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Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems: 2024, 26, 21

Heroin addiction history, psychopathology and stress sensitivity in a sample of migrants to Italy

Manuel Glauco Carbone, Claudia Tagliarini, Filippo Della Rocca, Marina Ricci, Anna M. Lupi, Lucia Sarandrea, Angela Ceban, Pietro Casella, Icro Maremmani, and Angelo G. I. Maremmani

Digital Object Identifier:
https://doi.org/10.62401/2531-4122-2024-21

Summary: Background: Migration is a process inherent to the human being influencing human life and its environment. During the migration process, individuals may experience traumatic events, family separation, socioeconomic difficulties, and discrimination, which can increase the risk of developing psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and substance use disorder. Methods: In the present study, we studied the possible impact of the migration process on the clinical expression of Heroin Addiction. At the same time, we explored differences between Eastern European and Northern African patients. Results: The addiction severity illness of patients was strictly dependent on all addiction severity factors except mental status and heroin use modality. In particular, severe anamnestic mental status was only related to low heroin use modality, lifetime different unsuccessful modality treatments and current severity of psychopathology (Worthlessness/Being trapped and Somatic Symptoms symptomatology). No significant correlations were found between the heroin post-traumatic spectrum score and the heroin addiction history questionnaire. High correlations were found between the heroin post-traumatic spectrum score and current psychopathology. Older patients showed less polydrug use and lower severity of their addiction illness. Methadone dosages were higher in patients with high-severity illness; if methadone dosages were higher, post-traumatic spectrum and sensitivity/psychoticism syndrome severity were lower. No correlations were observed between buprenorphine dosages and anamnestic or current clinical aspects. Little differences were found between migrant subgroups. Conclusions: Our study highlights how substance use disorder and the migratory process are important potentially stressful events that weaken the degree of resilience and predispose to the onset of symptoms of the PTSD spectrum. OAT, on the other hand, would appear to show significant efficacy in the management of symptoms related to the PTSD spectrum.

Keywords: Migration process; H/PTSD-S; migrants; heroin; opioid agonist treatment.