| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2015 | Volume
: 36
| Issue : 2 | Page : 106-111 |
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A study of the personality traits and the level of anxiety in suicidal polydrug users
Magda T Fahmy1, Wafaa L Haggag1, Khaled A Mohamed1, Amany A Baalash2
1 Department of Neuropsychiatry, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt
2 Al-Baha Psychiatric Hospital, Al-Baha, Egypt
Correspondence Address:
Amany A Baalash
Al-Baha Psychiatric Hospital, Al-Baha 22888
Egypt
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/1110-1105.158119
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Background
Suicidal behavior among substance abusers is common. Despite increasing knowledge about substance abuse and suicidal behavior, we lack sufficient knowledge about the characteristic features of suicidal substance abusers.
Objective
This study aimed to examine the associative characteristics of suicidal thoughts among polysubstance abusers.
Materials and methods
This was a case-control comparative study on 239 individuals between 18 and 45 years of age. We reviewed 122 individuals who fulfilled the DSM-IV-TR criteria of substance abuse for two or more substances, and their data were compared with that collected from 117 control persons. Detailed demographic, clinical, and laboratory data of the participants were collected. They were administered a semistructured psychiatric interview and examination, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), and the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (Ham-A) on almost the 10th day after admission (after detoxification).
Results
Suicidal cases formed 64.75% of the polysubstance abusers in our study. The mean score of Ham-A was 13.71 ± 6.31 for suicidal polydrug abusers, which was significantly the highest among the groups; 24.1 and 6.3% of the suicidal cases experienced mild to moderate and moderate to severe anxiety, respectively, whereas the remaining experienced mild symptoms. Suicidal cases attained significantly higher scores on the psychoticism and lie scale of EPQ in this study.
Conclusion
A statistically significant relation was found between the suicidality in polysubstance abusers and a high level of anxiety as assessed by the Ham-A scale and personality traits related to psychoticism and the lie scale on EPQ. |
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