conclusions sleep quality showed a poorer profile than sexual function. therefore, more emphasis should be laid on treatment of sleep disparity during follow up of mmt patients comparing to their sexual function. patients should be reassured that probable sexual dysfunctions should not be regarded as a consequence of mmt. results mean ± sd age of the subjects was 41.2 ± 7.9 years and 93.4% of t...

Background: Addiction and drug misuse is an illness that affects every community in every country. Based on the previous research in many parts of the world, illicit drug use is considered as a well-known risk factor for morbidity, disability, and premature mortality. Although this issue is a hot topic for public health, little studies have looked the epidemiol...

Stress sensitization, whereby CA lowers tolerance to later stressors, has been proposed as a potential mechanism explaining the association between exposure to childhood adversities (CA) and drug use disorders in adulthood. However, this mechanism remains untested. This paper begins to address this gap through exploring associations between CA exposure and stressful events in adulthood for pred...

To the Editor: There has recently been an explosion of interest in, and research on, the personality of opiate addicts. Individuals with substance use disorders suffer from high rates of non-substance use psychiatric disorders. A survey found axis II disorders in 90% of opiate addicts. Another survey showed that there is a relationship between opiate dependence and some particular personality p...

BACKGROUND The long-term effects of opiate use on human brain are not known. The goal of this preliminary study was to determine whether human subjects with histories of opiate dependence have persistent differences in brain function as compared with individuals without substance use disorders, and whether methadone maintenance reverses or ameliorates the potential abnormality. METHOD Positro...

OBJECTIVE To examine the association between HIV infection and psychiatric disorders among prisoners, where mental illness, substance abuse, and HIV are disproportionately represented. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. METHODS Using a sequential randomization scheme, 200 HIV-seropositive and 200 HIV-seronegative prisoners were selected for evaluation of psychiatric illnesses with the Structured...

The study aimed to examine the association of impulsivity and screening positively for borderline personality disorder (BPD+) as risk factors for suicide attempts among opioid-dependent individuals. The study used a case-control design with 775 opioid-dependent cases and 306 non-opioid-dependent controls. Cases were more likely than controls to screen BPD+ and to be classed as highly impulsive....

Psychological and drug-related variables and their effect on the severity of withdrawal symptoms were examined in a group of addicts being withdrawn from opiates on an in-patient drug dependence unit. Two psychological factors--neuroticism and the degree of distress expected by the patient--were related to subsequent severity of symptoms. Both are anxiety-related, and may serve to amplify withd...

BACKGROUND Violent conflicts disproportionately affect populations in low and middle-income countries, and exposure to conflict is a known risk factor for mental disorders and substance use, including use of illicit opiates. Opiate use can be particularly problematic in resource-limited settings because few treatment options are available and dependence can impede economic development. In this ...