https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5795-9832
For this last issue of the year, we celebrate the 40th volume of the Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly. This journal started in 1984 and has continued over the past 38 years to provide relevant and useful research, insights, and findings. During that time, we have presented information related to alcohol treatment and recovery across various spectrums of the human condition. In this issue, we share a variety of articles focused on biological and social factors that impact treatment and recovery within alcohol and substance use disorders.
The co-editors start this issue, and volume, with gratitude and a fond farewell to our beloved mentor and friend, Thomas Francis McGovern. ATQ was his “baby,” and we keep him in our thoughts as we continue to carry on the wonderful legacy that he helped establish.
Bradshaw’s group opens with their study examining the functional prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation of persons seeking continued abstinence from AUD. This elaborates on the potential interhemispheric connectivity involved in response to alcohol cues and examines how this connectivity may be associated with maintenance and duration of abstinence.
Coakley evaluated the co-occurring eating disorders in people with AUD and found that a significant portion of the population have associated anxiety and disordered eating behaviors and binge-eating disorder. Co-occurring disorders, including what are often referred to as the process addictions, represent an important and burgeoning area of research.
Social and interpersonal factors are examined in the following articles. Dennis et al. uses clinical data mining to evaluate the influence of positive interpersonal resources, including outside support systems, substance-using housing environments, 12-Step involvement, and sponsorship in a 12-Step program, on treatment length of stay for clients with substance use disorder at day treatment locations.
DeHart and Mason advance an innovative program where incarcerated persons are credentialed as peer support specialists during their incarceration. In this article, data is presented regarding how peer support specialists assist others while incarcerated, and the authors note a variety of challenges. These included setting boundaries for peer support specialists and buy-in from agency staff.
Senreich examined the transition of 12-step meetings from an in-person to an online format that was initiated when the pandemic began. The qualitative focus groups study included programs from six states and noted the loss of intensive social support found at in-person meetings and issues related to technology and procedural challenges online.
Two are articles with an international perspective are included in this issue. Mushonga and colleagues evaluate the interaction resilience process among undergraduate students in Lesotho and their social environment from the social-ecology and person-in-environment perspective. Punzi examined the culture of football supporters who consume alcohol and other substances using interpretative phenomenological analysis and elaborates on how the football supporter culture can be either a resource or a challenge for those with AUD and SUD struggling with agency and responsibility in their treatment and recovery.
We close with perspectives from Comiskey regarding an innovative doctoral-level class focused on exploration and interaction with foundational addiction-recovery researchers. The coursework and experiences were tailored to allow researchers to offer discussion and mentorship about their work and guidance on establishing a research career in the addiction industries. Furthermore, the researchers shared what they envision for the future of our fields.