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Aims: To investigate differences and similarities in college students' drinking motives in Spain and in Hungary., Methods: A total of 550 Spanish (mean age 22.7, SD = 3.2) and 997 Hungarian (mean age 22.4, SD = 2.7) college students completed the Drinking Motive Questionnaire Revised Short Form (DMQ-R SF) and answered other alcohol-related questions. Data were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis, t-test and structural equation modeling., Results: The DMQ-R SF demonstrated good psychometric properties in both countries. The rank order of the motives (social > enhancement > coping > conformity) was identical in the two countries. However, Hungarian students scored higher on enhancement, social and coping motives than Spanish students. In both the Hungarian and the Spanish population, enhancement motives were associated with drinking frequency and drunkenness, while coping motives were associated with alcohol-related problems. Among Spanish students, a significant relationship was found between alcohol-related problems and enhancement motives as well., Conclusion: Despite the substantial differences in the drinking culture of both countries, drinking motives showed overwhelming similarities (e.g. rank order of motives and the particular relationships between motives and alcohol outcomes). Only few differences (e.g. Hungarian college students indicated a higher level of motives) were found in cross-national comparison. Our results imply that programs targeting risky drinking motives are likely to be successfully adapted to different drinking cultures in Europe.

Based on the material available in both the scientific literature and on the web, the present paper provides an updated pharmacological, chemical, toxicological and behavioural overview of Bromo-Dragonfly (1-(8-bromobenzo[1,2-b;4,5-b']difuran-4-yl)-2-aminopropane; 'B-fly'). B-Fly is a powerful, long lasting, LSD-like, hallucinogenic drug, which has been associated with a number of acute intoxications and fatalities in a number of countries. A critical discussion of the potential of misuse of B-fly but also of the methodological limitations, which are intrinsically associated with the analysis of online, non-peer reviewed, material, is presented. It is concluded that the availability of online information on novel psychoactive drugs, such as B-fly, may constitute a public health challenge. Better international collaboration levels may be needed to tackle this novel and fast growing phenomenon.

Background: Recently, those substances deriving from the active ingredient of the Khat plant, cathinone, have been rising in popularity. Indeed, 4-methylmethcathinone (mephedrone; 'meow meow' and others) has been seen by some as a cheaper alternative to other classified recreational drugs., Aims: We aimed here at providing a state-of-the-art review on mephedrone history and prevalence of misuse, chemistry, pharmacology, legal status, product market appearance, clinical/management and related fatalities., Methods: Because of the limited evidence, some of the information here presented has been obtained from user reports/drug user-orientated web sites. The most common routes for mephedrone recreational use include insufflation and oral ingestion. It elicits stimulant and empathogenic effects similar to amphetamine, methylamphetamine, cocaine and MDMA. Due to its sympathomimetic actions, mephedrone may be associated with a number of both physical and psychopathological side effects. Recent preliminary analysis of recent UK data carried out in 48 related cases have provided positive results for the presence of mephedrone at postmortem., Discussion and Conclusions: Within the UK, diffusion of mephedrone may have been associated with an unprecedented combination of a particularly aggressive online marketing policy and a decreasing availability/purity of both ecstasy and cocaine. Mephedrone has been recently classified in both the UK and in a number of other countries as a measure to control its availability. Following this, a few other research psychoactives have recently entered the online market as yet unregulated substances that may substitute for mephedrone. Only international collaborative efforts may be able to tackle the phenomenon of the regular offer of novel psychoactive drugs.

Objective: To investigate time-trend changes in the frequency of drunkenness among European and North American adolescents., Design: Cross-sectional surveys in the 1997/1998 and 2005/2006 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study (HBSC)., Setting: High schools in 23 countries., Participants: A sample of 77 586 adolescents aged 15 years was analyzed by means of hierarchical linear modeling., Main Outcome Measure: The frequency of drunkenness., Results: We observed a significant increase of about 40% in the mean frequency of drunkenness in all 7 participating Eastern European countries. This increase was evident among both genders, but most consistently among girls. Meanwhile, it declined in 13 of 16 Western countries, about 25% on average. Declines in Western countries were particularly notable among boys and in North America, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. Despite this gender convergence, with few exceptions (Greenland, Norway, United Kingdom) boys continued to have a higher frequency of drunkenness in 2005/2006 than girls., Conclusions: The confirmed cultural convergence implies that adoption and implementation of evidence-based measures to mitigate the frequency of adolescent drunkenness such as tax increases and restricting alcohol access and advertisement should get the same priority in Eastern European countries as in Western countries. Policy measures that might facilitate decreases in drunkenness such as server training and the promotion of alcohol-free leisure-time activities should be reinforced in Western countries. The gender convergence implies that prevention policy should be less exclusively focused on male adolescents.

