Addiction & Health
Volume:1 Issue: 2, Autumn 2009

Considering the fear of drug addicts from hangover symptoms and the costs of withdrawal treatment and their importance in deciding to withdraw, it is helpful to identify various ways of withdrawal and their effects. This study investigated the withdrawal symptoms of two methods of detoxification with clonidine and rapid detoxification of clonidine with naltrexone. This was a clinical trial study. Patients referred to Shahid Beheshti hospital for narcotic addiction treatment were randomly divided into two groups. Group matching was done based on entry and excluding criteria. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire including questions on the drug abuse and the consumption method, and a questionnaire on the symptoms of opioid withdrawal. Restlessness, vomiting, feeling sick and significant decrease of diastolic blood pressure was higher in rapid detoxification method group. However, considering background variables, Spearman correlation coefficient showed significant relationship just for lacrimation. Temptation for drug consumption was lower for heavy abusers in rapid detoxification method and in general, those who had higher amount of consumption and were treated by rapid detoxification, experienced less temptation for consumption. Rapid detoxification can be the first level treatment for heavy abusers, because it reduces the temptation for drug consumption and has shorter hospitalization and, as a result, has lower cost.

Many schizophrenic patients are engaged in self-medication drug abuse, including narcotics. It is assumed that many of these patients have a greater number of psychotic symptoms, and show noncompliance with treatment. In this study, we investigated relationship of positive and negative symptoms and opioid dependence in these patients. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study on 100 patients with schizophrenia. The diagnoses were made based on DSM-IV criteria. After evaluating demographic data, the patients were assessed with positive and negative symptom scale (PANSS) test. Data were analyzed using SPSS10 software. Fifty percent of patients were identified to be opioid dependent based on DSM–IV criteria. Seventy five percent of patients were male and the rest were female. The mean (SD) scores of positive symptoms were 39.58 (23.374) and 54.34 (21.025) in non-dependent and dependent patients, respectively (P = 0.01). Other statistical measurements were unremarkable. High prevalence of opioid dependence in our sample can be due to availability of these substances in the community. Opioid may be used as self medication, can reduce the severity of positive symptoms, and may also make positive symptoms more tolerable for patients.

To assess patient's satisfaction and to evaluate methadone therapy program, it is important to understand the experiences of opium dependents during the treatment period in methadone centers and determine the quality of this program and revise standards based on that. This study aimed to describe the nature and structure of patient's experiences during treatment in methadone centers. This was a qualitative method using phenomenology. Sampling was purposive and the participants were selected from opium dependents referred to Kerman methadone centers during 2007. Sampling continued until data saturation and the sample size was 32. Colaizzi's method was applied for data analysis. The findings of this study included 27 codes categorized in four main groups: experiences of structure, personnel, patients, and regulations. These four categories showed the main structure of experiences in methadone centers. Lack of treatment centers in near-by cities or the problems of those centers suggest that it is necessary to establish new centers or solve the problems of centers in near-by cities. The type of patients referring to the centers plays a role in treatment process. The regular presence of physicians and other personnel and their concerns and care for patients as well as longer working hours of the centers have roles in patient's satisfaction and increase of consistency with treatment. Discussing the rules and regulations of the center with patients including the obligatory of daily reference to the center to obtain medicine and injections sound necessary. Also, it is necessary to find ways for solving problems of urine tests.

Drug abuse is usually associated with behavioral disorders in children especially conduct disorder. This study investigated the behavioral disorders of children whose parents were opium or heroin dependent in compare with children whose parents were non-addicts to find the effects of drug abuse on offspring's behavior disorders by adjusting intervening factors. This case-control study, compared the behavioral disorders of 128 students (aged 8 to 14 years) in two groups of opium or heroin dependent parents and non–dependent parents (n = 64 in both groups) using Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) questionnaire. Parents of both groups were checked not to have any significant psychiatric disorder (such as personality disorder or mood disorder), major health problem, and history of divorce. To compare percentages of the two groups, chi square and if required exact test were used.There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in subscales of oppositional behavior problems and problems disorders. According to the results, in case there is no psychiatric co-morbidity associated with opium and heroin abuse, drug dependency does not seem to have any effect on disruptive bahavior disorder of children. Due to study limitations, the results cannot be generalized without conducting the study on a bigger population.

