HARCP Archives

Browse by article

Browse by volume

Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems: 2022, 24, N4 (pages: 41 - 46)

Quality of life differential changes from psychopathological episodes through recovery in Heroin Addiction

Maremmani A.G.I., Della Rocca F., Bacciardi S., Miccoli M., and Maremmani I.

Summary: Introduction: Previous observations have found that the course of heroin addiction is often complicated by fluctuating quality of life disturbances. Methods: To clarify the relationship between psychopathological symptomatology and quality of life of Heroin Use Disorder patients, in this study we tested the significance of the differential changes in quality of life from beginning to end of the observation period for improved and unimproved patients with regard to the psychopathology, during an Agonist Opioid Treatment. Results: The findings of this middle-term prospective study of 213 Heroin Use Disorder patients with psychopathological symptoms demonstrated distress and difficulties with regard to the areas of eating and self-esteem correlated with psychopathology improvement. By contrast, problems in other areas such as work-employment, leisure activity, sleep, social contact, earnings, meaningful-loving relationships, and environment appeared less related to the psychopathology variation. Conclusions: Although we favour the hypothesis that impairment in the above activities and behaviours may represent a trait marker of heroin addiction, the idea of it being a residual complication of repeated addictive episodes cannot be ruled out due to short-limited length of the follow-up.