[Addiction: what's new in 2023]. / Addictions: ce qui a changé en 2023.

Addiction medicine is currently facing new challenges, such as drug epidemics and open drug scenes. It is responding to these challenges with a range of innovations: 1. The commercialization of opioid-assisted treatment (OAT) is a major step forward. 2. In Geneva, a community outreach project involving mental health peer practitioners targets the emerging crack scene, demonstrating its effectiveness in directing this marginalized population towards care. 3. In Switzerland, two projects in French-speaking Switzerland are testing hybrid models of cannabis regulation. Evaluation of these projects will guide the best approach to cannabis regulation.

L'addictologie est actuellement confrontée à des nouveaux défis, tels que des épidémies de consommation et des scènes de drogues ouvertes. Elle répond à ces défis par différentes innovations. 1. La commercialisation du traitement assisté par opioïdes (TAO) en dépôt est une avancée majeure. 2. À Genève, un projet communautaire de maraudes, impliquant des pairs praticiens en santé mentale, cible la scène de consommation de crack émergente, montrant son efficacité pour orienter cette population marginalisée vers les soins. 3. En Suisse, deux projets romands testent des modèles hybrides de régulation du cannabis. L'évaluation de ces projets guidera la meilleure approche pour la régulation du cannabis.

[Psychedelics in the field of chronic pain. A path to explore?] / Psychédéliques dans le domaine de la douleur chronique. Une piste à explorer?

Psychedelics are emerging as a therapeutic innovation in psychiatry and their use in chronic pain is worth exploring. In fact, they can modulate the serotonergic system, affecting central pain sensitization mechanisms. Ketamine, used for chronic analgesia, can lead to pain reduction, but additional studies are needed to assess its longterm effectiveness. "Classic" psychedelics are recently attracting renewed interest for their potential effects on chronic pain. Despite limited studies, evidence suggests analgesic benefits, an effect on inflammation, and potential impacts on certain functional disorders. These results pave the way for further research in this ever-evolving field.

Les psychédéliques émergent comme une innovation thérapeutique en psychiatrie et leur utilisation dans la douleur chronique mérite d'être explorée. En effet, ils peuvent moduler le système sérotoninergique, influençant les mécanismes de sensibilisation centrale à la douleur. La kétamine, utilisée en antalgie chronique, peut aboutir à une réduction de la douleur, mais des études supplémentaires sont nécessaires pour évaluer son efficacité à long terme. Les psychédéliques «classiques¼ suscitent un regain d'intérêt récent pour leurs effets potentiels sur la douleur chronique. Malgré des études limitées, des indices suggèrent des bénéfices analgésiques, une influence sur l'inflammation et des impacts potentiels sur certains troubles fonctionnels. Ces résultats ouvrent la voie à de nouvelles recherches dans ce domaine en constante évolution.

[Ethics in the practice of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy]. / Déontologie de la pratique de la psychothérapie assistée par psychédéliques.

This article proposes 10 points considered essential on the ethics associated with the practice of psychotherapy assisted by psychedelics (PAP) : 1) respect of the legal framework (LStup) of the use of psychotropic drugs ; 2) adequately manage psychedelics (storage, production and safety) ; 3) announce adverse effects to the competent authority ; 4) guarantee a psychotherapeutic follow-up ; 5) guarantee the safety of the patients during the treatment ; 6) establish indications on the basis of scientific evidence ; 7) do not confuse personal recreational use and strict medical use ; 8) avoid proselytizing or bad medical practices ; 9) do not to consider the personal consumption of psychedelics as a competency in care and 10) ensure that access to care is equitable and reasonable.