Iran (I.R.) is suffering the growing problem of opiate abuse. In evaluation of the treatment plan for opium dependent patients, a valid and reliable instrument is needed to measure patient's severity of dependence. This study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Persian version of the "Substance Dependence Severity Scale" (SDSS). After translating the English version of SDSS to Persian and then back translating it to English, a structured interview with 200 opium dependent patients was conducted to collect data. Then, reliability (internal consistency and test-retest procedure) and construct validity were tested. The alpha coefficient was 0.77 and the correlation between test and retest results showed a high correlation coefficient (0.97) which confirmed the reliability. Construct validity was assessed by a cross-check against General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and the results were in favor of its validity. But the correlation between the amount of substance usage and scores of the 1st and 2nd questions were not within the acceptable range. The results support the reliability of the Persian version of SDSS, but to confirm its validity further studies are needed.

Psychedelic drugs can cause one to get out of normal status and permanent cerebral defects, via affecting central nervous system. Consumption of theses drugs seems to be increasing nowadays especially among the youth and university educated population. We conducted a study to evaluate the awareness of medical science students of Kerman University of medical science who are going to be the future medical population.This cross-sectional study was carried out on 471 of students of medicine, dentistry and pharmacy which were in the first to forth year of their education about psychedelic drugs (Ecstasy, LSD, Ice, crack and Yaba). To evaluate the student's awareness of drugs we used questionnaire with reliability and validity proven via pilot study. Statistics analysis was performed using SPSS13 software. Average of their age was 3.2 ± 20.4. Overall among the students, 56.7% were in the low level of insight, 34.3% in medium and 6.9% in good level and 2.2% had best insight of the drugs. Also only 32.2% of students had the full information about the name of drug, 25.7 % had information about the form of them, 24% about the addiction with them, 7% about their complication and only 5% about the origin of drugs. The information about all psychedelic drugs was higher among pharmacy students, students of the third year and males. Our study showed a low insight about psychedelic drugs like Ecstasy, LSD, Ice, Crack, and Yaba among the students. According to this lack of information of these groups, it is suggested that educational courses about the complication, signs and symptoms of these drugs be held.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of addiction to computer games on physical and mental health of students. The study population includes all students in the second year of public guidance schools in the city of Isfahan in the educational year of 2009-2010. The sample size includes 564 students selected by multiple steps stratified sampling. Dependent variables include general health in dimensions of physical health, anxiety and sleeplessness and impaired social functioning. Data were collected using General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) scale and a questionnaire on addiction to computer games. Pearson's correlation coefficient and structural model were used for data analysis. There was a significant positive correlation between student's computer games addiction and their physical and mental health in dimensions of physical health, anxiety and sleeplessness There was a significant negative relationship between addictions to computer games and impaired social functioning. The results of this study are in agreement with the findings of other studies around the world. As the results show, addiction to computer games affects various dimensions of health and increases physical problems, anxiety and depression, while decreases social functioning disorder.

Backgrond: Drug abuse, especially opium abuse, is a major public health problem in Iran. Recent reports suggest that opium sellers cheat their customers by adding lead to the opium. Contaminated opium can threaten the health of consumers. The present study aimed to compare the serum level of lead between opium dependents and a control group. This was a cross-sectional study in which 50 opium dependents aged 20 to 60 years old were compared with a control group of 43 non-dependents who were matched with the case group in terms of sex and age. The serum level of lead and liver function tests including serum total bilirubin, AST, ALT, Alkaline-phosphatase and hemoglobin were measured for all subjects. The mean level of serum lead concentration in opium dependents and controls was 3929.358 ± 147.67 and 3532.721 ± 1141.53, respectively and the difference was not statistically significant. There was no significant correlation between serum level of lead and age, duration of opium dependency, serum total bilirubin, hemoglobin, AST, ALT, and Alkaline-phosphate. Although there was no significant relationship between opium consumption and serum level of lead, the concentration of lead in dependent's serum was higher than controls. Further studies are needed to approve this relationship to be used for screening and on time diagnosis of opium dependents.

Methylphenidate is one of the classic amphetamines which can cause or exacerbate psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia patients. In this paper, a young man is presented with injection of methylphenidate tablets with acute cellulitis due to this injection and the related symptoms. In the first hospitalization and after recovery from psychotic disorder due to tablet injections, he was under treatment with anti-psychotics because of other symptoms related to schizophrenia. Although the patient was regularly under schizophrenic medication after discharge, he was hospitalized twice more due to psychotic symptoms that appeared after injecting methylphenidate. This report shows psychotic symptoms in schizophrenic patients after injecting methylphenidate. These symptoms cannot be prevented even by anti-psychotic medication of background disease. This case shows the existence of two kinds of psychoses, functional (due to schizophrenia) and organic psychoses (due to methylphenidate use) in the same patient.