survey of drug addicts at govt Mental hospital, Peshawar

To study the profile of heroin addicts, 194 severe patients admitted to Govt. Mental Hospital, Peshawar between 1st May, 1988 and 13th June, 1989 were studied. In addition to demographic data, psychiatric diagnosis, if any, was derived using Research Diagnostic Criteria. The majority of heroin addicts were young males holding menial sniffed/smoked the drug. Most patients had also abused cannabis at some point in time. Associated mental illness was noted in only a minority of cases. The study highlights the supportive role played by families in encouraging thier drug addict relations to seek treatment. This could have also accounted for the low criminality rate in the sample. A subsample of the study group 14% individuals were suffering from tuberculosis. This emphasises the need for a full physical examination and basic investigations to identify such cases