Cet article propose 10 points jugés essentiels au sujet de la déontologie associée à la pratique de la psychothérapie assistée par psychédéliques (PAP) : 1) Respecter le cadre légal (LStup) de l'utilisation des psychotropes ; 2) gérer les psychédéliques de manière adéquate (stockage, production et sécurité) ; 3) annoncer les effets indésirables à la pharmacovigilance ; 4) garantir un suivi psychothérapeutique ; 5) garantir la sécurité des patients lors du traitement ; 6) poser les indications sur la base des évidences scientifiques ; 7) ne pas confondre l'usage récréatif personnel et un usage médical strict ; 8) éviter le prosélytisme ou les mauvaises pratiques médicales ; 9) ne pas considérer la consommation personnelle de psychédéliques comme faisant office de compétence en matière de soins et 10) veiller à rendre l'accès aux soins équitables et raisonnables.

[Home treatment for substance use disorder - Hospitalisation addictologique à domicile (HAAD)]. / Hospitalisation addictologique à domicile (HAAD).

In Switzerland, substance use disorders (SUD) are responsible for individual suffering and major economic costs. Especially the co-occurrence of SUD with other psychiatric disorders often leads to a revolving door effect and high emergency room attendance. For other severe psychiatric disorders outreach offers have been established, including home treatment (HT). Research has detected several advantages of HT, while noting that this form of treatment is not suitable for SUDs. We implemented an HT module especially for individuals suffering from SUD, called "Hospitalisation addictologique à domicile (HAAD)" which is carried out by a multidisciplinary team and realized in the same way and at the same frequency as in the hospital, but it takes place at home and aims at maintaining the patients in their daily activities and social contacts.

En Suisse, les troubles liés à l'usage de substances (TUS) sont la source de souffrances individuelles et de coûts économiques majeurs. Surtout, la cooccurence des TUS avec d'autres troubles psychiatriques engendre un effet de porte tournante et des fréquentations élevées aux urgences. Pour d'autres troubles psychiatriques sévères des offres de proximité sont connues, y compris le « home treatment ¼ (HT). Les évaluations constatent que le HT n'est pas adapté aux TUS. Pour ces derniers, nous avons implémenté un module HT, nommé « Hospitalisation addictologique à domicile (HAAD) ¼ qui est réalisé par une équipe pluridisciplinaire de la même manière et à la même fréquence qu'à l'hôpital. Par contre le HT se déroule à domicile et a pour mission de maintenir les patients-e-s dans leurs activités quotidiennes et de favoriser ainsi les contacts sociaux.

[Mobile phone applications for addiction treatment]. / Applications sur smartphone pour le traitement des addictions.

This literature review focuses on mobile phone applications for addiction treatment. Only applications used in combination with a standard treatment were considered. Eleven studies met inclusion criteria. The applications offered information, monitoring, motivational, and relapse prevention tools. Two applications offered more specific psychotherapeutic support. A majority of the studies showed a reduction in consumption following treatment, and this reduction was greater in patients who used an application. The use of smartphone applications in combination with the usual treatment therefore seems to increase the effectiveness of addiction treatment in reducing consumption.

Cette revue de littérature porte sur les applications de traitement des addictions disponibles sur téléphones portables. Seules les applications utilisées en parallèle avec un traitement habituel ont été prises en considération. Onze études ont été retenues. Les applications offraient des aides concernant l'information, le monitorage, des outils motivationnels et de prévention de rechute. Deux applications proposaient une aide psychothérapeutique plus spécifique. Une majorité d'études a mis en évidence une diminution des consommations suite aux traitements plus importante chez les patients qui utilisaient une application. L'emploi d'applications sur smartphone en combinaison avec le traitement habituel représente donc un potentiel gain d'efficacité sur la réduction des consommations.

Compulsive Health-Related Internet Use and Cyberchondria.