Background, Aims: There are several examples in international literature dealing with the connection between different types of substance use behaviors. Studies mostly report the strengthening effect of one type of substance use on other types as well among Hungarian high school students. In our study the relationship between different substance use behaviors are analyzed on adult population., Method: The analysis was carried out within the framework of the Hungarian Population Survey on Addiction Problems (OLAAP) on a sample of 2710 persons from the Hungarian population between 18 and 64 years of age., Results: Lifetime prevalence of abstinence regarding all substance use behaviors in the 18-64 years population is 7.5%. 848% of all subjects have drunk alcohol ever, 55.6% have smoked, 13.1% have consumed prescription drugs and 9.3% have used illicit drugs at least once while lifetime prevalence of abusive prescription drug use is 6.1%. One fourth (24.8%) of the surveyed persons have not used any of the studied substances in the last month. Socio-demographic pattern of different substance use behaviors is rather heterogenic, however descriptive analyses on the relationship between different actual (last month) substance use behaviors in line with the cluster analysis carried out on prevalence data of different substance use behaviors indicate the relatedness of substance use behaviors., Conclusion: Our results support the phenomenon called multiple drug use in literature that was observed on a Hungarian high school student sample as well. At the same time however, based on the substance use data regarding adult population, a slightly different cluster structure was identified.

Background and Aim: Numerous studies report on high impulsivity and preference for "here and now" of patients suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). In our paper, we aimed to explore and summarise those studies which explored the connection between BPD and delay discounting using empirical approach., Method: In July 2010 five databases (PsycInfo, ScienceDirect, MedLine, Web of Science and PubMed) were searched using the keywords borderline, reward, "delay discount*" and "delay gratification"., Results: Out of five we identified as relevant, only two studies found any difference in delaying gratification of BPDpatients compared to controls., Conclusion: The analysis of results, sampling (sample size, age, fitted control) and methods (hypothetical questions)used by the studies reveal new hypotheses, and directions in this field of research.

The creative process contains both conscious and unconscious work. Therefore, artists have to face their unconscious processes and work with emotional material that is difficult to keep under control in the course of artistic creation. Bringing these contents of consciousness to the surface needs special sensitivity and special control functions while working with them. Considering these mechanisms, psychoactive substance can serve a double function in the case of artists. On the one hand, chemical substances may enhance the artists' sensitivity. On the other hand, they can help moderate the hypersensitivity and repress extreme emotions and burdensome contents of consciousness. The authors posit how the use of opiates could have influenced the life and creative work of Edgar Allan Poe and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

The connection between mental disorders and creativity in writers, poets, and other artists has been the subject of scientific interest for a long time. The aim of the present study is to examine the relationship between Virginia Woolf's bipolar disorder and her literary creativity. The authors summarize Virginia Woolf's life, family background, and the course of her illness and examine their influence on her work and creation. The authors try to present the complex process in the course of which the work of art is born with the help of the unconscious and conscious. In addition, the authors consider the effect of the development of her illness on her creativity and the way in which she integrated her experiences, anxieties, misconceptions, and hallucinations into art during decompensated depression. Based on these, the authors would like to give an insight into the writer's life and work, which can help us understand better Virginia Woolf's personality, both from artistic and psychiatric point of view.

Introduction and Aims: The aim of this study is to confirm the four-dimensional structure and other measurement properties of the Drinking Motives Questionnaire Revised Short Form (DMQ-R SF) among young Hungarian adults in a recreational setting., Design and Methods: In a 'Health Tent' at Europe's biggest music and cultural festival, 390 attendees (mean age 23.6, SD = 4.4) completed the DMQ-R SF and answered other alcohol-related questions. Data were analysed by confirmatory factor analysis, repeated measures anova and structural equation modelling., Results: The results confirmed the good measurement properties of the DMQ-R SF in terms of factor loadings, model fit and internal consistency. These statistics were similar for men and women. For both genders, social motives were the most frequently indicated motivational dimension, followed by coping, conformity and enhancement. Social motives were consistently related to drinking, and coping to alcohol-related problems., Discussion and Conclusions: It seems that the DMQ-R SF is a useful instrument for measuring the motivation to engage in drinking in recreational settings, such as parties, clubs and festivals, where hard-to-reach target groups vulnerable to risky drinking behaviour are present, but time for filling out questionnaires is restricted., (© 2010 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.)

