Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Nov 13:6:31.
doi: 10.1186/1744-859X-6-31.

The mental status of 1090 heroin addicts at entry into treatment: should depression be considered a 'dual diagnosis'?

Icro Maremmani  1 , Matteo Pacini, Pier Paolo Pani, Giulio Perugi, Joseph Deltito, Hagop Akiskal
Affiliations

The mental status of 1090 heroin addicts at entry into treatment: should depression be considered a 'dual diagnosis'?

Icro Maremmani et al. Ann Gen Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: Mental symptoms are common in heroin addiction and may arise from issues of addiction and withdrawal, raising doubts about the patients truly having co-morbid psychiatric diagnoses.

Methods: We studied the mental status of 1090 heroin addicts (831 males and 259 females aged between 16 and 51 years) at the beginning of treatment, and its relationship to relevant demographic and clinical data through the use of standardised instruments.

Results: A total of 506 (46.42%) heroin addicts showed depressive-anxious symptomatology, 421 (38.62%) had psychomotor excitement and 163 (14.95%) demonstrated a psychotic state. Patients with depressive-anxious symptomatology on the whole had a less severe addictive illness compared to those demonstrating excited and psychotic symptoms. The presence of depressive-anxious features was felt to not necessarily be indicative of the presence of a dual diagnosis.

Conclusion: The presence of depressive-anxious symptomatology in the clinical presentation in heroin addicts appears to be unrelated to 'dual diagnosis'.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Tagliamonte A. Heroin Addiction as normal illness. Heroin Addict Relat Clin Probl. 1999;1:9–12.
    1. Lowinson JH, Ruiz P, Millman RB, Langrod JG. Substance Abuse. A Comprehensive Textbook. Baltimore , Williams & Wilkins; 1992. - PubMed
    1. Maremmani I, Perugi G, Pacini M, Akiskal H. Toward a Unitary Perspective on the Bipolar Spectrum and Substance Abuse: Opiate Addiction as a Paradigm. J Affect Disord. 2006;93:1–12. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2006.02.022. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Maremmani I, Pacini M, Lubrano S, Lovrecic M, Perugi G. Dual diagnosis heroin addicts. The clinical and therapeutic aspects. Heroin Addict Relat Clin Probl. 2003;5:7–98.
    1. Maremmani I, Castrogiovanni P. DAH-RS: Drug Addiction History Rating Scale. Pisa , University Press; 1989.

LinkOut - more resources