{"id":11392,"date":"2026-02-05T15:23:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T04:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/?p=11392"},"modified":"2026-02-05T15:33:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T04:33:35","slug":"abstinence-from-psychoactive-substance-use-as-foundational-best-practice-for-neurodevelopment-and-brain-health-from-the-abstract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/abstinence-from-psychoactive-substance-use-as-foundational-best-practice-for-neurodevelopment-and-brain-health-from-the-abstract\/","title":{"rendered":"Abstinence From Psychoactive Substance Use as Foundational Best Practice for Neurodevelopment and Brain Health  From the Abstract:"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"11392\" class=\"elementor elementor-11392\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5dfd2bef e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"5dfd2bef\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-78c34981 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"78c34981\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>Abstinence From Psychoactive Substance Use as Foundational Best Practice for Neurodevelopment and Brain Health<\/strong><\/p><p><strong><em>From the Abstract:<\/em><\/strong> This paper argues that abstinence from nonmedical psychoactive substance use should be conceptualized not merely as harm avoidance but as a positive enabling condition for neurodevelopment and neurorehabilitation. Abstinence removes maladaptive plasticity pressures, facilitates recovery of brain structure and function, enhances responsiveness to lifestyle and cognitive interventions, and supports stable engagement in health promoting behaviours. Policy and clinical frameworks that embed abstinence as a central design principle are therefore best placed to protect and optimize brain health, especially in youth and in individuals recovering from substance use disorders.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4327150 elementor-widget elementor-widget-ucaddon_underline_link_hover_effect\" data-id=\"4327150\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"ucaddon_underline_link_hover_effect.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<!-- start Underline Link Hover Effect -->\n\t\t<link id='font-awesome-css' href='https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/plugins\/unlimited-elements-for-elementor-premium\/assets_libraries\/font-awesome6\/fontawesome-all.min.css' type='text\/css' rel='stylesheet' >\n\t\t<link id='font-awesome-4-shim-css' href='https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/plugins\/unlimited-elements-for-elementor-premium\/assets_libraries\/font-awesome6\/fontawesome-v4-shims.min.css' type='text\/css' rel='stylesheet' >\n\n<style>\/* widget: Underline Link Hover Effect *\/\n\n#uc_underline_link_hover_effect_elementor_4327150{\n  display:flex;\n} \n\n#uc_underline_link_hover_effect_elementor_4327150 a.ue-link{\n  display:flex;\n  position:relative;\n  align-items:center;\n  justify-content:center;\n  text-decoration:none;\n}\n\n#uc_underline_link_hover_effect_elementor_4327150 a.ue-link:after{\n  content: \"\";\n    width:100%;\n    position:absolute;\n  bottom:0px;\n    left:0px;\n    display: block;\n  transition:1000ms;\n}\n\n#uc_underline_link_hover_effect_elementor_4327150 a:hover:after{\n    width:0%;\n  }\n\n#uc_underline_link_hover_effect_elementor_4327150 .ue-link-hover-effect-spacing{\n  transition:1000ms;\n}\n\n#uc_underline_link_hover_effect_elementor_4327150 .ue-link-hover-effect-text{\n  padding:10px 0px;\n  transition:1000ms;\n}\n\n#uc_underline_link_hover_effect_elementor_4327150 .ue-link-hover-effect-icon{\n  line-height:1em;\n  transition:1000ms;\n}\n\n#uc_underline_link_hover_effect_elementor_4327150 .ue-link-hover-effect-icon svg{\n  height:1em;\n  width:1em;\n}\n\n<\/style>\n\n<div id=\"uc_underline_link_hover_effect_elementor_4327150\" class=\"ue-link-wrap\">\n  <a class=\"ue-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DalgarnoInstituteResearchReporAbstinenceNeuroadaptivity2026pdf.pdf\"  target='_blank'>\n    <div class=\"ue-link-hover-effect-text\">View PDF<\/div>\n    <div class=\"ue-link-hover-effect-spacing\"><\/div>\n    <div class=\"ue-link-hover-effect-icon\"><i class='fas fa-arrow-right'><\/i><\/div>\n  <\/a>\n<\/div>\n<!-- end Underline Link Hover Effect -->\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Abstinence From Psychoactive Substance Use as Foundational Best Practice for Neurodevelopment and Brain Health From the Abstract: This paper argues that abstinence from nonmedical psychoactive substance use should be conceptualized not merely as harm avoidance but as a positive enabling condition for neurodevelopment and neurorehabilitation. Abstinence removes maladaptive plasticity pressures, facilitates recovery of brain structure [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11417,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11392\/revisions\/11417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}