Citation

Ravndal E, Vaglum P. Eur. Addict. Res. 1999; 5(2): 63-70.

Affiliation

National Institute for Alcohol and Drug Research, University of Oslo, Norway. edle.ravndal@sifa.no

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Karger Publishers)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

10394035

Abstract

Two hundred Norwegian drug abusers who consecutively applied for treatment in a therapeutic community were interviewed at intake and personally followed up on average 5 years after. Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory and Symptom Checklist-90 were used to assess the clients. Frequent use of opiates and number of months in inpatient treatment were associated with overdoses, while being a case on the Borderline scale or depression was related to suicide attempts. The study shows that overdoses and suicide attempts can be distinguished on the basis of their different psychopathological risk variables and their different relationship to substances. To understand the background of these phenomena is of importance in planning preventive action to hinder fatal overdose and suicide.

Language: en