BACKGROUND: Cyberchondria denotes excessive and repeated online health-related searches associated with an increase in health anxiety. Such searches persist in those with cyberchondria, despite the negative consequences, resembling a pattern of compulsive Internet use. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to assess compulsive health-related Internet use in relation to cyberchondria while controlling for related variables. METHOD: Adult participants (N = 749) were recruited from an online platform. They completed questionnaires assessing the severity of cyberchondria (via the Cyberchondria Severity Scale [CSS]), compulsive Internet use adapted for online health-related seeking (via the adapted Compulsive Internet Use Scale [CIUS]), and levels of intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety, as well as depressive, somatic, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. A logistic regression analysis was carried out to identify predictors of scores above a cutoff value on the CIUS, indicating compulsive health-related Internet use. RESULTS: The regression output showed that only the CSS total score and sex made a unique, statistically significant contribution to the model, leading to the correct classification of 78.6% of the cases. Of the CSS subscales, compulsion and distress were the most strongly associated with compulsive health-related Internet use. CONCLUSIONS: The finding that the adapted CIUS scores are associated with cyberchondria indicates that cyberchondria has a compulsive component, at least in terms of health-related Internet use. It also suggests that compulsive health-related Internet use persists despite the distress associated with this activity. Males may engage in cyberchondria more compulsively than females. These findings have implications for research and clinical practice.

Risk factors of hospitalization for any medical condition among patients with prior emergency department visits for mental health conditions.

BACKGROUND: This longitudinal study identified risk factors for frequency of hospitalization among patients with any medical condition who had previously visited one of six Quebec (Canada) emergency departments (ED) at least once for mental health (MH) conditions as the primary diagnosis. METHODS: Records of n = 11,367 patients were investigated using administrative databanks (2012-13/2014-15). Hospitalization rates in the 12 months after a first ED visit in 2014-15 were categorized as no hospitalizations (0 times), moderate hospitalizations (1-2 times), and frequent hospitalizations (3+ times). Based on the Andersen Behavioral Model, data on risk factors were gathered for the 2 years prior to the first visit in 2014-15, and were identified as predisposing, enabling or needs factors. They were tested using a hierarchical multinomial logistic regression according to the three groups of hospitalization rate. RESULTS: Enabling factors accounted for the largest percentage of total variance explained in the study model, followed by needs and predisposing factors. Co-occurring mental disorders (MD)/substance-related disorders (SRD), alcohol-related disorders, depressive disorders, frequency of consultations with outpatient psychiatrists, prior ED visits for any medical condition and number of physicians consulted in specialized care, were risk factors for both moderate and frequent hospitalizations. Schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders, bipolar disorders, and age (except 12-17 years) were risk factors for moderate hospitalizations, while higher numbers (4+) of overall interventions in local community health service centers were a risk factor for frequent hospitalizations only. Patients with personality disorders, drug-related disorders, suicidal behaviors, and those who visited a psychiatric ED integrated with a general ED in a separate site, or who visited a general ED without psychiatric services were also less likely to be hospitalized. Less urgent and non-urgent illness acuity prevented moderate hospitalizations only. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with severe and complex health conditions, and higher numbers of both prior outpatient psychiatrist consultations and ED visits for medical conditions had more moderate and frequent hospitalizations as compared with non-hospitalized patients. Patients at risk for frequent hospitalizations were more vulnerable overall and had important biopsychosocial problems. Improved primary care and integrated outpatient services may prevent post-ED hospitalization.

Supported decision making for people with mental health disorders in clinical practice: a systematic review.

Objectives: The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was adopted at the United Nations Assembly in 2006. The main aim of the convention is to ensure equal rights for people with disabilities including the expression of people's own "will and preferences" concerning health treatment. Article 12 demands the respect of a person's "rights, will and preferences" (CRPD) and suggests supported decision making (SDM) when possible. The aim of this review was to gather information regarding the SDM implementation from a clinical perspective for people with mental health disorders.Methods: A systematic literature search was performed on electronic databases MEDLINE, PsycARTICLES, and PsycINFO using the keywords "supported decision making" and "UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities" in March 2018.Results: Eleven articles were included in the final review, which focussed on three themes: (1) different models of SDM, (2) stakeholder views, and (3) challenges for implementation. A limited number of papers described clinical models that had good theoretical consistency with SDM. The main challenges of implementation related to critical situations when "will and preferences" are poorly understood or appear contradictory. Future studies should assess specific models of SDM implementation, including related outcomes and process measures.

Effect of Assertive Community Treatment for Patients with Substance Use Disorder: A Systematic Review.

