ABSTRACT
The purposive design, production and marketing of legal but health-demoting products that stimulate habitual consumption and pleasure for maximum profit has been called 'limbic capitalism'. In this article, drawing on alcohol and tobacco as key examples, we extend this framework into the digital realm. We argue that 'limbic platform capitalism' is a serious threat to the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities and populations. Accessed routinely through everyday digital devices, social media platforms aggressively intensify limbic capitalism because they also work through embodied limbic processes. These platforms are designed to generate, analyse and apply vast amounts of personalised data in an effort to tune flows of online content to capture users' time and attention, and influence their affects, moods, emotions and desires in order to increase profits. Social media are central to young people's socialising, identities, leisure practices and engagement in civic life. Young people actively appropriate social media for their own ends but are simultaneously recruited as consumers who are specifically targeted by producers of limbic products and services. Social media platforms have seen large increases in users and traffic through the COVID-19 pandemic and limbic capitalism has worked to intensify marketing that is context, time and place specific, driving online purchases and deliveries of limbic products. This has public health implications that require immediate attention as existing regulatory frameworks are woefully inadequate in this era of data-driven, algorithmic marketing.
ABSTRACT
The article discusses the role of case managers in educating patients and families about opioid addiction. Topics covered include the need to educate healthcare providers about the risk of using substances so they can educate patients on preventing addiction, how case managers and nurses in educating patients that addiction is a medical condition, and community outreach measures that hospitals can initiate to help prevent overdoses.
ABSTRACT
The authors suggest voluntary community-based treatment for drug use and dependence as an alternative for compulsory drug detention and rehabilitation centers (CDDC). They reveal the hidden costs of CDDC, its ineffectiveness and issues of concern such as higher rates of relapse and infectious disease and avoidance of health care. They stress the need for evidence-informed, community-based approaches and support for recovery of to be able to move toward a community-based model of treatment.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic affects the mental health and professional behavior of surgeons and anesthesiologists and seems to have an impact on substance dependence. QUESTION: What are the reasons for the occurrence of substance dependence and burnout in surgeons and anesthesiologists timelessly and during the COVID-19 pandemic and what improvement measures could help in the clinical practice? MATERIAL AND METHODS: A literature search was conducted in the form of a systematic review of studies and review articles relevant to the topic. RESULTS: Over the years it has been shown that surgeons and anesthesiologists are prone to drug dependence due to their direct access to medications in the clinical field and work-related stress. In particular, surgeons and anesthesiologists appeared to have an increased propensity for addictive diseases and an increased risk of burnout in the pandemic. CONCLUSION: Preventive measures in favor of better working conditions in surgery and anesthesia and better drug control (not only for dispensing but also for correct drug testing), as well as more treatment and reintegration programs under psychiatric supervision and in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team are meaningful.