Zeitschrift für Suchtforschung und -therapie

Abstrakt

Naltrexone as a Treatment for Heroin Dependence and its Relationship with Depression

Insha Mehraj Kak* , Neelofer Jan and Altaf Ahmad Malla

Background: Our study was aimed to know does Naltrexone used in opioid dependent patient have any relation with the onset of depression. Methods: Naltrexone was given to 30 opioid dependent patients who had undergone inpatient detoxification with no underlying psychiatric comorbidity at baseline. HAM-D was applied at 2,4,6 weeks post Naltrexone initiation. Results: Our study showed that at 2 weeks, 60% of patients showed depressive symptoms out of which 37% met the criteria for mild depressive disorder and 23% met the criteria for moderate to severe depression. At 4 and 6 weeks, majority continued to be depressive while only 3% of the patients showed improvement in depressive features. Conclusion: From our study, we concluded that a positive correlation was found between Naltrexone and Depression in Opioid users.