A popular notion refers to laughter as ''the best medicine,'' and a stream of psychological research encourages treatment providers to use humour as a therapeutic tool. However, remarkably few studies have investigated client perspectives on professionals' use of humour in everyday practice. Drawing on ethnographic data from fieldwork in two…

Recovery from drug abuse is a complex process in which motivation is central. The focus of this article is on drug-dependent people's experiences with sources that influence their motivation to change. The sample in our study was comprised of 127 drug-dependent adults identified in criminal courts, hospital emergency departments and Health and…

This grounded theory study explores how women with histories of addiction perceive stigma while in treatment. In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 women participating in a residential drug treatment centre. Previous research has found that support from peers during recovery can be critical to managing illnesses. In fact, researchers have…

Aims: To explore how service users' views of measuring addiction recovery differ from those of service providers. Methods: Five focus groups conducted in two English cities with (i) people currently using Class A drugs (n = 6); (ii) people currently using alcohol (n = 12); (iii) individuals in residential detoxification (n = 12); (iv) individuals…

Aims: To provide a general hospital training programme that enhances the likelihood of identifying and approaching patients with alcohol-related problems upon which interventions and referrals to specialist addiction in-reach nurses would impact. Delivery of training: Twenty wards were identified as having a high rate of admissions for…

Aims: Addiction treatment training has been recognized to be an essential part of the curriculum in psychiatry and general medicine. Our objective in this study was to measure the knowledge and attitudes towards addictions among medical residents of a general hospital in Catalonia, Spain. Methods: Within a sample of medical residents, we…

In this commentary, we critically review the contribution of the sociologist Erving Goffman (1922-1982) to understanding recovery from problem drug use. Previous research has indicated that drug users have a "spoiled identity" and must restore a "normal" or "unspoiled" identity in order to recover. This argument has been linked to Goffman's…

Background: A stigma is a long-lasting mark of social disgrace that has a profound effect on interactions between the stigmatized and the unstigmatized. Factors governing the extent of stigmatization attached to an individual include the perceived danger posed by that person and the extent to which she/he is seen as being to blame for the stigma.…

Internationally, service user involvement has become a common feature of public policy and more specifically public health policy in the recent decades. In a general context, the involvement of service users in health services has been well documented; however, less evidence is available within the area of drug treatment service provision. This…

Aims: Community outreach services play an important role in infectious disease prevention and engaging drug users not currently in treatment. However, fewer than half of US substance abuse treatment units provide these services and many have little financial incentive to do so. Unit directors generally have latitude about scope of services,…

Introduction: This article reports on a Department of Health UK funded project to implement consensus substance misuse teaching in undergraduate curricula in medical schools in England. The aim was to better equip practising doctors of the future to deal with substance misuse issues. Method: A project coordinator worked with local curriculum…