Characteristics of drug addicts who attempt suicide

The aim of the study was to further describe the characteristics of drug-dependent patients who attempt suicide. Thus, 449 drug-dependent patients were interviewed about whether or not they had ever attempted suicide and about their family history of suicidal behavior. Patients completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and were interviewed with the Addiction Severity Index (ASI). It was found that patients who had attempted suicide (N=175) were significantly younger than patients who had never attempted suicide (N=274). Significantly more of the patients who had attempted suicide were female; had a family history of suicide; and had a lifetime history of major depression, of having received antidepressant medication, and of alcoholism. Also, patients who had attempted suicide had significantly higher scores for childhood trauma, psychoticism, neuroticism and introversion, as well as higher ASI psychiatric composite scores. These results suggest that social, personality, family, developmental and psychiatric risk factors may predispose to suicidal behavior in drug-dependent individuals.     

多巴胺2受体基因TaqIA多态性与美沙酮维持治疗海洛因依赖患者心理症状相关性研究

目的研究昆明市美沙酮维持治疗A门诊接受美沙酮维持治疗的汉族海洛因依赖者多巴胺D2受体基因TaqIA多态性与接受美沙酮维持治疗海洛因依赖患者心理症状的相关性,探讨影响病人治疗效果的遗传因素。方法对81例接受美沙酮维持治疗的海洛因依赖者实施SCL-90测试,应用聚合酶链式反应-限制性片段长度多态性（PCR-RFLP）技术,检测多巴胺D2受体基因TaqIA基因多态,比较不同基因型与SCL-90各因子的关系。结果 A1＋组（A1/A1,A1/A2）与A1-组（A2/A2）SCL-90各因子分无显著性差异。结论D2受体基因TaqIA多态性与美沙酮维持治疗海洛因依赖患者心理症状可能不存在相关性。     

Hypnotic treatment of PTSD in children who have complicated bereavement

Although conceptualized as a normal reaction to loss and not classified as a mental disorder, grief can be considered a focus of treatment. When grief complicates and becomes pathological by virtue of its duration, intensity, and absence or by bizarre or somatic manifestation, a psychiatric diagnosis is in order. Childhood PTSD in Complicated Bereavement is a condition derived from the loss of a loved one when the nature of death is occasioned through traumatic means. The traumatic nature of the loss engenders trauma symptoms, which impinge on the child's normal grieving process and his/ her ability to negotiate the normal grieving system. The 2 cases presented herein constitute single session treatment with clinical hypnosis of PTSD, a result of the traumatic loss of the paternal figures. The setting in which these cases took place was rural Guatemala. Treatment consisted of single session hypnosis with the Hypnotic Trauma Narrative, a tool designed to address the symptomatology of PTSD. Follow-up a week later and telephone follow-up 2 months later demonstrated the resolution of traumatic manifestations and the spontaneous beginning of the normal grief process.     

Therapeutic attempts with lithium in young drug addicts.

On the hypothesis that drug addiction may be due to "masked depression", lithium was administered to 20 opiate addicts. Only nine patients took the lithium carbonate tablets for more than a few weeks; during this period they seemed to abstain from taking opiates. After 1 year, all the patients were off lithium and most of them again took opiates. Due to lack of cooperation on the part of the patients, the observations can neither confirm nor refute our hypothesis. The study shows that psychological and socio-environmental factors make trials on drug treatment of opiate addicts almost impossible to carry out.