Offenders with mental health problems and problematic substance use: Affective psychopathic personality traits as potential barriers to participation in substance abuse interventions

Homelessness and related community ailments have plagued society for a number of years, and governments have found it difficult to get these under control. The sheer number of homeless with mental health afflictions and problematic substance use problems leaves no doubt about the need for a stronger, more urgent government response. Community ailments such as these have led to increased crime rates and incarcerations and overcrowded prisons without a lasting solution in sight. This chapter uses the transformative justice model, with the expectation it produces better results than current models, by examining the source of homelessness, mental health afflictions, and problematic substance use and their bi-directional relationship with crime. This inter-jurisdictional study compares the current situations in the state of California and the province of Ontario, which have a high percent of homeless populations. It proves that special attention to vulnerable populations such as racialized groups, the socioeconomically disadvantaged, and youth is warranted.

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Males on the life-course-persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial pathways: Follow-up at age 26 years

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579402001104 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 179-207 ◽

Cited By ~ 1022

Author(s):

TERRIE E. MOFFITT ◽

AVSHALOM CASPI ◽

HONALEE HARRINGTON ◽

BARRY J. MILNE

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Life Course ◽

Personality Traits ◽

Antisocial Behavior ◽

Substance Dependence ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Health Problems ◽

Psychopathic Personality ◽

Childhood Onset ◽

Life Course Persistent

This article reports a comparison on outcomes of 26-year-old males who were defined several years ago in the Dunedin longitudinal study as exhibiting childhood-onset versus adolescent-onset antisocial behavior and who were indistinguishable on delinquent offending in adolescence. Previous studies of these groups in childhood and adolescence showed that childhood-onset delinquents had inadequate parenting, neurocognitive problems, undercontrolled temperament, severe hyperactivity, psychopathic personality traits, and violent behavior. Adolescent-onset delinquents were not distinguished by these features. Here followed to age 26 years, the childhood-onset delinquents were the most elevated on psychopathic personality traits, mental-health problems, substance dependence, numbers of children, financial problems, work problems, and drug-related and violent crime, including violence against women and children. The adolescent-onset delinquents at 26 years were less extreme but elevated on impulsive personality traits, mental-health problems, substance dependence, financial problems, and property offenses. A third group of men who had been aggressive as children but not very delinquent as adolescents emerged as low-level chronic offenders who were anxious, depressed, socially isolated, and had financial and work problems. These findings support the theory of life-course-persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial behavior but also extend it. Findings recommend intervention with all aggressive children and with all delinquent adolescents, to prevent a variety of maladjustments in adult life.

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PSYCHOSOCIAL RISKS FOR MENTAL HEALTH DURING A PANDEMIC

10.35988/sm-hs.2020.098 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 65-70

Author(s):

Sergey Igumnov

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Negative Impact ◽

World Health ◽

Psychosocial Risks ◽

Problematic Substance Use ◽

The World ◽

Problematic Substance ◽

Long Time ◽

Health Organization

During the pandemic, many countries go through a period of so-called “self-isolation” or quarantine, during which people are forced for a long time not to see their loved ones, not to visit places of importance to them and experiencing constant anxiety and uncertainty due to changing living conditions. This has had a very negative impact on most people’s mental state. Analyzing data from many countries around the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) notes that the fear, loneliness, isolation, stress and anxiety experienced by all people during the COVID-19 pandemic can cause great mental health problems and countries need to be prepared for them. Metaanalysis of studies evaluating the prevalence of mental and behavioral disorders, self-harming behavior, acts of family violence, and problematic substance use in the COVID-19 pandemic show that depression, drug and alcohol addiction, self-harm and suicidal behavior are expected to increase, requiring increased preparedness by mental health services.

