Abstract
BackgroundOver the past few years, methamphetamine-induced psychosis (MIP) has increased in Iran, accounting for a significant percentage of psychiatry hospital admissions. The present study was conducted with an aim to investigate clinical symptoms, and course and treatment methods of MIP inpatients in Shafa Psychiatry Hospital in northern Iran.MethodsParticipants were 152 MIP inpatients. Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) subscales of suspiciousness, unusual thought content; hallucinations and hostility were used to measure psychiatric symptoms. Data regarding suicide and homicide and violence were also obtained through interviews with the inpatients and their family. Based on their lengths of recovery time, the inpatients were categorized into 3 clinical groups. These inpatients received their usual treatments and were monitored for their psychiatric symptoms and clinical course of illness. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics.ResultsThe most frequent psychiatric symptoms were violence (75.6 %), intimate partner violence (61.2 %), delusions of persecution (85.5 %), delusions of reference (38.5 %), delusions of grandiosity (32.9 %), delusions of infidelity (30.2 %), auditory hallucinations (51.3 %), visual hallucinations (18.4 %), suicidal thoughts (14.5 %), homicidal thoughts (3.9 %), suicide attempts (10.5 %) and homicide attempts (0.7 %). Recovery from psychotic symptoms in 31.6 % of the inpatients took more than one month. 46.1% of the inpatients were treated with Risperidone and 37.5 % with Olanzapine. Persecutory delusion and auditory hallucination were the most frequent persistent psychotic symptoms. 20.8 % of the inpatients with duration of psychosis more than one month were treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) along with antipsychotics.ConclusionAll forms of violence are highly frequent in MIP inpatients. Our finding agrees with many other studies suggesting that recovery from MIP can take more than a month. Initial promising findings were found regarding the efficacy of Electroconvulsive therapy in MIP patients.
Highlights
Over the past few years, methamphetamine-induced psychosis (MIP) has increased in Iran, accounting for a significant percentage of psychiatry hospital admissions
152 MIP inpatients formed the sample of this study and the others were excluded due to exclusion criteria
Due to the exclusion criteria in the present study, it may be claimed that this study can provide a more accurate account of psychiatric symptoms connected with methamphetamine abuse [3, 5]
Summary
Over the past few years, methamphetamine-induced psychosis (MIP) has increased in Iran, accounting for a significant percentage of psychiatry hospital admissions. Acute psychosis induced by amphetamines is limited to a maximum period of 4 to 5 days after the intoxication, and appears to resolve with abstinence; the recovery may be incomplete [9]. Japanese psychiatrists believe that stimulants-induced psychosis can be divided into different clinical groups. In Yui K et al [7] study, 64 % of patients recovered from their symptoms within ten days, and 82 % gained full recovery within a month, and in 18 %, psychosis persisted more than a month. In the 3 major epidemics in Japan, a significant number of patients still had the psychotic symptoms after a month [7, 8]. It is difficult to distinguish the Japanese persistent psychosis from a primary psychosis like schizophrenia triggered by the use of amphetamines [9, 12]
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