Abstract

Background: Substance use among adolescents has sparked widespread concerns that millions of adolescents are at increased risk of mental health. A link between adolescent substance use and the development of psychosis in early adulthood within clinical practice, the issue is further complicated by high rates of co-occurring substance use disorders (SUD) amongst individuals suffering from a psychotic illness. There were about 190 million substance abusers Out of these substance abusers, around 40 million develop serious mental illness, of these majority of them, were adolescents because of the Adolescence is often a time of experimentation with drugs, alcohol, and other substance use as well as practicing.

Objective: The objective of the study was to assess the magnitude of substance-induced psychosis among adolescents in Amanuel Mental Specialized hospital Addis Ababa Ethiopia 2017.

Methods: A cross-sectional institutional-based study was conducted from February 1-March31, 2017 in Amanuel mental specialized hospital on a total sample size of 235 using a systematic random sampling method. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data.

Results: With a 235(100%) response rate, the overall prevalence of substance-induced psychosis was 28.6%. The findings of this study revealed that the commonly abused drugs were alcohol 200(85%), khat 196(83.40%), cigarette 156(66.4%), and other illicit substances 98(41.7%). There is a statistically significant association between the use of substance/Drugs with induced psychosis. Based on this any substance /drug abuse [AOR 95%CI 2.15(1.23, 3.70), p=0.02] was found. There is strong association between substances abuse and psychosis development (Illegal drugs AOR 95%CI 4.36(1.12, 7.33), p< 0.01, Alcohol consumption [AOR 95%CI 2.22(1.63, 4.42), p = 0.01, Khat chewing [AOR95%CI 2.10(1.61, 5.49) p = 0.07 and weak association with cigarette smoking [AOR 95%CI 1.5(0.32, 2.38), p=0.04].

Conclusion: The magnitude of substance-induced psychosis is high among adolescents; there is an association between adolescent substance use and the onset of psychosis in young adulthood. Peer pressure and family influence have strong influences on the drug use of adolescents.