Impulsiveness, suicide, and aggression in a sample of patients with disorders of methyl amphetamine use

Research has showed a link between patients with methamphetamine dependence and the risk of impulsiveness, aggression, and the risk of suicide. But, this link has not been studied in patients abusing methamphetamine, and it is unknown how impulsiveness, aggression, and the risk of suicide affect them.

This cross-sectional study included 130 adult patients diagnosed with the disorder of the use of amphetamine, methamphetamine, cannabinoids, alcohol, other substances, and polysubstance admitted in the Addiction Department for Mental Health. Participants were interviewed for detailed psychiatric history using a structured questionnaire comprising of structured clinical interview for diagnosis I, Arabic version of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS), Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation for the evaluation of suicidal ideation and behavior, and the Aggression and Hostility scale for adolescents and youth. SPSS was used for data analysis; Initial analysis included descriptive statistics: frequencies and percentages for categorical variables and mean and standard deviation for continuous variables. Chi-square test/Fisher's exact test assessed for association between categorical variables, whereas one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)/ Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare continuous variables.

Patients who used methamphetamine either alone (23%) or with polysubstance (42.6%) were associated with higher suicidal risk than patients who did use other substances than methamphetamine (36.1%). A comparison of the three groups on impulsivity, showed significant difference regarding total scores, motor preservation, and non-planning self-control. No significant differences found between three groups on the aggression scores.

There was a higher rate of impulsivity and suicidal risk in patients with methamphetamine dependence in comparison to dependence on other substances, while there was no difference with regard to aggression between patients with methamphetamine dependence and those dependent on other substances. This finding raises the issue of methamphetamine use disorder as a new substance of dependence.