PURPOSE: Substance use disorders (SUD) are an important health issue internationally. Traditional outpatient programmes often do not adequately address the substantial medical and social needs and in addition many patients have difficulties accessing the care needed. The assertive community treatment (ACT) model was originally developed for patients with a severe mental illness but has been adapted for patients with SUD by integrating specific SUD treatments into the traditional ACT model. This paper aims to assess the effectiveness of ACT for patients with SUD on a number of measures. METHODS: We performed a systematic review of ACT interventions for patients with SUD by analyzing randomized controlled studies published before June 2017 found on the electronic databases PsychINFO, MEDLINE, PsychARTICLES. Eleven publications using 5 datasets were included in the analysis. Quality of studies was analyzed using the JADAD scale or Oxford quality scoring system. Outcome measures used were substance use, treatment engagement, hospitalization rates, quality of life, housing status, medication compliance and legal problems. Patients included in the studies had a diagnosis of SUD. Two datasets included homeless patients and 2 datasets included patients with high service use. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The results of the very few existing randomized control studies are mixed. Treatment engagement was higher for ACT in 4 datasets. One dataset reported higher service contact rates for the ACT group than for controls. In 2 datasets a positive effect on hospitalization rates was found. Higher fidelity to the ACT model appears to improve outcomes. Substance use reduced only in half of the datasets, of which only one showed a significant reduction in the ACT group. Overall, ACT is a promising approach that may be useful for promoting treatment engagement for patients with SUD. According to earlier studies on patients with severe mental illness, patients with high inpatient service use benefit most from this assertive approach. We hypothesize that a similar high need user group among patients with SUD might benefit most from ACT. Further research is needed to examine which types of clinical interventions might help difficult-to-engage patients with addictions.

Wellbeing and burnout amongst medical students in England.

The wellbeing of doctors in training is currently under the spotlight. The British Medical Association (BMA) has committed to understanding issues of wellbeing amongst medical students. Medical students from England were asked to complete an online survey pertaining to wellbeing. 84 students responded. Results show 29% of respondents were given a mental health diagnosis whilst at medical school, and 82% could be classified as 'disengaged' and 85% 'exhausted' using the Oldenburg Burnout Scale. This demonstrates the need for further surveys with an increased number of respondents in order to gather more evidence surrounding these high rates of mental health issues. Support and preventative measures for medical students are required.

Does Change over Time in Delusional Beliefs as Measured with PDI Predict Change over Time in Belief Flexibility Measured with MADS?

Delusional beliefs and their behavioral consequences are predominant symptoms in patients with psychosis and play an important role in the treatment. Delusional beliefs are a multidimensional concept which can be divided into three components: distress, preoccupation and conviction of delusions. These can be measured using Peters delusions inventory (PDI-21). We question, whether changes in delusional beliefs over time during treatment measured with the PDI-21 can predict changes in belief flexibility measured with the Maudsley assessment of delusions schedule (MADS). We used a group of patients from a randomized controlled trial for a cognitive intervention for psychosis or psychotic symptoms. Aside standard treatment for psychosis, half of the patients took part in a group treatment "Michael's game". Patients were assessed at baseline (T1), at 3 months (T2), and at 9 months (T3). We measured delusional beliefs using PDI-21 and belief flexibility with the MADS. One hundred seventy-two patients were included in the analysis. We measured a main effect of PDI-21scores on belief flexibility measured with MADS. PDI-21 Conviction scores predicted outcomes for all measured MADS items. Increasing PDI Distress and Preoccupation scores were predictors for being more likely to dismiss beliefs and change conviction. Time itself was a predictor for changing conviction and being able to plan a behavioral experiment. Overall the changes in PDI scores predicted outcomes for belief flexibility measured with MADS items. The PDI-21 could be a simple and effective way to measure progress in treatment on delusional beliefs.

[The community as a place of intervention in the treatment of addictions]. / La communauté comme lieu d'intervention dans le traitement des addictions.