Background and Aim: Gambling is a form of entertainment with a history of thousand years that has a significant potential for development and has become a widely spread global industry recently. Excessive gambling can take the form of problem, or even pathological gambling. The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) is the most common measure used for the assessment of problem and pathological gambling. The aim of our study was the development and psychometric analysis of the Hungarian version of the instrument, and its verification on a representative population sample., Method: The administration of the instrument was conducted within the frame of the National Household Survey on Addiction Problems, where 2710 persons were interviewed from Hungarian population between 18 and 64 years., Results: The psychometric properties of SOGS-HU are adequate. 65.3% of the respondents had ever gambled. The most popular games are lottery and other number draw games. According to the data obtained by SOGS 1.9 % of the sample was considered to be problem gambler, and 1.4 % of the sample was considered to be pathological gambler. In both groups the proportion of man was higher, while additional risk factors were lower income, lower expected level of education and legal / illegal substance use., Conclusion: Based on these results Hungary can be found in the middle-rank of Europe regarding the prevalence of problem and pathological gambling.

Background: Candidate genes of the dopaminergic system have been reported as key elements in shaping human temperament. Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) plays a vital role in dopamine inactivation, and the Val(158)Met single nucleotide polymorphism (rs4680) in its gene has been recently associated with the Novelty Seeking (NS) temperament scale of the Temperament and Character Inventory in studies of healthy adults, as well as methamphetamine abusers., Method: Our goal was to examine the association between temperament dimensions of the Temperament and Character Inventory and the COMT Val(158)Met variation in a Hungarian sample of 117 heroin-dependent patients and 124 nondependent controls., Results: Case-control analysis did not show any significant difference in allele or genotype distributions. However, dimensional approach revealed an association between the COMT Val(158)Met and NS (P = .01): both controls and opiate users with Met/Met genotypes showed higher NS scores compared to those with the Val allele. The NS scores are also significantly higher among opiate users; however, no interaction was found between group status and COMT genotype., Conclusion: Association of the COMT polymorphism and NS temperament scale has been shown for heroin-dependent patients and controls regardless of group status., (Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Over the past few years gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) has generated widespread media interest as a possible 'date rape drug'. Our goal was to examine the extent to which GHB is associated with drug-facilitated sexual assaults. Literature was searched systematically and 11 studies, published between 1961 and June 30, 2009, were identified dealing specifically with the role of GHB in sexual assaults. GHB was detected in 0.2-4.4% of reported sexual assaults. The results demonstrate that a wide range of drugs may be present in cases of sexual assault, and many of them are much more frequent than GHB. Our results do not support the widespread labelling of GHB as a date rape drug as the prevalence of GHB is much lower than of other substances used in sexual assaults. On the other hand, however, the possible risk of GHB in this regard should not be neglected. Nevertheless, over-sensitive and sensation seeking media reports focusing on the association of sex crime and GHB might be counterproductive and misleading as they turn the attention away from other substances that are often used in sexual assaults.

Since the millennium, an expanding number of research articles have examined the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and physical and mental health. The relationship between EI and addictive disorders has, however, remained relatively well-hidden. We therefore systematically reviewed and critically evaluated the literature on this relationship. We identified 51 articles on the topic of which 36 fulfilled our inclusion criteria. Results indicate that a lower level of EI is associated with more intensive smoking, alcohol use, and illicit drug use and two components of EI play a key role in addictions: "decoding and differentiation of emotions" and "regulation of emotions."

The present study was carried out to assess the construct validity of the short form of the Smoking Consequences Questionnaire, a brief measure of smoking outcome expectancies on a large sample of adolescents (N = 953). The results of this study support a four-factor structure of smoking outcome expectancies, including expectancies of negative consequences, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and appetite-weight control, as well as the assertion that gender, smoking status and sensation-seeking have a distinct pattern of associations with the four outcome expectancy factors., (Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Several measures have been developed for the quantification of emotional intelligence. One widely applied method is the Assessing Emotions Scale, whose factor structure has attracted much scientific attention. The objective of the present study was to identify which of the previously suggested models are the most appropriate. By applying confirmatory factor analysis, we have tested the original one-, three-, four-, and six-factor solutions. Results confirmed the three-factor structure to be the most suitable solution. We suggest that the factors in this structure are better described by the labels "appraisal of emotions," "optimism and regulation of emotions," and "intrapersonal and interpersonal utilization of emotions." Supplemental materials for this article may be downloaded from http://brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.

