Childhood trauma in substance use disorder and depression: an analysis by gender among a Brazilian clinical sample.

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we compared the frequency and intensity of childhood traumas in alcohol- or other drug-dependent patients, in patients with depression, and in a control group without psychiatric diagnoses. METHODS: The study had a retrospective design of a clinical sample of men and women from the groups listed above. They were evaluated by the same standardized instrument: the "Childhood Trauma Questionnaire." RESULTS: A higher frequency and intensity of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse were found in alcohol- and other drug-dependent patients than in patients with depression, who, in turn, presented significantly higher proportions than the control group. In all of the cases, the frequency was higher among women than men. CONCLUSION: Because of the high frequency and intensity of childhood traumas among alcohol- or other drug-dependent patients and depressed patients, the assessment of problems due to childhood traumas among these patients is essential to a better understanding of the etiology of those disorders and to their treatment.

Prevention of "risky" drinking among students at a Brazilian university.

AIM: The aim of this paper was to compare the quantity and frequency of alcohol use and its associated negative consequences between two groups of college students who were identified as being "risky drinkers." Subjects were randomly allocated in a clinical trial to intervention or control groups. METHODS: Risky drinking use was defined as Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) >or=8 and/or Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index (RAPI) >or=5 problems in the previous year. Students who had undergone the Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) (N = 145 at baseline; 142 at 12 months, and 103 at 24 months, loss of 29.7%) were compared with a control group (N = 121 at baseline; 121 at 12 months and 113 at 24 months, loss of 9.3%), the nonintervention group. Variables included drinking frequency, quantity and peak consumption, dependence assessment, and family and friends' abuse assessment. RESULTS: Treated students at a 24-month follow-up decreased quantity of alcohol use per occasion and lowered AUDIT and RAPI scores. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first brief intervention work on risky drinking with college students in Brazil and the results are encouraging. However, it is difficult to conduct individual prevention strategies in a country where culture fosters heavy drinking through poor public policy on alcohol and lack of law enforcement.

Ajuste social em pacientes com transtorno afetivo bipolar, unipolar, distimia e depressäo dupla / Social disability in patients with bipolar and unipolar affective disorders, dysthymia and double depression

Objetivos: Dados internacionais mostram que os transtornos afetivos têm uma prevalência de, aproximadamente, 11,3 por cento da populaçäo. Além disso, säo uma das doenças que mais geram perdas sociais e nos relacionamentos familiares. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o ajuste social e familiar de pacientes com transtornos afetivos (bipolar, unipolar, distimia e com depressäo dupla), comparando o resultado entre as categorias diagnósticas, além de verificar quais variáveis estäo associadas e conduzem ao pior ajuste. Métodos: Foram feitos a caracterizaçäo socioeconômica e demográfica e um levantamento dos dados de evoluçäo e de história da doença por meio de um questionário elaborado para essa finalidade. Para a avaliaçäo de ajuste social, utilizou-se a Escala de Avaliaçäo da Incapacitaçäo Psiquiátrica (DAS/OMS, 1998). O relacionamento familiar foi avaliado pelo Global Assessment of Relational Functioning Scale (GARF/APA, 1994). Foram estudados 100 pacientes em tratamento por pelo menos seis meses, no Ambulatório de Psiquiatria da Faculdade de Medicina Unesp, Botucatu, SP. Resultados/Conclusões: Com predomínio de mulheres, a maioria dos pacientes tinha no mínimo dois anos de seguimento, idade acima de 50 anos, baixa escolaridade e nível socioeconômico baixo. Näo houve diferença estatística significativa quanto aos dados socioeconômicos e demográficos. Na análise de regressäo logística, o diagnóstico e o relacionamento familiar tiveram papel significativo no resultado de ajustamento familiar. Os pacientes unipolares e os distímicos tiveram melhores resultados no ajustamento social e no relacionamento familiar do que os bipolares e aqueles com depressäo dupla