Mobility and shifting of treatment sites to the community is useful and necessary for some individuals with addictions who are unable to access traditional treatment programs. The article presents different treatment models : Assertive community treatment, Housing First and transition programs. The main effects of the programs presented are a reduction in days of hospitalization and the use of emergency services, as well as an improvement in adherence to outpatient care. These are encouraging results given the significant difficulties of a population which often presents the phenomenon of «â€…revolving doors ¼ with very high rates of readmissions and lack of treatment continuity.

La mobilité et le déplacement des lieux du traitement vers la communauté sont utiles et nécessaires pour certaines personnes souffrant d'addictions qui n'arrivent pas à adhérer aux programmes de soins traditionnels. L'article présente différentes modalités de soins : les soins dans le milieu (assertive community treatment), le Housing First et des programmes de transition. Les effets principaux des programmes présentés sont une réduction des jours d'hospitalisation et de l'utilisation des services d'urgences, ainsi qu'une amélioration de l'adhérence aux soins ambulatoires. Ce sont des résultats encourageants vu les difficultés importantes de cette population qui présente souvent le phénomène de «â€…porte-tournante ¼ avec des taux de réhospitalisation très importants et des prises en soins chaotiques.

[Addictions]. / Addictions.

New drugs available in a click, plethora of games, new regulations on cannabis, addiction medicine has a lot to do ! In 2018, Switzerland recognized a training certificate in addiction medicine, pathological gambling entered into ICD-11 and vaping, first considered with suspicion, found a place in the pharmacopoeia of the fight against tobacco. That's not all, on the alcohol front, we realized that even a small glass can hurt and the medicine of addictions evolved towards models of recovery that aim to improve quality of life with chronic diseases. Finally, the American opioid prescription epidemic is worrying in Switzerland, even if the situation and the context are very different.

Nouvelles drogues disponibles en un clic, pléthore de l'offre de jeux, nouvelles réglementations sur le cannabis, la médecine de l'addiction a bien à faire ! En 2018, nous voyons apparaître en Suisse une reconnaissance de la formation en médecine de l'addiction, les jeux font leur entrée dans la CIM-11 et le vapotage d'abord considéré avec méfiance trouve une place dans la pharmacopée de la lutte contre le tabac. Mais ce n'est pas tout, sur le front de l'alcool on s'aperçoit que même un petit verre peut faire mal et la médecine des addictions évolue vers des modèles de soins qui visent à mieux vivre avec la maladie plutôt que de s'en défaire. Finalement, l'épidémie américaine de prescription détournée d'opioïdes inquiète en Suisse, même si la situation et le contexte sont très différents.

Quality of Smartphone Apps Related to Alcohol Use Disorder.

BACKGROUND: Apps for smartphones are opening an important range of opportunities for improving the care of people with alcohol use disorders (AUDs). AIMS: This study aimed to evaluate the quality of English language apps for AUDs and to compare paid and free apps. The keywords 'alcohol', 'alcohol addiction', 'alcohol help' and 'stop drinking' were entered into the iTunes Store search engine. Apps were evaluated using a standardized assessment designed to rate the quality of apps in terms of accountability, interactivity, self-help score and evidence-based content. The Brief DISCERN score and the criteria of the 'Health on the Net' label were also used as content quality indicators. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Of the 137 unique apps identified, 52 met the inclusion criteria. Overall, the content quality and self-help scores of these AUD apps were poor. The main quality indicators were not linked to payment status. Multiple linear regressions showed that the Brief DISCERN score significantly predicted content quality. Poor content quality and self-help scores of AUD smartphone apps underline the gap between their potential promises and the overall quality of available products in stores. The quality indicators used in the present study may be used for further app developments.

A 13-item Health of the Nation Outcome Scale (HoNOS-13): validation by item response theory (IRT) in patients with substance use disorder.

