[Opiate dependence in immigrant from Turkey]

A group of Turkish drug-addicted out-patients (n = 34) is compared to a group of Swiss opiate-addicted outpatients (n = 145) with respect to age, sex, social status, the number of offspring, the age of initiation of drug addiction and the type of the drug used. The results revealed that the Turkish population showed a better prognostic profile when the age of initiation of drug addiction, the familial integration and multiple addiction are taken into account, 97.1% of the Turkish opiate-addicted patients belonged to the second-generation immigrant population. In this group, the median age at immigration to Switzerland was 14.2 +/- 2.1 (excluding the three patients born in Switzerland). The conflict between the group-oriented expectations of their families and the individual-oriented life style of the peer group is the main reason for social role confusion, identity disturbances, for feelings of guilt because of separation or for shame because of dependence from the family. Confusion in social roles as well as in the interpretation of identification and the development and integration of identity permitting the coexistence of both cultures are the main topics of psychotherapy of drug-addicted Turkish immigrants.