Characteristics Of Drug Addicts Research Articles

Определение личностных особенностей наркозависимых, детерминирующих динамику процесса ресоциализации

Личность с наркотической зависимостью, которая находится в депрессивном состоянии проживает тяжелые эмоции и страдания. Актуальность нашего исследования заключается в изучении индивидуально-личностных особенностей, предрасполагающих к формированию длительной устойчивой ремиссии. Цель исследования — определить личностные особенности наркозависимых, на основании которых можно прогнозировать ход процесса ресоциализации и динамику течения состояния ремиссии. В качестве основного инструментария диагностики личностных особенностей наркозависимой личности выступал многофакторный личностный опросник MMPI в модификации 4.7 БМС (компьютерная версия). Для проведения дискриминантного анализа нами было отобрано 67 показателей, из 90-та личностных черт, диагностируемых опросником MMPI. Общую выборку данного исследования составило 309 человек. Из них основную экспериментальную группу, в дальнейшем группа I, составило 214 человека с диагнозом опийная наркомания I-II стадии, средний стаж употребления наркотических веществ составил 8,2 года, в возрасте от 19 до 36 лет, с ремиссией 12 суток. II группу – 38 респондентов с ремиссией от 1 до 3 лет, III группу – 12 респондентов с ремиссией больше 3 лет. Контрольную IV группу 45 человек, составили испытуемые, не имеющие в анамнезе диагноз «опийная наркомания». Полученный результат представлен как пространственная классификация испытуемых четырех обследуемых групп по результатам канонических дискриминантных функций. В результате, мы получили диагностический алгоритм на основе дискриминантного анализа у наркозависимых субъектов, позволяющий на основе рассмотрения девяти личностных характеристик, отнести субъект к группе наркозависимых и прогнозировать его движение в процессе ресоциализации. Психологический смысл выделенных переменных в характеристике наркотической зависимости состоит в том: чем выше адаптированность личности по таким показателям как Неискренность, Депрессивность, Шизоидность, Половая активность, Мнительность, Аморальность, Самоотчужденность, Социальная ответственность тем более она ориентирована на формирование устойчивой длительной ремиссии.

The Discrimination Against, Health Status and Wellness of People Who Use Drugs in Italian Services: A Survey.

Background and Objectives: The aims of this study are to: describe the sociodemographic characteristics and typology of drug addiction among people who use drugs that attend the Servizio per le Dipendenze (SerD), and evaluate the competence and ability of these rehabilitation services to improve their health status and wellness. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from January to July 2017. Patients attending two selected SerD facilities in the city of Naples, Italy were interviewed with a questionnaire gathering information on sociodemographic data, characteristics of drug addiction, characteristics of enrolment at the SerD, self-reported health status and wellness, and reports of the discrimination suffered. Results: Among the 451 people interviewed, 72.3% had started taking drugs by the age of 20, and half of them have used drugs within the last year. 54.5% of responders attended SerD for more than 10 years, and the two main reasons for attendance were to get help and to get methadone. 79.4% were declared to have a good/very good/excellent health status at the time of interviewing. 53.7% reported suffering from discrimination. Conclusions: Based on our study, discrimination is higher in participants who attended SerD for more than one year, who were formerly in prison, or who were current drug users.

Criminological Characteristics of Drug Addiction in the Republic of Kazakhstan: Basic Concepts, Signs and General Approaches to Their Assessment

The relevance of the study is due to the need to consider such antisocial social phenomenon as “narcotism”, which includes two components - “drug addiction” and “drug business”. The researchers came to the conclusion that the concept of narcotism itself has not yet acquired an unambiguous or more or less well-established semantic status, and does not have wide recognition in international legal acts and documents of authoritative international organizations. In foreign vocabulary, the concept of "narcotism" is difficult to differentiate and separate from the concept of "drug addiction". Therefore, it is necessary to achieve the highest possible consistency in approaches to understanding the essence of this phenomenon.
 
 The content of the article is aimed at identifying the key point denoting the main core around which complex processes are taking place in the desired field related to the concept of drug addiction. Reflecting and arguing, the authors, in essence, were based on an analysis of a well-known range of historical, theoretical information, international legal and national regulatory documents, using the methods of critical analysis, synthesis and comparison of theoretical and legal sources. This made it possible to consider the phenomenon under study from the standpoint of different conceptual approaches.
 