BACKGROUND: The Health of the Nation Outcome Scale (HoNOS) is a widely used 12-item tool to assess mental health and social functioning. The French version has an added 13th item measuring adherence to psychotropic medication. The aim of the current study is to uncover the unknown pattern of the new item 13 and to compare the unidimensional and multidimensional fit of the new HoNOS-13 using Item Response Theory (IRT). This research question was studied among inpatients with substance use disorder (SUD). METHODS: Six hundred and nine valid questionnaires of HoNOS-13 were analyzed using unidimensional (one-factor) and multidimensional (two-factor) IRT modeling. RESULTS: The multidimensional model suggesting a first factor capturing psychiatric/impairment-related issues and a second factor reflecting social-related issues yielded better goodness-of-fit values compared to the unidimensional solution. This resulted in an improvement of all slope parameters which in turn translates to better discriminative power. Significant improvement in item location parameters were observed as well. The new item 13 had a good discriminative power (1.17) and covered a wide range of the latent trait (- 0.14 to 2.64). CONCLUSIONS: We were able to validate the 13-item questionnaire including medication compliance and suggest that the HoNOS-13 can be recommended as a clinical evaluation tool to assess the problems and treatment needs for inpatients with SUD. Interestingly, the majority of item response categories are endorsed by respondents who are below and above the average levels of HoNOS. This indicates that the scale is able to discriminate between participants both at the low and at the high ends of the latent trait continuum. More importantly, the new item 13 has a good discriminative power and covers a broad range of the latent trait below and above the mean. It therefore has the desired profile of a good item and is a useful measure for the assessment of mental health and social functioning. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, Identifier: NCT03551301. Registered: 11.06.2018. Retrospectively registered, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03551301 .

Does slow release oral morphine have impact on craving and impulsivity in heroin dependent individuals?

Craving and impulsivity are addiction components which explain why heroin-dependant individuals (HDI), continue using heroin despite not wanting to do so. Opioid maintenance treatment (OMT), such as slow-release oral morphine (SROM), is the most effective treatment for opioid dependence. However, the impact of SROM on craving and impulsivity remains unclear. In this observational study, 23 HDI receiving SROM, their usual OMT, took part in the experiment. Each of the participants filled in the perceived level of craving with a visual analog scale. Their impulsivity was assessed via three laboratory tasks, the stop-signal reaction time, the Balloon Analogue Risk Task and delay discounting. Each evaluation was performed before and after SROM administration. Craving was significantly reduced after administration of SROM (difference 2.83; P = 0.0010), whereas there were no significant differences in performance in the three laboratory tasks. In the long term, we observed an improvement on delay discounting correlated with the duration and dosage of SROM. The acute impact of SROM appears to significantly reduce craving, without impacting impulsivity. Observation of the correlation between delay discounting and the duration and dosage of OMT is of great interest and should be studied further.

Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties of the Arab Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS) by Item Response Theory Modeling (IRT).

INTRODUCTION: The psychometric properties of the Arab translation of the Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS) have been previously studied by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with AMOS software using the asymptotically distribution-free (ADF) estimator. Unidimensionality has been achieved at the cost of correlating several item variance errors. However, several reviews of SEM software packages and estimation methods indicate that the option of robust standard errors is not present in the AMOS package and that ADF estimation may yield biased parameter estimates. We therefore explored a second analysis through item response theory (IRT) using the parametric graded response model (GRM) and the marginal maximum likelihood (MML) estimation method embedded in the LTM package of R software. Differential item functioning (DIF) or item bias across subpopulations was also explored within IRT framework as different samples were investigated. The objective of the current study is to (1) analyze the Arab CIUS scale with IRT, (2) investigate DIF in three samples, and (3) contribute to the ongoing debate on Internet-use-related addictive behaviors using the CIUS items as a proxy. METHODS: We assessed three samples of people, one in Algeria and two in Lebanon, with a total of 1520 participants. RESULTS: Almost three out of every five items were highly related to the latent construct. However, the unidimensionality hypothesis was not supported. Furthermore, besides being locally dependent, the scale may be weakened by DIF across geographic regions. Some of the CIUS items related to increasing priority, impaired control, continued use despite harm, and functional impairment as well as withdrawal and coping showed good discriminative capabilities. Those items were endorsed more frequently than other CIUS items in people with higher levels of addictive Internet use. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to earlier ADF estimation findings, unidimensionality of the CIUS scale was not supported by IRT parametric GRM in a large sample of Arab speaking participants. The results may be helpful for scale revision. By proxy, the study contributes to testing the validity of addiction criteria applied to Internet use related-addictive behaviors.

