Addiction & Health
Volume:4 Issue: 1, Winter-Spring 2012

Methadone Maintenance Treatment is a useful method for opioid dependents, which results in harm reduction and increased quality of life in opioid dependents. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in addicts is higher than in the general population which can interfere with the course and treatment of substance dependents and decrease the efficacy of treatment. This descriptive, cross-sectional study was aimed to determine the correlation between psychiatric disorders and methadone dosage. It was performed on 154 patients of Kerman Shahid Beheshti Hospital’s Methadone Clinic during a six month period from Dec 2010 to Jul 2011. The study population was chosen by convenience sampling. The searching tools were Socio-Demographic Questionnaire, psychiatric structured interview based on DSM-IV-TR, Beck Depression Inventory, Young Mania Rating Scales, and Anxiety and Depression Rating Scales. Significant correlations were observed between increased methadone dosage and antisocial personality disorder. In addition, significant positive correlations were observed between increased methadone dosage and Hamilton anxiety scores, Hamilton depression scores and Young Mania scores. High methadone dosage may be a marker of coexisting psychiatric disorders in patients on methadone maintenance treatment which indicates the necessity of devoting further attention to this group. Psychiatric services should be open and accessible to the patients, especially those who seek treatment voluntarily. Early diagnosis and treatment of patients with coexisting psychiatric disorders may increase the efficacy of methadone maintenance treatment.

Cannabinoid, particularly hashish and WIN 55212-2 (WIN), consumption during embryonic period may affect fetal growth, and the development of motor functioning, memory and cognitive functions. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the effects of WIN 55212-2 during embryonic period on behavioral responses, as well as tissue and memory changes among neonatal rats. WIN treated groups subcutaneously received daily doses of 0.5 or 1 mg/kg WIN suspended in 1% Tween-80-saline (1 mL/kg) from days 5 to 20 of pregnancy. The vehicle group received 1% Tween-80-saline from days 5 to 20 of pregnancy. Three, five and seven weeks after birth, the effects of maternal WIN consumption on infants'' body weight, mortality, histological changes, motor functioning, and memory function were assessed. Prenatal WIN consumption was associated with atrophy of cerebellum cortex in granular and Purkinje cells layers. WIN treatment of pregnant rats produced a significant decrease in the rearing frequency of the offspring, but significantly increased the grooming frequency at 22, 36 and 50 days of age. During the acquisition trials, approach latencies were not significantly different between all groups of rats (50 days old). When the trial was repeated 24 hours and seven days later (retention trial), the avoidance latencies of the WIN-exposed group were significantly shorter than those of the control and vehicle animals. The mortality percent was increased significantly and litter size was decreased significantly in WIN (1 mg/kg) treated rats compared to the control, vehicle and WIN (0.5 mg/kg) treatment groups. These findings suggested that prenatal exposure to WIN probably induces long-term alterations in histological, motor functioning, and learning and memory parameters.

The twelve step program is one of the programs that are administered for overcoming abuse of drugs. In this study, the effectiveness of chemical dependency counseling course was investigated using a hybrid model. In a survey with sample size of 243, participants were selected using stratified random sampling method. A questionnaire was used for collecting data and one sample t-test employed for data analysis. Chemical dependency counseling courses was effective from the point of view of graduates, chiefs of rehabilitation centers, rescuers and their families and ultimately managers of rebirth society, but it was not effective from the point of view of professors and lecturers. The last group evaluated the effectiveness of chemical dependency counseling courses only in performance level. It seems that the chemical dependency counseling courses had appropriate effectiveness and led to change in attitudes, increase awareness, knowledge and experience combination and ultimately increased the efficiency of counseling.

