lil angel15
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Addicts more likely to have stress disorder
By Tamara McLean
February 15, 2007
ALCOHOLICS and drug addicts are six times more likely to have post-traumatic stress disorder than other Australians, research shows.
The study of more than 10,000 adults has found that victims of disturbing or violent events are driven to alcohol and hard drugs at an "alarming rate" as they attempt to mask their trauma.
Post-traumatic stress disorder - a condition marked by constant unwanted flashbacks and nightmares - is developed first, followed closely by the addiction.
"People try to self-medicate symptoms triggered by a rape or sexual molestation and find that taking substances makes them feel better," said lead researcher Dr Katherine Mills, from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.
"But this ultimately just perpetuates the disorder and stops them from processing their problems, so they end up worse."
The study, from an analysis of the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, found that people who abused alcohol or drugs were 6.5 times more likely than other Australians to have the disorder.
One in three people with the disorder were alcoholic and the same number had opioid dependence.
"These rates are alarmingly high given that the population prevalence of post traumatic stress is only 1 per cent," Dr Mills said.
The study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, is one of the first to prove the strength of the link between the conditions.
Women are particularly vulnerable to both, with other studies showing up to 80 per cent of "addicted" females have been physically or sexually abused, said Dr Sudie Back, from the Medical University of South Carolina.
The visiting US researcher said women also have a much shorter window than men between the start of their drug abuse and the time when serious problems develop.
"Despite fewer years of substance use and smaller quantities of substances consumed, women suffer more severe physical and psychological adverse consequences as a result," Dr Back said.
Responding to their results, the researchers have developed a psychologically-based, 12-week treatment program to be trialled on 150 people suffering from both problems.
"Given the shared incidence, this seems like the logical way to treat them," Dr Mills said.
The Australian