Unlabelled: Our study reviews publications regarding assessment of smoking prevalence rates on Hungarian adult representative samples. Our aim is to report the results on prevalence of smoking of the national representative survey called the National Survey on Addiction Problems in Hungary (NSAPH) carried out in 2007. of the present survey and former studies are compared, as well., Methods: Target population of the survey was the entire Hungarian population between 18 and 64 years of age. Net size of the sample was 2710 persons. Part of the data collection happened by face-to-face interviews while more sensitive issues were assessed by self-rating questionnaires., Results: 36.1% of the Hungarian adult population smoke cigarettes (29.9% on a daily basis). 40.6% of males while 31.7% of females smoke regularly (rates of daily smokers are 34.6% and 25.3%, respectively). Male gender, lower age, lower education, lower socio-economic status and parental smoking were identified as risk factors for smoking., Conclusions: Present results support the higher prevalence rates among the heterogeneous results of previous years, while suggest slight increase of smoking at the same time. This tendency is unequivocally due to the increase of smoking among women, while in case of men stagnating prevalence rates can be observed.

Role of emotions in the background of addictions is a long-studied question. Clinical observations and comorbidity studies unambiguously indicate that psychoactive substance use and dependence are related to emotional problems as well. Emotional intelligence is a relatively new concept of the study of managing emotions. On the revelation of this construct's relationship with psychoactive substance use and dependence only a few studies have been carried out so far. Present study systematically reviews articles born between 1990 and October 1, 2010 dealing with the relationship of these two factors. Out of the identified altogether 54 studies, 37 fitted the criteria of analysis. Studies overall indicate that lower levels of emotional intelligence are associated with more intensive drinking, smoking and illicit substance use and also more likely correlate with internet addiction, bulimia, gambling and impulsive buying. According to their results, especially the components called "recognizing emotions" and "regulation of emotions" of emotional intelligence play important roles regarding substance use.

Objective: To examine pregnant women's denial of risk, tobacco dependence and their partner's smoking status on smoking behavior during pregnancy., Design: Cross-sectional design with convenience sampling., Setting: Data collection was carried out in hospitals and antenatal clinics in Budapest and 12 other Hungarian cities., Population or Sample: A total of 406 adult pregnant women (mean age: 28.2 years; SD = 5.6) with a mean gestational age of 23.3 weeks ranging from 4 to 40 (SD = 8.9)., Methods: Pregnant women were enrolled in the study by midwives and home-care attendants., Main Outcome Measures: Smoking status was assessed by self-report questions. Further measures included the Fagerstrom Test of Nicotine Dependence to assess nicotine dependence, and the Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives to assess the motivational background of smoking. Risk perception was assessed by Haslam and Draper's (2000) 12-item risk perception questionnaire., Results: Prevalence of occasional and daily smokers was 21.7 and 29.3%, respectively. Some 59.7% of the pregnant women have a partner who smokes. Daily smokers had a higher level of risk denial than occasional or non-smokers (Welch F = 91.607; p < 0.001). Current smokers also had a higher denial than temporary quitters (t = -3.153; p = 0.003). Denial of risk correlated significantly with nicotine dependence (r = 0.30) and the main motivational factors (r = 0.34-0.48). A multinomial logistic regression model of denial of risk concurrently predicted women's smoking status (p = 0.001), even when controlling for age, education, partner's smoking status and parity., Conclusions: A higher level of risk denial seems to be one of the major determinants of women's smoking status during pregnancy.

