Exploring the mental status of people with opium and heroin addiction
IntroductionIndividuals who engage in drugs abusing are more susceptible to a variety of physical, social and psychological health problems.ObjectiveThis study describes mental disorders of patients with opium and heroin addiction before taking MMT.MethodParticipants included 172 addicts (162 men and 10 women), referring to Fanoos addiction relief center, whose age ranged from 16–66 with mean age of 32.8. All participants were asked to complete a questionnaire about their bad feelings experienced during past month before taking methadone maintenance therapy.ResultsThe average age of the first drug abusing was 20.5 with range of 10–60. The most frequent bad feelings that were reported by participants were sensation of anxiety, hopelessness and aloneness. 68.6% of patients had a history of depression, 56.4% were aggressive and 26.3% of them had ideas of suicide.ConclusionsExploring of mental status of addict people before taking MMT can be used for evaluation of treatment effects and designing more effective interventions.