Psychopathology

As evidence accumulates showing that a number of medications are efficacious for the treatment of co-occurring psychopathology and/or the prevention of relapse in alcoholic patients, the therapeutic options available to physicians in treating these patients will increase. As these developments unfold, it is crucial that efforts be directed to enhancing the acceptability of pharmacotherapy to the alcoholism treatment community as a standard ingredient in alcoholism rehabilitation. 

Bruno F Buspirone in the treatment of alcoholic patients. Psychopathology 22 (suppl 1) 49-59, 1989... 

Hesselbrock MN, Meyer RE, Keener JJ Psychopathology in hospitalized alcoholics. 

Meyer RE How to understand the relationship between psychopathology and addictive disorders another example of the chicken and the egg, in Psychopathology and Addictive Disorders. Edited by Meyer RE. New York, Guilford, 1986, pp 3-16 Monteiro MG, Klein ]L, Schuckit MA High levels of sensitivity to alcohol in young adult]ewlsh men a pilot study. ] Stud Alcohol 32 464 69, 1991 Mueller TI, Stout RL, Rudden S, et al A double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study of carbamazepine for the treatment of alcohol dependence. Alcohol Clin Exp Res... 

In addition to factors related to the treatment program, there are demographic and psychological correlates of retention. Clients who are employed, married, black, and older have longer retention times. Persons with criminal histories and higher levels of psychopathology tend to leave treatment sooner. Severity and duration of opioid use per se do not appear to correlate with retention. 

McLellan AT Psychiatric severity as a predictor of outcome from substance abuse treatments, in Psychopathology and Addictive Disorders. Edited by Meyer RE. New York, Guilford, 1986, pp 97-139... 

Mirin SM, Weiss RD, Michael J Psychopathology in substance abusers diagnosis and treatment. Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse 14 139—157, 1988... 

DiChiara G, Imperato A Drugs abused by humans preferentially increase synaptic dopamine concentrations in the mesolimbic system of freely moving rats. Proc Nad Acad Sci U S A 85 5274-5278, 1988 Dinwiddie SH, Cottier L, Compton W, et al Psychopathology and HIV risk behaviors among injection drug users in and out of treatment. Drug Alcohol Depend 43 1 — 11, 1996... 

Weiss RD, Mirin SM, Michael JL, et al Psychopathology in chronic cocaine abusers. 

McGuire PK, Cope H, Fahy TA Diversity of Psychopathology associated with use of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine ( Ecstasy ). Br J Psychiatry 165 391—395, 1994 Miotto K, Roth B GHB Withdrawal. Austin, TX, Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, 2001. Available at http //www.tcada.state.tx.us/research/popula-tions/GHB Withdrawal.pdf. Accessed Fehruary 28, 2003. 

LeDoux, JE and Muller, J (1997) Emotional memory and psychopathology. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. B 352 1719-1726. 

Phencyclidine (PCP), a dissociative anesthetic agent, which is subject to abuse, produces behavioral effects in man that frequently resemble schizophrenia (Luisada 1978). Manifestations of persistent psychopathology frequently remain after the acute effects of PCP have diminished. With PCP, subjects may display autistic and delusional thinking typical of schizophrenics (Luby et al. 1959). A more striking link between schizophrenia and PCP comes from observations of cases in which PCP was given to hospitalized schizophrenics (Luisada 1978). After receiving PCP, these patients showed extreme exacerbation of their psychoses the reaction persisted for up to 6 weeks. By contrast, LSD produced no more severe effects in schizophrenics than in normal subjects. 

Another group of users appears to seek the bizarreness and lack of control that PCP offers. These individuals, who are likely to manifest much psychopathology apart from the drug abuse, are often threatening and violent. They perceive the actions of others as... 

O Insomnia is most frequently a symptom or manifestation of an underlying disorder (secondary insomnia) but may occur in the absence of contributing factors (primary insomnia). Early treatment of insomnia may prevent the development of psychopathologic complications. 

Although ADHD is considered a childhood disorder, signs and symptoms persist into adolescence and adulthood in approximately 40% to 80% and 60% of cases, repectively.1,9 Adult ADHD is difficult to assess, and diagnosis is always suspect in patients failing to display clear symptoms prior to 7 years of age.4 Adults with ADHD have higher rates of psychopathology, substance abuse, social dysfunction, and occupational underachievement. 

Nevertheless, parallel to this, there has also been a growing and renewed interest in understanding the role played by culture in mental disorders in order to allow cultural aspects to be included in the conceptualization of psychopathologies, in the light of the results obtained by a large number of research studies (for a review, see Lopez Guarnaccia, 2005). 

Although empirical studies usually present and explain these two forms of adaptation using the same theoretical assumptions, there are reasons to believe that they are conceptually different. This distinction is made on the grounds that psychological adaptation can be analyzed better within a psychopathological approach whereas sociocultural adaptation would be better dealt with by the social skills theories (Ward, 1996). 

In view of the different manifestations of psychopathological behaviors found in diverse groups that cannot be adequately accounted for by factors concerning race, ethnic group or the acculturation process, Agbayani-Siewert et al. (1999) put forward a model that allows direct examination of the impact of cultural factors on psychopathological manifestations, while continuing to include structural social factors. 

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