A REVIEW ON THE CLINICAL FEATURES AND TREATMENT OF METHAMPHETAMINE INDUCED PSYCHOSIS

POSTER PRESENTATIONS

Objective. This is a review of the current treatments used to alleviate the psychotic symptoms associated with long-term abuse of methamphetamine. Clinical features, risk factors, and differential diagnostics were also reviewed from a metaanalysis. Background. According to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse in 2012, over 1.2 million Americans reported methamphetamine use in the past year, and about 440,000 reported use in the past month. Routine methamphetamine use results in significant medical complications including psychiatric and neurologic deficits. Roughly 40% of methamphetamine users will display psychotic symptoms. Some may develop clinically diagnosable psychiatric conditions associated with methamphetamine use such as schizophrenia. Some patients may experience symptoms that do not correspond to a single distinguishable psychiatric disorder, which results in poor treatment outcomes. Common symptoms include irritability, anxiety, paranoia, mood disturbances, and more serious ones include auditory and tactile hallucinations as well as violent behavior. Methods. This review was conducted on the recent article “Methamphetamine Psychosis: Epidemiology and Management” which performed a meta-analysis on the literature published on PubMed. Results. There had to be an establishment of whether there was a primary psychiatric disorder present (pre-existing symptoms, symptoms beyond those expected with that amount of drug use, symptoms persisting after methamphetamine detoxification and withdrawal) or if there was a substance induced psychiatric disorder. Psychiatric and genetic risk factors, duration and recurrence were considered. Differential diagnosis was also established. Treatment options used included risperidone, olanzapine, and haloperidol. Drugs for withdrawal of methamphetamine include bupropion, naltrexone, mirtazapine, and methylphenidate. Psychosocial treatment is also documented. Conclusion. This review establishes the difficulty of differential diagnosis of psychiatric conditions induced by methamphetamine use as well as effective treatment options because of confounding factors or co-existing 52 conditions. While there are many etiologies, the risk factors considered remain the same- psychosocial, genetic, and drug use variables. These may extend the presence of MA induced psychosis. Grants. None