 The article revealed that drug addiction affects the widest range of social problems - from deviant social behavior to national security issues. The attention is focused on the fact that drug addiction from the position of law is characterized as an antisocial social phenomenon associated with the illegal consumption and distribution of drugs, their appearance and the existence of goods and services in consumer circulation. A basic definition has been formulated that outlines the scope or distribution of narcotism. It was concluded that “narcotism” should be a differentiated designation of a negative social phenomenon and contain a description of the whole diversity of social manifestations and processes that are directly related to drugs that are in a state of contradiction with the interests of society. In turn, drug trafficking, while remaining the largest component of drug addiction, is its most dynamic part. The last sign is largely associated with a direct effect - the drug business, which is a generating or producing principle in narcotic drugs. The materials of the article are of practical value for researchers and law enforcement officials dealing with the problems of drug addiction and narcotism.

Dynamics of Psychological Characteristics of Drug Addicts in the Period of Rehabilitation For Up to One Year and From One to Five Years

Despite the fact that in Ukraine there are constantly a large number of preventive and corrective measures to prevent and eliminate the phenomenon of drug addiction, statistics show that the problem does not diminish its relevance. Now there is a large number of studies that reveal the personal characteristics of a drug addicts. Many scientists are unanimous that in the period of drug addiction there is a distortion in the personal sphere. However, the features of these distortions at various stages of drug addiction are not fully understood. At the same time, the elimination of psychological dependence on narcotic substances by means of rehabilitation effects is possible only if the knowledge on the psychological characteristics of the addict is taken into account at different stages of the rehabilitation process. The main goal of rehabilitation work is not only the rejection of drugs. This is the development of new value orientations, personal growth in the individual and social sense, the development of human anti-drug resistance properties, the development of responsible choice skills, the formation of the internal locus of control, the formation of a positive life scenario and the availability of internal resources for its implementation. The article analyzes the effect of rehabilitation methods on the personality traits of drug addicts with short-term and long-term rehabilitation. The study included 60 people, of which 30 drug addicts were with a period of rehabilitation up to one year and 30 drug addicts with a period of rehabilitation from one year to five years. The complex of diagnostic tools includes methods for studying the level of aggressiveness, anxiety scales, behavior in a conflict situation, assessing the neuropsychic personality tension, a questionnaire for studying the level of impulsivity, a questionnaire for studying the level of subjective control, a questionnaire for studying well-being, activity, mood. The dynamics of psychological characteristics of drug addicts in the period of rehabilitation up to one year and from one to five years was determined.

Педагогічна підтримка студентів – майбутніх соціальних працівників у процесі їх підготовки до роботи з наркозалежними

The article is devoted to the problem of professional training of the future social workers, namely, the nature and peculiarities of pedagogical support for future specialists in the social sphere in the process of their preparation for work with drug addicts. A number of obstacles for students to acquire professional competences to work with this category of persons, such as: unwillingness to pedagogically communicate with drug addicts due to ignorance of the social-pedagogical and psychological features of the latter, lack of professional knowledge and experience of practical training in dealing with drug addicts as objects of social work are found out. The peculiarities of pedagogical support of students are the establishment of social communication between each other and drug addicts, removal of emotional tension, familiarization with the life experience of drug addicts as a social situation of their life due to ways of their re-socialization and ways of overcoming discriminatory stereotypes drug addicts are established. The social-demographic, criminal and medical-psychological-pedagogical characteristics of drug addicts as well as social workers allowed us to also show a number of peculiarities of pedagogical support due to the establishment in pedagogical interaction between students and drug addicts are indicated. The “facilitative position” of pedagogue as a kind of pedagogical interaction between students and pedagogue, that is based on subject-subject relations of mutual acceptance, empathy, assistance, tolerance, when the teacher is a co-author of positive social change of students are considered. The availability of the personal experience, and in general, the personality of the teacher is not less important. The teacher’s brutalities such as: openness, empathy, tolerance, impartiality, mastering students in the desired direction, helping in stressful and uncomfortable situations, ability to overcome difficulties and barriers to communication are marked. A teacher is a good guide of the tolerant and non-discriminatory attitude towards this stigmatized category of persons. The principles of the pedagogical support of the future social workers and the forms and methods of such interaction are determined. The content of theoretical training of students, which allows them to carry out their pedagogical support, includes the questions of historical preconditions for the formation and development of the system of social and pedagogical work with drug addicts and users of psychoactive substances, the questions of the current state and ways of solving the problem of re-socialization of drug addicts in Ukraine and abroad, theoretical questions of the problem of re-socialization such persons. The range of practical issues includes the problems of rehabilitation centers activity as centers of social and pedagogical work, the technology of work of social pedagogue with drug addicts in the conditions of the rehabilitation center (the questions of training work organization, the use of interactive forms and methods of work with drug addicts, modern technologies of drug addicts prevention in youth). The advanced professional competencies are the result of the pedagogical support of the future social workers in the process of training them to work with drug addicts.

