Psychiatric symptoms in Amphetamine-Type stimulants (ATS) in-patientsat Thanyarak Institute

Abstract

  The purpose of this study was to investigate of psychiatric symptoms in Amphetamine-Type stimulants (ATS) with in-patients at Thanyarak Institute. The samples of the study were 401 ATS drugs in-patients who reported using Amphetamine, Ecstasy, Ice, and Cocaine. There were 91 patients who were diagnosed with psychotic symptoms and 310 patients with non-psychotic symptoms, all diagnoses made by medical doctors. The research instruments comprised of Demographic Data Sheet, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Data were analyzed by using percentage, mean standard deviation and pair t-test.

                The results revealed that 54.9% patients with psychotic symptoms were female, aged 16-48 years (mean 27.3 years), single (59.3%), high-school education (40.6%), unemployed (46.1%), and average income of 9,573.30 baht. It was reported that the current drug use was Amphetamine (56%) by smoking (96.7%) with duration of usage ranging between 1-3 years (38.5%). Approximately sixty-three percent used 1-3 tablets a day and 30.8% reported using 2-3 times per week. The symptoms included anxiety, paranoia, and suspiciousness (91.2%), depressed mood (86.6%), and hallucinatory behavior (85.7%). Mean scores of psychotic symptoms of second week (Mean=27.94, SD =13.19) decreased than first week (Mean=39.06, SD =13.35) had a statistically significant
(p-value < .05). For patients with non-psychotic symptoms reported having difficulties with sleep problems (51.61%) and other psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety and depression. These non-psychotic symptom patients manifested higher severity than that of general population therefore, symptoms monitoring is highly encouraged to keep patients from self-harm behaviors.