on the degree of dispersion of the different answers given by the players reflected by the CI. The classification of the spatial distance between each pair of individual brain patterns, analyzed using the random walk algorithm, was used to predict whether successful coordination occurred or not. The classification performance was obtained for each game individually, i.e., for each different complexity level, via recall and precision indices. The results showed that the classifier performance depended on the CI, that is, on the level of coordination difficulty. These results, along with possibilities for future research, are discussed.

Anonymous media sources & Sentiments: A case study of Slovenian Newspapers.

Although various cases of inappropriate use of anonymous news sources have shaken journalistic practice in the past and encouraged media organizations to act and tighten editorial policies, they remain at the center of journalistic practice. In times of rising demands from media consumers for increased transparency in media content and journalism grounded on ethical principles, the issue of anonymous sources presents an important stage. In our study, we conducted content analysis on four Slovenian daily newspapers which held the largest readership share, during the period from October 1 to December 31, 2021, to explore the extent of the use of anonymous sources of information and how they are employed. In addition, we analyzed the relationship between the use of anonymous sources and various topics of the news stories, the type and sentiment of information. It was found that information from anonymous sources is often of a primary type and neutral in sentiment. According to our research, the sentiment of anonymous information is not related to the content. The connection between the topic of the news story and the type of anonymous information was recognized in the case of reporting on the public sector. Furthermore, articles contained minimal specific descriptions about the sources, providing very limited information about their use. Our study revealed an exceptionally low share of provided explanation on the approval of anonymity for media consumers with very general and generic reasons.