Substance abusers report that they have deficits in emotional processing (‘‘alexithymia’’; Taylor et al. 1990), but is their actual emotional processing performance actually deficient? The prevalence of self-reported alexithymia in a group of newly abstinent substance abusers (N1⁄4 40) was 50%, which is considerably higher than that found in normal and psychiatric outpatient samples. However, t...

Substance abuse is a global problem with geographical variations in patterns of abuse. Studies from substance abuse prevalent areas play a major role in understanding of factors predicting relapse. A cross sectional study was planned to asses various factors determining relapse in substance abusers. 40 patients of substance abuse relapse were compared with 40 abstinent subjects as controls. All...

The psychometric properties of the Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT), an 11-item self-report questionnaire developed to screen individuals for drug problems, are evaluated. The measure, developed in Sweden and evaluated there with individuals with severe drug problems, has not been evaluated with less severe substance abusers or with clinical populations in the United States. Parti...

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency of suicidal thoughts and suicidal probability among poly-substance abusers in Saudi population, and to examine the relation between dual diagnosis and suicidal thoughts. STUDY DESIGN Case control study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Al-Baha Psychiatric Hospital, Saudi Arabia, from May 2011 to June 2012. METHODOLOGY Participants were 239 subjects, aged 18...

Introduction: The study investigates health and social conditions among pregnant substance abusers and the children that were born from these pregnancies, and analyses outcomes in relation to type of substance abuse. Methods: Register data concerning 97 pregnant substance abusers and 104 children, at birth and 5 years on, were analysed with descriptive statistics and chi square tests. Results: ...