Background: Suboxone (Buprenorphine/naloxone) is a novel drug used in opiate substitution therapy. In Hungary, it was introduced in November 2007. Suboxone is a product for sublingual administration containing the partial mu-receptor agonist buprenorphine and antagonist naloxone in a 4:1 ratio., Objective: Objectives of our study were to monitor and evaluate the effects of Suboxone treatment., Method: 6 outpatient centers participated in the study, 3 from Budapest and 3 from smaller cities in Hungary. At these centers, all patients entering Suboxone maintenance therapy between November 2007 and March 2008, altogether 80 persons (55 males, 35 females, mean age = 30.2 years, SD=5.48) were included in the study sample. During the 6-month period of treatment, data were collected 4 times; when entering treatment, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after entering treatment. Applied measures were the Addiction Severity Index, SCID-I, SCID-II, Hamilton Depression Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Scale, STAI-S State Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, Heroin Craving Questionnaire, WHO Well-being Inventory, Perceived Stress Scale, ADHD retrospective questionnaire, TCI short version, and Ways of Coping questionnaire., Results: Nearly fourth of the altogether 80 heroin dependent patients (18 persons, 22.5%) dropped out of treatment during the first month (the majority, 12 persons [15%] during the first week) or chose methadone substitution instead. Following this period however, dropout rate decreased and the six-month treatment period was completed by 32 patients (40%). During the first month of treatment significant positive changes were experienced in all studied psychological and behavioral dimensions that proved to be stabile throughout the studied period., Conclusions: According to the early experience with Suboxone treatment, it is a well tolerable and successfully applicable drug in the substitution therapy of opiate addicts. A critical phase seems to be the first one or two weeks of treatment. Dropout rate is high during this early period, while after a successful conversion clients presumably remain in therapy for a long period. At the beginning of administration special emphasis must be put on informing patients, especially concerning withdrawal symptoms that might be present during the first week, which highly contributes to better retention in treatment.

Background: Beginning with the end of the total and later on the partial state ban on gambling in Hungary, an increasingly intensive revival of gambling can be observed together with a widening scope of offers. Parallel to the growing popularity of controlled, social and recreational forms of gambling, the spread of excessive, problematic and pathological gambling requiring therapeutic intervention is also present., Objective: Both from the perspective of research and clinical practice the following questions are raised. Whether there exist subtypes of problematic or pathological gamblers with specific personality characteristics and therefore needs for specific types of treatment, and if it is worth differentiating between gamblers according to their preferences towards specific types of gambling., Results: One stream of research with the objective of finding subtypes of gambling examines pathological gamblers in general, independent of their gambling preferences. These authors describe subgroups with typical psychological characteristics and they present various possible functions of gambling. On the other hand, data is available supporting that persons with unlike dominant preferences towards different types of gambling can be characterized by dissimilar demographic and psychological indices as well. Authors in these studies present typologies created according to various different aspects in details., Conclusion: Based on studies aiming to create a typology of gambling addicted patients and discover their motives, we can assume that the escape gambler and the impulsive gambler types can most unequivocally be differentiated. Besides these, studies suggest the existence of two other types of gamblers; normal and ones seeking the experience of dissociation. On the personality characteristics of gamblers playing specific types of games, however, there is little data available yet.

Background: HIV infection has become one of the major public health problems of our time. An estimated 33.2 million people lived worldwide with HIV in 2007. Injecting drug users are the most at risk group of HIV infection in many regions of the world. Injecting drug use became the primary route of infection in Western- and Central Europe, also in North America and Australia, and dominated from the beginning of the epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia., Goals: Identifying drug users as risk groups has evoked a series of intervention possibilities, of which the authors introduce and assess the effectiveness of needle and syringe exchange programs., Methods: We evaluated a literature search by the use of MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Web of Science databases., Results: After reviewing the scientific literature the authors conclude that needle and syringe exchange programs are an effective way of reducing risky behaviors related to injecting drug use, hence they are effective in reducing the spread of HIV among injecting drug users and the population. The authors introduce the literature related to the effectiveness of various kinds of programs for distributing sterile injecting equipment., Conclusion: Besides various kinds of prevention programs and harm reduction measures, when adopted to the given populations needs and socio-cultural circumstances, the providing of needle and syringe programs are an indispensable condition of successfully preventing the spread of HIV.

Sensation seeking is a strong correlate of alcohol consumption among young people, yet the research on mediators of this association is mainly limited to English-speaking adolescents. The proposed model of the present study includes antecedent variables (sensation seeking, age and gender), mediators (positive and negative expectancies and drinking motives), and one outcome variable (a composite score of alcohol use). Self-reported data obtained from Hungarian high school students (N=707, mean age 16.6, SD=1.5) were analyzed with structural equation modeling. The general model fit was excellent, and this study supported the proposed sensation seeking --> positive and negative expectancies --> drinking motives --> alcohol use indirect effects. The total indirect effect explains 38% of sensation seeking and alcohol use association. Results support the notion that positive expectancy mediates between sensation seeking and drinking motives, and finally, positive expectancy and drinking motives are mediators between sensation seeking and alcohol use.

