Family abandonment – a possible cause of addictive behaviour
Family abandonment – a possible cause of addictive behaviour

Summary/Abstract: Acute psychotic disorder induced by psychoactive substances is characterized by delirium and hallucinations, emerging throughout or within a month from intoxication with or withdrawal from a particularn psychoactive substance.(1) Differential diagnosis must take into account, first of all, the medical conditions (central nervous system infections, vascular disorders, degenerative diseases), then the schizophreniform disorder and mood disorders (bipolar disorder). This paper features the case of a young woman aged 24, addicted to psychoactive substances – mainly synthetic cannabinoids – who came to the Psychiatric ER on an emergency basis, with symptoms of delirium and with hallucinations. The young woman’s addictive behavior was based on an unhappy childhood, as her parents had abandoned her at the age of 2 and she was left in her grandmother's care. Her parents divorced; the father refused to keep in touch with her or her sister, and their mother works in Italy, and she is indifferent to them. Since they had no parent figure from such a young age, both daughters experienced feelings of sadness, despair, which was a possible cause of addictive behavior. The female patient smoked since the age of 17 ten cigarettes a day; at 21, she began using cannabis, cocaine, and heroin, while at the age of 22, she started using synthetic cannabinoids, to which she became soon addicted. She bought the psychoactive substances from her paycheck; subsequently, upon leaving her job, she started stealing assets from the house in order to buy drugs.

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