Relationship Between Psychiatric Distress and Criminal History Among Intravenous Drug Abusers in Iran

Sychotropic agents (alcohol, drugs, and illicit substances) have an important effect on the occurrence or exacerbation of psychological and behavioral derangements such as criminal activity and mental abnormalities.

The objective was to assess the relationship between psychiatric distress and criminal history among abusers of intravenous drugs, including heroin, benzodiazepine, codeine, cannabis, opium, and ecstasy.

Criminal activity history and psychiatric distress were evaluated among intravenous drug abusers in drop-in centers (DIC) (141 subjects) and an outpatient service to delivery methadone to the addicts located in Razy Hospital (Baghdad, Iraq) (120 subjects). Logistic regression analyses using the SPSS for Windows 18.0 were used for analyzing the data.

About 86% of the intravenous drug abusers had psychiatric distress and 48.2% had criminal activity history. DIC addicts group had a better mental well-being compared to the other group, but criminal history rate was similar in two groups. In multiple logistic regression, addiction to heroin (odds ratio [OR] = 1.9, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1 - 4.1), mental disorders (β = 0.060, P = 0.026), and low level of education was highly related with criminal activity (OR = 0.17, 95% CI: 0.03 - 0.89).

Higher scores in mental well-being questionnaire of DIC addicts suggest the positive effects of psychological interventions. There is a possibility of the involvement of heroin in occurrence of mental disorders and criminal activity. This finding needs further investigations by larger cohort studies.