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Psychiatric morbidity and substance use in migrant workers: A population based study

International Journal of Social Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/0020764020988881 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 002076402098888

Author(s):

B.S. Chavan ◽

Ajeet Sidana ◽

Priti Arun ◽

Ravi Rohilla ◽

Gurvinder Pal Singh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Substance Abuse ◽

Substance Use ◽

General Population ◽

Depressive Disorder ◽

Migrant Workers ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Health Issues ◽

Migrant Population ◽

Mental Health Issues

Background: The prevalence of mental health problems and substance abuse in the migrant population is higher than the general population. Aims and Objectives: To assess the prevalence and pattern of mental health issues and substance use in the migrant population and highlight the association with the reverse migration of migrant workers. Methodology: The field staff visited the shelter homes for migrant population in four cities of Northern India (Chandigarh (UT), Bhatinda (Punjab), Panchkula (Haryana) and Jaipur (Rajasthan). After maintaining the social distance and wearing masks by the staff and migrants, written informed consent was taken for participation in the study. The socio-demographic details of reverse migrants were noted down and Hindi version of Primary Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for mental health problems and screening tool for pattern of substance abuse was administered. Geographically matched undisplaced were also administered these tools. Results: A total of 275 reverse migrants and 276 undisplaced were included in the study. The prevalence of ever use for all the substances among reverse migrants was 44.4% (122/275) and among undisplaced, it was 45.3%. The prevalence of alcohol, tobacco and cannabis was higher than the general population. The prevalence of at least one diagnosis on PHQ-9 is 13.45% (reverse migrants 19.3% and undisplaced 7.6) and the prevalence of other depressive disorder is significantly higher in reverse migrants (17.1%) than undisplaced (4.0%). Conclusion: The study concludes that prevalence of mental health issues and substance abuse in migrant population is significantly higher than the general population and the prevalence of at least one diagnosis and other depressive disorder is significantly higher in reverse migrants than undisplaced.

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Curvilinear associations between sexual orientation and problematic substance use, behavioural addictions and mental health among young Swiss men

Addictive Behaviors ◽

10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106609 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 112 ◽

pp. 106609

Author(s):

Matthias Wicki ◽

Simon Marmet ◽

Joseph Studer ◽

Olivier Epaulard ◽

Gerhard Gmel

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Substance Use ◽

Sexual Orientation ◽

Problematic Substance Use ◽

Problematic Substance ◽

Behavioural Addictions

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Predicting the General P-factor of Psychopathology using Lower Levels of the Personality Hierarchy

10.31234/osf.io/g3aqh ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yuzhan Hang ◽

Lydia Gabriela Speyer ◽

Liina Haring ◽

Aja Louise Murray ◽

René Mõttus

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Substance Use ◽

Personality Traits ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Factor Model ◽

Mental Health Disorders ◽

Thought Disorders ◽

Specific Factors ◽

Health Disorders ◽

P Factor

Background: Mental health disorders share a substantial amount of variance, reflecting a generalised vulnerability to any and all mental health problems. Studies on personality-psychopathology associations have previously been mainly focused at the domain-level of the personality hierarchy even though research has indicated that lower level personality traits (facets and nuances) capture valid unique variance beyond domains. The current study investigated the associations between the general ‘p-factor’ of psychopathology and multiple levels of the personality hierarchy in order to gain finer-grained insights into their relations. Methods: First, the structure of psychopathology was modelled using an exploratory bi-factor model of 23 items measuring symptoms of mental health problems using the DSM-5 Self-Rated Level 1 Cross-Cutting Symptom Measure and the ASSIST questionnaire in a sample of 1,853 Estonian adults. Factor scores for the p-factor and orthogonal specific factors were estimated and elastic net regression models trained to examine the predictive ability of the different levels of the personality hierarchy for these factor scores.Results: A bi-factor model including a general factor and three specific factors representing internalising problems, thought disorders and substance use best represented the structure of psychopathology. Elastic net regression analyses indicated that personality traits related to the vulnerability, depression and immoderation facets were most strongly positively associated with the p-factor while traits related to the friendliness facet and the achievement-striving facet showed the strongest negative associations. Nuance-level analyses had the highest predictive accuracy for all psychopathology factors, particularly for thought disorders and substance use. Conclusion: Lower levels of the personality hierarchy contain additional information about psychopathology. Utilising this information opens up avenues for clinical applications that may help identify individuals most at risk for developing mental health disorders.

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