Despite the fact that more and more clinical case studies and research reports have been published on the increasing problem of Internet addiction, no generally accepted standardized tool is available to measure problematic Internet use or Internet addiction. The aim of our study was to create such a questionnaire. On the basis of earlier studies and our previous experience withYoung's (1998a) Internet Addiction Test, initially, we created a 30-item questionnaire, which was assessed together with other questions regarding participants' Internet use. Data were collected online from 1,037 persons (54.1% of them male; mean age, 23.3 years; SD, 9.1). As a result of reliability analysis and factor analysis, we reduced the number of items to 18 and created the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire (PIUQ) containing three subscales: obsession, neglect, and control disorder. Cronbach's alpha of the PIUQ is .87 (Cronbach's alpha of the subscales is .85, .74, and .76, respectively). The test-retest correlation of the PIUQ is .90. The PIUQ proved to be a reliable measurement for assessing the extent of problems caused by the "misuse" of the Internet; however, further analysis is needed.

Exercise in appropriate quantity and of proper quality contributes significantly to the preserve our health. On the contrary, excessive exercise may be harmful to health. The term 'exercise addiction' has been gaining increasing recognition to describe the latter phenomenon. The exact definition of exercise addiction and its potential associations with other disorders is still under study, although according to the authors this phenomenon can be primarily described as a behavioral addiction. Accordingly, exercise addiction, among other behavioral and mental disorders, can be well describe within the obsessive-compulsive spectrum suggested by Hollander (1993). There are several tools used to assess exercise addiction. The authors here present the Hungarian version of the Exercise Dependence Scale (Hausenblas és Downs, 2002) and the Exercise Addiction Inventory (Terry, Szabo és Griffiths, 2004). Exercise addiction has many symptoms in common and also shows a high comorbidity with eating disorders and body image disorders. It may be more closely associated with certain sports but more data is needed to demonstrate this specificity with more certainty. Sel-evaluation problems seem to have a central role in the etiology from a psychological aspect. The relevance of neurohormonal mechanisms is less clear. The authors emphasize the importance of further research on exercise addiction. One important question to be answered is if this disorder is an independent entity to be classified as a distinct clinical disorder or is it rather a subgroup of another disorder.

Gambling and pathological gambling are typically out of focus research area in Hungary. Besides the little evidence available in this field, it can be stated that both society and policy decision makers ignore the problems regarding this phenomenon. Gambling is rather considered to be a segment of the market than a behavior with possible harmful consequences or a mental and behavior disorder . The author reviews current knowledge on gambling and pathological gambling, including market data, research results and treatment options and highlights the most important steps which would be necessary in order to develop this research area.

Several studies suggested a possible link between substance use disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome (ADHD). The ADHD Rating Scale (ADHD-RS) completed by parents is a tool for diagnosing ADHD in childhood. We adapted this questionnaire for a self-report retrospective scale to estimate the presence of childhood ADHD symptoms in adults. This retrospective questionnaire was completed by 121 heroin dependent patients and 85 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The ADHD Rating Scale Retrospective Questionnaire is a novel tool for assessing ADHD symptoms that demonstrated high validity. Our results showed strong gender difference in the prevalence of ADHD symptoms, since male subjects obtained higher mean scores of both attention-deficit and hyperactivity scales than females in both the control and the heroin dependent population. Besides, mean score of both scales were higher in the clinical population as a higher portion of substance abusers reported symptoms of childhood ADHD than controls. These results support the hypothesis that untreated childhood ADHD could be a risk factor for developing substance use disorder.

The link between cannabis use and psychosis has been studied intensively and debated hotly for decades. The authors review the research that has been done on the topic, including the studies which produced evidence of a relationship between the two phenomena, and give a detailed analysis of the hypotheses about the nature of the link (the direction of causality). According to the reviewed literature an increased prevalence of cannabis use can be found in the schizophrenic population. The use of the drug is associated with a worse prognosis and an earlier onset of schizophrenia. However, findings about the possible effect of cannabis use on the specific symptoms of schizophrenia have been contradictory. An association has also been observed between cannabis use and schizotypal personality traits, but evidence for a specific, cannabis induced functional psychosis is still lacking. Based on the data of longitudinal studies, cannabis use should be recognized as a risk factor for later psychosis. The abuse of the drug increases the likelihood of later psychotic symptoms especially among individuals with vulnerability or when the use starts in early adolescence. At the same time, the role of self-medication or a common genetic background cannot be excluded either, and a circular causality is very possible.