There are many different kinds of cigarettes and tobacco available in the market. Since nicotine content of various brands of cigarettes are very variable, therefore evaluation and comparison of nicotine content of different brands of cigarettes is important. The goal of the present study was to determine and compare nicotine content of various domestic and imported cigarettes available in the area. Fourteen popular imported brands and nine popular domestic brands of cigarettes and three available brands of tobaccos were investigated for the amounts of nicotine content. Nicotine was extracted from each cigarette and tobacco samples and was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. The amount of nicotine in each cigarette was from 6.17 to 12.65 mg (1.23 ± 0.15 percent of tobacco weight in each cigarette) in domestic cigarettes. It was between 7.17-28.86 mg (1.80 ± 0.25 percent of tobacco weight in each cigarette) for imported cigarette, and between 30.08- 50.89 mg (3.82 ± 1.11 percent) for the pipe nicotine. There was significant difference in nicotine amount between imported and domestic brands of cigarettes. There was also no significant difference in nicotine content between light and normal cigarettes in imported brands. Nicotine content of all tested cigarettes, imported and domestic brands, were higher than the international standard.

Addiction is a social problem and a destructive phenomenon; like other social diversions, addiction destroys the country’s most valuable assets, which are obviously the youth and the adolescents. In this regard, this study has been performed with the aim of comparing the mental health, aggression, and hopefulness of student drug-users and healthy students. The study has been performed by descriptive-analytical method among students of Kerman’s universities in Iran. The study sample contained 520 people who were selected using a stratified random sampling method. Three questionnaires including General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ) and Miller Hopefulness questionnaire have been used for data gathering. In this study, the student drug-users are those who use a substance (cigarettes, hookah, alcohol, opium, etc.) at least once a week. Findings showed that out of the 520 people under-study, 34.62% (180 people) are drug-users, by whom the percentages of different substances used are as following: Hookah: 38.33%; Cigarettes: 28.35%; Alcohol: 20.55%; Opium: 5.55%; Cannabis: 2.23%; Heroin: 1.12%; Crack: 0.55%; Glass: 1.66 % and Psychotropic Pills and Ecstasy: 1.66%. A significant difference was observed in comparing the mental health, aggression, and hopefulness of student drug-users and healthy students (P < 0.05), so that the student drug-users had lower mental health and hopefulness and showed more aggression than the healthy group. Substance abuse endangers the mental health of people and drug-users show more aggression and are less hopeful.

The problem of addiction is one of the four global crises. These patients are more vulnerable to mental disorders. This study aimed to examine the risk of suicide in drug dependent patients. In this cross-sectional study, patients who referred for addiction treatment were selected and the control group was chosen among their companions who did not have narcotic drugs dependence. Suicide risk was assessed through California Suicide Risk Assessment Questionnaire. Beck’s Depression Inventory questionnaire was used to assess the depression level. The comparison of average education (P < 0.01) and the unemployment rate (P = 0.03) and previous attempted suicide (P = 0.01) between the narcotic drug dependent group and control group showed a statistically significant difference. Suicide risk score (P < 0.01) and depression score (P < 0.01) differences were statistically significant. The average scores of depression score in addicts was significantly associated with their previous attempted suicide (P = 0.01). In the control group, there was a significant association in suicide score and depression score with their previous attempted suicide (P < 0.01). Suicide score were compared based on the depression degree in both groups and statistically significant differences were found (P < 0.01). The suicide risk and depression in drug addicts are more than general population and they are closely related to each other.

Internet addiction is one of the harmful effects of the Internet. The findings of several studies have indicated a relationship between general health and Internet addiction. Metacognition, which includes the knowledge, processes, and strategies to evaluate, and monitor or control the cognition, can play a significant role in this regard. The present research aimed to assess the mediating role of metacognitive variables in the relationship between Internet addiction and general health. This correlational study included 94 male and female users with different nationalities at Internet cafés in Abu Dhabi (the United Arab Emirates). All subjects aged at least 18 years and were proficient in English. The research tools included the General Health Questionnaire (with a reliability of 0.89), Metacognition Questionnaire (with a reliability of 0.82), and Kimberly Young''s Internet Addiction Test (with a reliability of 0.88). The hypothesis was tested applying SPSS18 and Amos18. The results indicated a significant positive relationship between all aspects of metacognition and Internet addiction (r = 0.30; P < 0.01). A significant positive relationship was also observed between Internet addiction and general health (r = 0.47; P < 0.01). Path analysis revealed the mediating role of metacognition in the relationship between low general health and Internet addiction. Among the metacognitive variables, the mind control had the highest correlation coefficient (r = 0.80). The Internet and digital technologies have caused unwanted and negative effects which are classified as emerging damages. The relationship between Internet addiction and general health has been confirmed in this research. In addition, metacognitive processes can have a positive and mediating role on this relationship.

