The relation between early mother-infant interaction and later socio-emotional development has been well established. The present study addresses the more recent interest in the impact of maternal caregiving on cognitive development and their role in decision-making in young adulthood. Using data from a prospective longitudinal study on attachment, prediction from early mother-infant interactio...

OBJECTIVE The DSM-IV work group asked researchers and clinicians to subtype substance dependent individuals according to the presence or absence of physiological symptoms. A recent report from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism demonstrated that among alcohol-dependent men and women, a history of tolerance or withdrawal was associated with a more severe clinical course, espec...

AIM To determine whether neonates born to mothers who are volatile substance abusers are at risk for an abstinence syndrome. METHODS A consecutive sample of infants born to volatile substance abusing mothers was studied over four years, in a university affiliated medical centre with a variable mix of primary, secondary, and tertiary care patients. Infants were clinically scored with the Finne...

With increasing maternal drug abuse, the paediatrician must be ever alert to the possibility that symptoms observed in a young baby might be the consequence of drug withdrawal. The absence of a positive maternal drug history in no way negates this diagnostic possibility. Although opiate withrawal is the subject of this paper, combinations of drugs are commonly involved and there may sometimes b...

INTRODUCTION Dual tobacco-alcohol addiction is common, but the literature often considers only the issue of withdrawal from one substance at a time and emphasises that the assessment of tobacco use seems to be neglected in psychiatry. SUBJECT AND METHODS In this study, we analysed the perceptions of nurses working in alcoholism units before and after motivational interviewing trainingon propo...

The increasing use of buprenorphine among drug dependent subjects demands systematic enquiry into the clinical profile of buprenorphine withdrawal. Six male buprenorphine dependent (parenteral) subjects were observed for opiate withdrawal over a two week period. The onset of withdrawal occurred 48 hours after the last dose, peaked around the third day and lasted up to ten days. The withdrawals ...

The literature on benzodiazepine dependence and withdrawal is reviewed with an emphasis on social and psychological considerations. The problems of when to prescribe, identifying withdrawal symptoms, effective communication with the patient, the structure of withdrawal programmes, and the use of drugs, psychological approaches and other services are discussed.