Invited Speakers - SSA Annual Conference 2021
Society Lecture
We are delighted that Dr John Kelly, Professor of Psychiatry in Addiction Medicine at Harvard Medical School will give this year's Society Lecture.
Plenary Session
Responding to the use of anabolic androgenic steroids
In the UK and internationally the use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) is on the rise, and is now recognised as a public health issue. NICE guidance on targeted drug prevention and needle/syringe programmes highlights the limitations of knowledge regarding the extent and characteristics of use and a lack of evidence of effective interventions. This symposium will present world-leading research on the deleterious effects of AAS, followed by a summary of findings from a recent NIHR development grant on AAS.
The challenge of benzodiazepine use in the context of escalating drug deaths
Benzodiazepine use is a significant health problem in Scotland, increasingly associated with drug-related mortality. In 2019 benzodiazepines were implicated in 70% of all drug-related deaths. This symposium aims to describe the challenging context of BZD use in Scotland and consider a range of perspectives to develop new and consistent models of care.
Andrew McAuley
Prevalence and determinants of non-prescribed benzodiazepine use and related harms among a national sample of people who inject drugs
Trina Ritchie
Experiences of non-prescribed benzodiazepine use by people on opioid agonist therapy in a city centre treatment service
Joe Schofield
Clinical management of problematic BZD use in Addictions: the views of clinicians and people who use drugs; prescribing practices and patient outcomes
Alcohol and suicidal behaviour: clinical features, trends and interventions
One in five suicides are attributable to alcohol use. This symposium addresses current gaps in research and practise concerning alcohol use and its relationship to suicidal behaviour. We address the spectrum of alcohol use disorder in suicidal crisis and its relation to risk in an emergency psychiatric sample, the relationship in the general population, and the development of interventions that target substance use and suicidal behaviour together.
Sarah Ledden
Alcohol use and its association with suicide attempt, suicidal thought, and self-harm in two successive nationally representative English household samples
John Robins
One size fits all? The different forms of alcohol use in suicidal crisis and their associations with repeated crisis care and death
Prianka Padmanathan
Development of a suicide prevention intervention for Emergency Department attendees presenting with self-harm and substance misuse: a Delphi method study
Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) 1 - What influences the development of substance use harms?
Adolescent use of alcohol, tobacco or cannabis is associated with deficits in cognition, and physical and mental health difficulties. Understanding the harms associated with this substance use is important for public health and can indicate targets for preventative interventions. This session will present the latest findings on adolescent substance use drawn from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) - a world leading birth cohort study providing self-reported questionnaire and interview measures from 13,000 participants.
Lindsey A. Hines
Adverse childhood experiences and trajectories of adolescent cannabis use frequency
Hannah Jones
Examining pathways between genetic liability for schizophrenia and patterns of tobacco and cannabis use in adolescence
Gemma Lewis
Investigating the association between alcohol consumption and dependence during adolescence, and risk of depression in young adulthood
Addiction training opportunities in Europe: a joint SSA/EUFAS symposium
This symposium will highlight several initiatives in the UK and Europe to address the challenges in attracting clinicians to work in the addictions field with the aim of promoting training and recruitment and improving competencies. The SSA has been an active member of EUFAS since its founding in 2010 (www.eufas.net). From a UK perspective, maintaining and strengthening links with European colleagues has become increasingly important since Brexit, and the Covid pandemic has presented many challenges for the addiction field which would benefit from sharing of international best practice. This symposium brings together three outstanding advocates of addiction training and research.
SSA-funded researchers
Showcasing work by the winner of the SSA's Fred Yates prize and others funded by SSA schemes.
Sarah Jackson
Quitting in the time of Covid? Associations of the pandemic with changes in smoking, drinking, and quitting in England
Carol-Ann Getty
Exploration of patients’ beliefs, acceptability, and experience of mobile telephone-delivered Contingency Management
Nathan Critchlow
Examining the implementation and early impact of the Public Health (Alcohol) Act in Ireland: Findings from two data sources
Youth in Iceland Model
Showcasing the work and findings of the part-SSA-funded, Youth in Iceland Model project.
In recognition of Professor Malcolm Lader
David Baldwin
In recognition of Professor Malcolm Lader, past President of the SSA and past President of the British Association for Psychopharmacology
Coral Sirdifield
Patient experiences and perceptions of receiving benzodiazepines and z-drugs: lessons for safer prescribing
Maryse Lapeyre-Mestre
Prescriptions of gabapentinoids – what should we learn from the insights of Malcolm Lader?
Global perspectives on Covid-19 and substance misuse: A report from the ICARA webinar series
Special Session: International Confederation of ATOD Research Associations
Rachel O'Donnell
Covid-19 and the tobacco political and health economy
Claire Wilkinson
Examining the impacts of alcohol restrictions and social distancing measures on patterns of home drinking, unnatural deaths ambulance attendances and delivery of treatment for alcohol use disorders
Rosalie Liccardo Pacula
Cannabis use, markets and policy and the effects of Covid-19
