AMPHETAMINE ADDICTION

Abstract

Detailed study of 14 cases led the authors to the conclusion that amphetamine addiction is a definite and not uncommon entity. Although, as with addicts using other drugs, those affected all showed evidence of underlying personality instability, their addiction may be accounted for, in part, by the stimulant effects of the drug, which lead to elevation in self-esteem and regression to the level of experiencing a feeling of omnipotence. Psychosexual regression also tends to occur. The personality of the addict is neurotic, sometimes pre-psychotic, but without any single or specific pattern of disturbance. All Ss in the present series had had a disturbed childhood, with a high incidence of alcoholism and other mental illness in their families. The prognosis is poor, the relapse rate high and continued addiction the rule, leading, in time, to a gradual deterioration of occupational, social and home life. Some patients in whom such a condition is presumably latent may lapse into schizophrenia.