The use of Thioridazine to prevent the transition of single use to relapse in the third stage of rehabilitation of individuals with Amphetamine addiction

Introduction: Relapse - a return to amphetamine after a period of abstinence, accompanied by a recovery of symptoms of addiction. Distinctions are made between relapse and disruption, which is understood as a separate case of amphetamine use. Objectives: Patients abusing amphetamine (n = 35) were under our supervision. The age of the patients was from 25 to 32 years. All of them gave their consent and underwent drug and psychotherapeutic treatment of amphetamine addiction. Twenty patients of the study group were additionally told about symptoms - precursors of disruption. Methods: Patients of the study group with the onset of symptoms - precursors of disruption were taken for three days after their appearance, thioridazine 0.02 three times a day. After discharge from the hospital, no drugs were prescribed to patients in the control group. Results: The study continued for a year after the patients were discharged from the hospital. Five patients of study group did not use amphetamine during the year. Fifteen patients of study group, at different periods after 3, 6, 9 months, 1 time used amphetamine for a year and due to the fact that against the background of use thioridazine did not receive the expected effect, they stopped taking amphetamine. All patients in the control group resumed amphetamine use at different periods throughout the year. Conclusions: Thioridazine can be used when symptoms appear precursors of disruption in patients with amphetamine addiction for the prevention of relapse in the third stage of rehabilitation.

Author(s): Sushko Vyacheslav V

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