Psychoactive drug use among overweight psychiatric patients: problem aspect of anorectic drugs.

The relationship between anorectic drug (stimulant) treatment and subsequent drug abuse in overweight individuals has often been discussed but seldom systematically studied. One hypothesis is that anorectic treatment promotes the likelihood of drug-abuse patterns. The present study involved a group of overweight psychiatric patients (n = 91) who were compared on the basis of whether or not they had used anorectic drugs in the past year and also whether or not they were currently using any form of psychoactive drugs. It was found that the use of anorectic drugs was mainly associated with weight problems, such as dieting difficulties, but not with amount of overweight. Anorectic use and other weight-problem variables do not seem to be strongly related to the psychiatric patient's drug problems.