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Chronic Methamphetamine Psychosis after Long‐Term Abstinence in Japanese Incarcerated Patients
Author(s) -
Akiyama Kazufumi,
Saito Atsushi,
Shimoda Kazutaka
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the american journal on addictions
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.997
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-0391
pISSN - 1055-0496
DOI - 10.1111/j.1521-0391.2011.00124.x
Subject(s) - abstinence , methamphetamine , psychosis , psychiatry , odds ratio , medicine , brief psychiatric rating scale , pharmacotherapy , extrapyramidal symptoms , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , psychology , antipsychotic
Eighty female incarcerated subjects who maintained a long‐term methamphetamine (METH) abstinence, but manifested psychosis, were examined for correlations among symptom severity premorbid diathesis, recurrence, and adverse effects of pharmacotherapy. Baseline symptoms were assessed with a 24‐item version of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) prior to, and 2 weeks after, the commencement of pharmacotherapy. Fifty‐four subjects who had abused volatile solvents in their teenage years commenced METH abuse at a significantly lower age than the rest of the subjects (18.4 vs. 22.5 years old, p < .001). Twenty‐nine patients who had attempted suicide in their lives suffered from premorbid psychiatric disorders significantly more often than those who had never attempted suicide (odds ratio = 8.6, 95% confidence interval [CI]= 2.6–27.8, p < .001). Twenty subjects who manifested spontaneous recurrence had a significantly longer abstinence period (17.5 vs. 12.1 months, p = .049), but suffered from premorbid psychiatric disorders significantly less often (odds ratio = .12, 95% CI = .02– .99, p = .031) than those who manifested nonrecurrent‐protracted psychosis. Subjects who eventually suffered from extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) following pharmacotherapy had higher total BPRS scores at the baseline assessment. The present study provides evidence that a subpopulation of METH abusers suffered from chronic METH psychosis in long‐term abstinence, and also highlights the involvement of affective symptoms in its severity. (Am J Addict 2011;00:1–10)