2. A role for DA Mechanisms in the ovBNST in Compulsive Responding in Rats

Out of the primary characteristics of drug addiction, compulsive drug seeking and intake is perhaps the most insidious, as it results in voluntary substance use despite negative physical and social consequences. For substances that are not considered classically addictive, such as sucrose, animal models of drug addiction may be utilized to explore reward-related synaptic changes underlying compulsive behavior similarly observed in binge eating disorders. Binge eaters, like those who compulsively seek out and consume drugs, continue to consume food despite the negative consequences. Based on previous work done by Maracle (2012), we examined the effects of modulating signalling in the oval bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (ovBNST) with a competitive D1 antagonist and its effects on compulsive intake. Prior to the intermitted access phase, subjects (N=66) underwent intracranial surgeries targeting the ovBNST. We utilized the same intermitted access cycle developed by (Avena, 2010). The subjects were randomly assigned to one of the four groups, 12-hr sucrose (primary experimental group),12-hr saccharine (sweet taste control group), 12-hr food only group, and a 24-hr sucrose/food group. After the 28-day cycle, subjects were then randomly assigned to received infusions of either saline or a selective D1 antagonist (SCH 23390) 10mins prior to testing. Compulsive responding for sucrose was then assessed using a conditioned suppression paradigm. It was hypothesized that infusing a DA antagonist into the ovBNST will decrease compulsive responding in subjects who demonstrate bingeing behaviour during the intermitted access phase, but will not affect animals that do not demonstrate bingeing behavior.

Characteristics of drug addicts who attempt suicide

The aim of the study was to further describe the characteristics of drug-dependent patients who attempt suicide. Thus, 449 drug-dependent patients were interviewed about whether or not they had ever attempted suicide and about their family history of suicidal behavior. Patients completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and were interviewed with the Addiction Severity Index (ASI). It was found that patients who had attempted suicide ( N=175) were significantly younger than patients who had never attempted suicide ( N=274). Significantly more of the patients who had attempted suicide were female; had a family history of suicide; and had a lifetime history of major depression, of having received antidepressant medication, and of alcoholism. Also, patients who had attempted suicide had significantly higher scores for childhood trauma, psychoticism, neuroticism and introversion, as well as higher ASI psychiatric composite scores. These results suggest that social, personality, family, developmental and psychiatric risk factors may predispose to suicidal behavior in drug-dependent individuals.

Characteristics of drug addicts who attempt suicide

The aim of the study was to further describe the characteristics of drug-dependent patients who attempt suicide. Thus, 449 drug-dependent patients were interviewed about whether or not they had ever attempted suicide and about their family history of suicidal behavior. Patients completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and were interviewed with the Addiction Severity Index (ASI). It was found that patients who had attempted suicide ( N =175) were significantly younger than patients who had never attempted suicide ( N =274). Significantly more of the patients who had attempted suicide were female; had a family history of suicide; and had a lifetime history of major depression, of having received antidepressant medication, and of alcoholism. Also, patients who had attempted suicide had significantly higher scores for childhood trauma, psychoticism, neuroticism and introversion, as well as higher ASI psychiatric composite scores. These results suggest that social, personality, family, developmental and psychiatric risk factors may predispose to suicidal behavior in drug-dependent individuals.

FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS AS A PREDICTOR OF POST-TREATMENT DRUG ABUSE RELAPSE: A FOLLOW-UP STUDY OF DRUG ADDICTS AND THEIR SPOUSES

This study examined family-of-origin (FO) characteristics of drug addicts and their spouses, who participated in an in-home drug treatment program. Discriminant analysis revealed a set of FO characteristics that differentiated between 25 men who remained drug-free for six months after detoxification and 25 men who suffered a relapse. This set of FO characteristics successfully predicted relapse 30 months later. Men who remained drug-free for the entire period maintained closer relationships with healthy than with unhealthy families, whereas those who relapsed maintained closer relationships with unhealthy families. Compared with those who relapsed, men who remained drug-free also maintained closer relationships with their spouses' families. The findings are discussed in terms of the family system's view of drug abuse, as well as their implications for family-based intervention.

Personality characteristics of drug addicts and alcoholics on the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory.

The Million Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) was administered to 106 alcoholics and 100 addicts in separate VA inpatient rehabilitation treatment programs. The alcoholics scored higher on the personality style scales of Avoidant, Passive-Aggressive, Schizotypal, Borderline and Paranoid, while the opiate addicts scored higher on the Narcissistic personality disorder scale. Separate cluster analyses for both groups further revealed common personality styles among both groups. Several MCMI scales showed significant correlations with age, but in no case were the effects attributed to age larger than 5% of the total variance. The MCMI may alert clinicians to subtle similarities and differences between and among alcoholics and opiate addicts.