aim and background: biological, psychological and social phenomenon of substance abuse in adolescents is one of the most critical issues facing modern societies. one of the major concerns of the health and social policy makers is the increasing prevalence of addictive behaviors, particularly tobacco smoking in this age group. prevalence and trends toward high-risk behaviors among adolescents in...

BACKGROUND Substance use is a potentially modifiable risk factor for suicidal behaviour. Little is known about the epidemiology of substance use among self-harm patients in South Africa. This study set out to collect epidemiological data about the prevalence, correlates, and patterns of medical service utilisation among self-harm patients who used substances at the time of self-injury. METHOD...

The high prevalence of drug or alcohol abuse among individuals with severe mental disorders has often been revealed in the literature [1-4]. Individuals with co-occurring severe mental disorders and substance abuse usually face stigma, problems with the law [5], poor education, unemployment, loneliness, poverty and homelessness as compared to those with severe mental disorders only [6]. They al...

This study examined factors associated with suicide attempts among those with schizophrenia (n = 101) versus those without (n = 21,643) in a representative sample of noninstitutionalized Canadians. The lifetime prevalence of suicide attempts among persons with schizophrenia was 39.2% versus 2.8% of nonafflicted individuals. After adjusting for sociodemographics, childhood adversities, substance...

Purpose The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recognizes that substance abuse in adolescents is a significant health, social, and familial issue in the United States. The increasing prevalence of substance abuse among adolescents obligates dental personnel to identify behaviors characteristic of active use, recognize clinical signs and symptoms of active use or withdrawal, modify d...

Drug abuse or more appropriately substance abuse has become a household term recently, all thanks to the colossal publicity given to a fresh Bollywood release “Udta Punjab.” The directors of the movie seem to have exaggerated the subject on whole unlike our society notions, whereby we underrate the prevalence, perils, and sequelae of this menace. The need of the hour states that we as dental he...

Researchers project a threefold increase in substance abuse, inclusive of alcohol, prescription, and illicit drugs, for adults aged 50 or older by 2020, when an estimated 5 million older adults will need treatment for substance abuse problems (Gfroerer, Penne, Pemberton, & Folsom, 2003). This suggests a need for heightened awareness among clinical mental health counselors as they treat this pop...

This paper presents lifetime and 12-month prevalence rates and comorbidity data for substance abuse disorders among homeless and runaway adolescents. Data are from baseline interviews of a longitudinal diagnostic study of 428 (187 males and 241 females) homeless and runaway adolescents aged 16 to 19 years (mean age = 17.4 year, SD = 1.05). The data were collected by full-time interviewers on th...

BACKGROUND Psychoactive substance abuse, which includes abuse of alcohol and street drugs, is common among first-episode psychosis patients, but the prevalence of cannabis abuse is particularly high. However, there have been very few reported studies concerning the occurrence of psychoactive substance abuse among first-episode psychotic individuals using standard toxicological testing. We study...