Patterns of Drug Use in a Population of Youthful Psychiatric Patients
CHARLES R. SHEARN PH.D.1, and
DAVID J. FITZGIBBONS PH.D.2
1 Director of Clinical Psychology at the Institute of Living, 400 Washington St., Hartford, Conn. 06106
2 Research Psychologist at the Institute of Living, 400 Washington St., Hartford, Conn. 06106
The authors used a questionnaire to obtain information on drug use by a group of 167 young psychiatric inpatients and then compared their results with those of a survey of 26,000 college and university students. They found that their subjects showed far greater involvement with drugs, both in breadth and in depth. Since there were strong tendencies toward using a wide variety of drugs and toward repetitive long-term use, the life-style of a great many of these patients probably includes a chronic dependency on these drugs.