Addiction is the repeated use of a chemical substance which affects the biological function of the brain and endangers physical health of the addicted person. Prevalence and pattern of taking drugs were assessed in the current study in a Special Cares Trauma Center. So the specialized physician could manage the medical procedure more easily through identification of addicted patients and type of their narcotics. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 545 patients admitted to the Special Cares Center of Shahid Bahonar Hospital, Kerman, Iran, during 2010-2012. The data were collected by special information collection forms and then analyzed using SPSS software. Among the total studied samples, around 55% of admitted patients were addicts. Opium was the most frequently used narcotic among the addicted patients with a percentage of 62%. Smoking was the most common method of taking the narcotics. 90% of addicted persons were male and 95% of them held diploma and under-diploma educational degrees. Among the reasons for admission of addicted patients to the Special Cares Clinic of Trauma Center, head trauma was the dominant cause (51%). Addiction is considerably more prevalent among the population admitted to the Special Cares Center compared to the society, indicating greater vulnerability of addicted individuals in the society. Addiction to traditional and indigenous drugs are still the most prevalent, and fortunately, these drugs are easier to substitute and medicate compared to the new industrial narcotics.

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between metacognitive beliefs and the tendency to addiction in the students of the University of Sistan and Baluchistan, located in the –South-East of Iran, during the academic year of 2009-2010. This was a descriptive, correlational study, and the statistical samples were 200 male BSc students selected with cluster random sampling procedures from the three schools of Literature, Science, and Engineering. The measuring tools were the metacognition Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30), and Addiction Potential Scale. Data analysis was done by the SPSS software using the Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regressions. The result of data analysis showed that metacognitive beliefs and their subscales had a significant negative relationship with the tendency toward addiction (P < 0.01). The results show that fewer metacognitive characteristics are associated with a high tendency to addiction. The findings of this study indicate that disturbed metacognitive beliefs is a good predictor of students tendency to addiction, therefore, teaching strategies metacognition is important in the prevention of young people’s Tendency toward- addiction.

The main goal of this study is to determine the relationship between opium dependency and frequency of urolithiasis renal colics. In a cross sectional study we compared opium dependency in urolithiasis patients (case group) with non-urolithiasis patients (control group) and assessed urolithiasis related renal colics as risk factor to opium dependency prevalence. Dependency was defined as the diagnostic criteria specified in DSM-IV questionnaire and Urolithiasis was diagnosed by standard methods (imaging modalities as US, X-Ray). From 450 urolithiasis adult patients (120 female and 370 male with the age range of 18-67 years) 157 (34.88%) were opium addicts, however from the 340 non-urolithiasis patients (matched age group and gender ratios) only16 (4.70%) were opium addicts (P < 0.001). 56.68% of urolithiasis patients (who had a history of more than 15 renal colics (related to stone forming frequencies) were addicts for more than 10 years (P < 0.05). A strong positive correlation between the duration of dependency and renal colic rate was detected in these patients (P < 0.001, r = 0.999). This study showed that the risk of opium dependency is higher among urolithiasis patients. Moreover, there was a relation between urolithiasis frequencies (renal colics) and the duration of dependency. Other factors such as severity of pain, perception and faith of patients in the therapeutic effects of opium or local availability of opium were also effective in opium dependency.