Patterns of substance abuse among schizophrenics

ABSTRACT

An association between substance abuse schizophrenia is increasingly well recognized. The purpose of this study was to undertake a comparative analysis of patterns of substance abuse among schizophrenics. 80 patients with schizophrenia [58 males and 22 females] with mean age of 31.4 years were administered a questionnaire for a detailed assessment of comobrid substance abuse. 53.7% in the sample abused drugs the sample was divided into three groups. Group 1 comprised of 34 schizophrenics with nicotine abuse, group II consisted of 9 schizophrenics with and abuse of another drug and group III was the control group with 37 patients. all the patients in group II abused nicotine and 66.6% in the same group abused cannabis. The mode of intake in the whole drug sample was smoking. The average daily intake of nicotine in group 1 and 2 came out to be 20.8 cigarettes and 17.2 cigarettes respectively. 20.5% in group I, 55.5% in group II and 37.8% in group III reported family history of psychiatric illness. 67.6% in group I and 66.6% in group II purchased the drug from market. These findings point towards the need of an effective integration of psychiatric and drug treatment services