Abuse of monoamine oxidase inhibitors

Abuse of monoamine oxidase inhibitors is not common but there are a few cases of addiction in the literature. Most of these patients had an additional diagnosis, either history of past drug abuse or personality disorder and MAOI withdrawal symptoms have been reported. We encountered three patients who received MAOI under psychiatric care. They were all self medicated by increasing the doses on their own, experienced euphoria and visited various physicians to obtain MAOI prescriptions and manifested toxic states. One of our patients had a normal, another a schizoid and the third, an addictive personality. Two were addicted in the past to amphetamine. Therefore, it is important not to prescribe MAOI's to patients who have a history of amphetamine and other addictions.