Causes and clinical characteristics of drug abuse

Background: Drug abuse is considered one of the most serious public health problems, especially among young people at working ages. In this study, we assessed clinical characteristics of patients presenting with drug abuse who were referred to the addiction treatment clinics of Al-Mamoura mental hospital (Alexandria, Egypt), including sociodemographic variables, clinical symptoms, physical complications and psychiatric co-morbidities in comparison to other substance abuse. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional and comparative study was conducted on 516 patients attending outpatient addiction treatment clinics in 2013–14 on the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I and SCID-II) as well as social and addiction scales. Results: in our sample, drug addiction was more common in males than females. Importantly, among many potential factors, it was found that peer pressure (friends) was the most common cause for drug abuse. Second, it was also found that psychiatric symptoms were more common among patients with substance abuse than legal or financial problems. Conclusions: Future behavioral treatments should take into account the role played by friends that lead to drug abuse and the maintenance of such habits. Further, pharmacological and behavioral therapies should consider psychiatric aspects of drug abuse as these are very common and may impact effective recovery.