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Self-medication among addicts with primary psychiatric disorders
R Casteneda1, M Galanter, H Franco
1Bellevue Hospital Medical Center, New York, NY 10016.
Comprehensive Psychiatry
|January 1, 1989
Summary
Dually diagnosed patients reported that heroin and alcohol improved psychiatric symptoms, while cocaine worsened them. This suggests cocaine abuse may not be for self-medication.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Addiction Medicine
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Dually diagnosed patients often exhibit complex symptom profiles.
- Understanding drug effects on psychiatric symptoms is crucial for treatment.
- Self-medication hypothesis is frequently considered in substance abuse.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of specific illicit drug use on psychiatric symptoms in dually diagnosed inpatients.
- To explore whether cocaine abuse aligns with the self-medication hypothesis.
Main Methods:
- Study included 32 dually diagnosed inpatients.
- Participants described drug-induced changes in psychiatric symptoms.
- Data collected through patient self-reporting.
Main Results:
- Heroin addicts reported symptom improvement.
- Most alcoholics reported symptom improvement.
- All cocaine addicts reported symptom worsening.
Conclusions:
- Chronic cocaine abuse may not be driven by self-medication of psychiatric symptoms.
- Differential effects of various drugs on psychiatric conditions observed.
- Findings challenge the universal applicability of the self-medication hypothesis in addiction.