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Environmental interventions to refer to a broad class of interventions designed to impact behavior by changing the external environment in such a way as to inhibit alcohol and drug use. The interventions addressed thus far in this chapter are individual interventions, in that they are designed to change thoughts, behaviors, and emotions of specific individuals who receive the intervention. In contrast, environmental interventions are not necessarily targeted to specific individuals but are designed to create a context that disincentivizes alcohol and drug use among all of those in the environment. Most of these interventions have focused on alcohol use because it is a legal substance readily available in most communities. An example of a well-known environmental intervention involved raising the drinking age in the United States from 18 to 21, which resulted in a decrease in alcohol consumption and traffic crashes (Wagenaar & Toomey, 2002). There is evidence to suggest that 12-step programs are as efficacious as other interventions/treatments (Ouimette, Finney, & Moos, 1997; Project MATCH Research Group, 1997).
This raises the risk of a serious problem that can happen when the heart doesn’t get enough blood, called a heart attack. It also raises the risk of a condition that keeps the brain from getting enough oxygen, called a stroke. Depression has also been linked to steroid use, and athletes who use performance-enhancing steroids are more likely to attempt suicide than athletes who do not use them. Additionally, athletes who use a needle to inject steroids may have pain at the injection site and risk developing an infection.
Several research studies have shown that transitioning from in- to off-season serves as a risk factor for heavy drinking among athletes. Another study of professional Australian Football League players showed a dramatic increase in risky drinking between pre-season and in-season time periods versus the off season (Dietze et al., 2008). The use of other substances may follow a similar pattern, and suggests the need for negative effects of drugs in sport targeted intervention/prevention efforts for athletes transitioning out of their competitive seasons. While far from aligning with hegemonic ideals of sport and anti-doping, systematic doping has provided a way of protecting athletes from the risks and harms produced by anti-doping within the sports environment. These efforts exist in tension with anti-doping, forming a responsive relationship between the two groups.
Programs that seek to remove doping as a viable activity for athletes want to preserve what is valuable about competition in the first place. Athletic competitions and games should be fun, build character, and offer a foundation of honesty. You must have a respect for oneself before there is an embrace of the true competitive nature that occurs during these events. Doping takes this away because there is no long-term self-respect involved.
People who follow the “spirit” of a sport will continue to do so, whether they take HGH or like to eat steak every night for dinner. Competition is not impacted by the use of performance enhancing substances. The nature of humanity creates unfair competition at times without the use of drugs or hormones. If we wanted to create an environment that was truly fair, then we would need to ban training and coaching altogether. People who train harder will always go further than those who choose not to train at all.
This time in America’s pastime involved players using numerous performance enhancing drugs, resulting in an increased level of offensive performance. There is no “start” date to this era, but it is believed to have begun in the 1980s, and then it ran through the late 2000s. In this section, we will attempt to present some of the current data looking at TMS, tCDS in addiction treatment in an effort to project the positive prospects onto athletes due to a lack of data presently available related to athletes specifically. It is important to relay that none of these studies presently look at athletes but this review attempts to lay out some data to support further evaluating such treatments in this distinct population.