Unveiling the relationships between cyberchondria and psychopathological symptoms.

Cyberchondria is a clinical entity of excessive and repetitive online health-related searches, associated with health anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms and intolerance of uncertainty. Its relationships with depressive and somatic symptoms have not yet received much attention. The purpose of this study was to examine the individual and comparative effects of several psychopathology constructs on the severity of cyberchondria. Through an online platform, participants (N = 749) completed specific self-report measures assessing the severity of cyberchondria, anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, depressive, somatic, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Standard and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to assess how well the independent variables influenced the levels of cyberchondria, before and after controlling for age, education, and sex. When measures of all constructs were included in the analysis, all were significant predictors of cyberchondria levels, except for anxiety. Health anxiety made the strongest contribution. When age, education and sex were controlled for, all measures except for anxiety were also significant predictors of cyberchondria severity. Our study confirms that health anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms and intolerance of uncertainty are all associated with cyberchondria severity, with health anxiety making the strongest unique contribution. Depression and somatic symptoms also predicted cyberchondria severity. These findings have important implications for research and clinical practice.

Variables associated with low, moderate and high emergency department use among patients with substance-related disorders.

AIMS: This study identified factors associated with frequency of emergency department (ED) use for medical reasons among patients with substance-related disorders (SRD) in Quebec (Canada) for 2014-15. METHODS: Participants (n = 4731) were categorized as: 1) low (1 visit/year), 2) moderate (2 visits/year), and 3) high (3+ visits/year) ED users. Independent variables included predisposing, enabling and needs factors based on the Andersen Behavioral Model. Multinomial logistic regression identified associated variables. RESULTS: Factors positively associated with moderate and high ED use included adjustment disorders, suicidal behavior, alcohol-induced disorders, less urgent to non-urgent illness acuity, referral to local health community services centers (LHCSC) at discharge, and living in a materially deprived area. Factors positively associated with high ED use only included anxiety disorders, alcohol use disorders, drug use disorders, chronic physical illness, subacute problems, prior ED use for MD and/or SRD, prior LHCSC medical interventions, physician consultation within one month after discharge, living in very deprived or middle-class areas, and, negatively, being hospitalized for medical reasons in second ED visit. Moderate ED use only was negatively associated with alcohol intoxication and being referred to a GP at ED discharge. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to low ED users, most high users with SRD were men presenting more complex and severe conditions. They visited ED mainly for subacute or non-urgent problems. Compared to low ED users, most moderate users had alcohol-induced disorders, less alcohol intoxication, and acute common MD. They visited ED mainly for non-urgent care. Diverse strategies should be implemented to reduce ED visits, targeting each group.

Perspective of Internet Poker Players on Harm-Reduction Strategies: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Internet gambling may increase rates of gambling harm. This current study aimed to assess Internet poker players' views on various harm-reduction (HR) strategies. It also examined differences in these views according to the games played (poker only vs. poker plus other gambling activities), indebtedness, and problem gambling severity. Methods: Internet poker players (n = 311; 94.2% Male) recruited online between 2012 and 2014 were included in the analyses and completed a survey on indebtedness, problem gambling severity index, and ten statements regarding HR features. Results: Among the whole sample, the most frequently endorsed HR strategy was setting money limits, specialized online help, and peer support forums. People who play poker only (70%) are less prone to endorse the utility of information on excessive gambling and specialized healthcare centers. No differences were found between those people with debt versus those without regarding HR assessment. Participants with severe problem gambling were more skeptical about HR strategies based on information on specialized healthcare centers. Conclusion: Setting money limits, online help, and peer support forums are the most commonly endorsed strategies. Future research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of online harm reduction strategies.