title: Psychological, physical, and sexual abuse in addicted patients who undergo treatment.
abstract: This study explored the prevalence of a history as victims of abuse among patients who sought outpatient treatment for drug addiction. A sample of 252 addicted patients was assessed. Information was collected on the patients' lifetime history of abuse (psychological, physical, and/or sexual abuse), sociodemographic factors, consumption factors, psychopathological factors, and personality variables. Drug-addicted patients who present a lifelong history of abuse were compared with patients who were not abused. Of the total sample, 46% of the patients (n = 115) who were addicted to drugs had been victims of abuse. There was a statistically significant difference between the victimization rates of men (37.8%) and women (79.6%). Moreover, for some variables, significant differences were observed between patients who had been abused and those who had not. Compared with patients who had not been abused, the addicted patients with a history of victimization scored significantly higher on several European Addiction Severity Index, Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II, and maladjustment variables but not on the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised. The current results indicate that patients who present a lifelong history of abuse exhibit both a more severe addiction than patients who were not abused and several comorbidities. The implications of these results for further research and clinical practice are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Universidad Pública de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain fernandez.montalvo@unavarra.es.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fernández-Montalvo
authors.affiliation: Universidad Pública de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain.
authors.forename: José J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: López-Goñi
authors.affiliation: Universidad Pública de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain.
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arteaga
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: assessment; comorbidity; drug addiction; lifetime abuse