Tobacco from Medicinal Use to Substance Abuse

Abstract. Aim: This study investigates the characteristics of older patients with substance abuse disorders admitted to a psychiatric department serving about 250.000 inhabitants. Methods: The clinical diagnoses were made according to ICD-10. The data of the patients with substance abuse were compared to a matched sample of psychiatric inpatients without substance abuse as well as to a group of former substance abusers with long-term abstinence. Results: 19.3 % of the 941 patients aged > 65 years showed current substance abuse, 9.4 % consumed alcohol, 7.9 % took benzodiazepines or z-drugs (zolpidem and zopiclone), and 7.0 % smoked tobacco. Multiple substance abuse was rather common (30.8 %). About 85 % of the substance abusers had psychiatric comorbidity, and about 30 % showed severe withdrawal symptoms. As with the rest of the patients, somatic multimorbidity was present in about 70 % of the substance abusers. Remarkable was the lower rate of dementia in current substance abusers. Conclusion: These results underscore that substance abuse is still a challenge in the psychiatric inpatient treatment of older people.

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Dialektisch Behaviorale Therapie für Patienten mit emotional instabiler Persönlichkeitsstörung und komorbider Abhängigkeitserkrankung: DBT Substance Abuse

SUCHT - Zeitschrift für Wissenschaft und Praxis / Journal of Addiction Research and Practice ◽

10.1024/2008.04.01 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 54 (4) ◽

pp. 205-207 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Thorsten Kienast ◽

Sophie Reiske ◽

Julia Förster ◽

Claudia Schmitt ◽

Erik Lauterbach ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Substance Abuse ◽

Dialektisch Behaviorale Therapie

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Substance Abuse and Drug-Related Death, Suicidal Ideation, and Suicide: A Review

Crisis ◽

10.1027//0227-5910.20.1.28 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 28-35 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Annie Mino ◽

Arnaud Bousquet ◽

Barbara Broers

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Risk Factors ◽

Substance Abuse ◽

Suicidal Ideation ◽

Family Support ◽

Drug Users ◽

Suicide Attempts ◽

Public Health Problem ◽

Major Public Health Problem ◽

Hiv Epidemic

The high mortality rate among drug users, which is partly due to the HIV epidemic and partly due to drug-related accidental deaths and suicides, presents a major public health problem. Knowing more about prevalence, incidence, and risk factors is important for the development of rational preventive and therapeutic programs. This article attempts to give an overview of studies of the relations between substance abuse, suicidal ideation, suicide, and drug-related death. Research in this field is hampered by the absence of clear definitions, and results of studies are rarely comparable. There is, however, consensus about suicidal ideation being a risk factor for suicide attempts and suicide. Suicidal ideation is also a predictor of suicide, especially among drug users. It is correlated with an absence of family support, with the severity of the psychosocial dysfunctioning, and with multi-drug abuse, but also with requests for treatment. Every clinical examination of a drug user, not only of those who are depressed, should address the possible presence of suicidal ideation, as well as its intensity and duration.

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