Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T15:53:12.276Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychiatric Morbidity in Sentenced Segregated HIV-Positive Prisoners

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Arthur Dorman ,
Art O'Connor ,
Eamonn Hardiman ,
Aideen Freyne  and
Helen O'Neill
Arthur Dorman*
Affiliation:
The Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin 14, Republic of Ireland
Art O'Connor
Affiliation:
The Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin 14, Republic of Ireland
Eamonn Hardiman
Affiliation:
The Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin 14, Republic of Ireland
Aideen Freyne
Affiliation:
The Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin 14, Republic of Ireland
Helen O'Neill
Affiliation:
The Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin 14, Republic of Ireland
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this comparative study with a control group of prisoners, psychiatric morbidity was measured in two groups of sentenced prisoners, each group completing the GHQ-30 and 21-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Group 1 consisted of 40 segregated HIV-positive prisoners and group 2 a matched control group in the main prison who had no history of HIV seropositivity. All members of group 1 had a history of intravenous drug abuse. The mean GHQ-30 and BDI scores were significantly higher in group 1, and 90% of group 1 were psychiatric ‘cases’ compared with just over 42% of group 2. Levels of psychiatric morbidity present in a third group, consisting of HIV-positive prisoners who had not been segregated (prison authorities were unaware of their seropositivity) are an interesting pointer for further research.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 163 , Issue 6 , December 1993 , pp. 802 - 805
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, M. W. (1988) Epidemiology of HIV infection. Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London, 22, 133–135.Google ScholarPubMed
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., et al (1961) An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561–571.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coid, J. (1984) How many psychiatric patients in prison? British Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 78–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carvell, A. L. M. & Hart, G. J. (1990) Risk behaviours for HIV infection among drug users in prison. British Medical Journal, 300, 1383–1384.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dean, G., O'Hare, A., O'Connor, A., et al (1987) The “opiate epidemic” in Dublin: are we over the worst? Irish Medical Journal, 80, 139–142.Google Scholar
Dye, S. & Isaacs, C. (1991) Intravenous drug misuse among prison inmates: implications for spread of HIV. British Medical Journal, 302, 1056.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, D. L. & Perkins, D. O. (1990) The clinical psychiatry of AIDS. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 3, 96–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrell, M. & Strang, J. (1991) Drugs, HIV and prisons. British Medical Journal, 302, 1477–1478.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Faulstich, M. E. (1987) Psychiatric aspects of AIDS. American Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 551–556.Google ScholarPubMed
Fenton, T. W. (1987) AIDS related psychiatric disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 579–588.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, D. P. (1972) The Detection of Psychiatric Illness by Questionnaire. Maudsley Monographs. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gunn, J., Robertson, G., Dell, D., et al (1978) Psychiatric Aspects of Imprisonment. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Gunn, J., Maden, A. & Swinton, M. (1991) Treatment needs of prisoners with psychiatric disorders. British Medical Journal, 303, 338–341.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hardino, T. W. (1987) AIDS in prison. Lancet, ii, 1260–1263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardino, T. W. (1990) HIV/AIDS in European Prisons. Geneva: University Institute of Legal Medicine.Google Scholar
Hart, G. J., Sonnex, C., Petherick, A., et al (1989) Risk behaviour for HIV infection among injecting drug users attending a drug dependency clinic. British Medical Journal, 298, 1081–1083.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennedy, D. H., Nair, G., Elliott, L., et al (1991) Drug misuse and sharing of needles in Scottish prisons. British Medical Journal, 302, 1057.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
King, M. B. (1990) Psychological aspects of HIV infection and AIDS. What have we learned? British Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 151–156.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maden, A., Swinton, M. & Gunn, J. (1990) Women in prison and use of illicit drugs before arrest. British Medical Journal, 301, 1133.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maden, A., Swinton, M. & Gunn, J. (1991) Drug dependence in prisoners. British Medical Journal, 302, 880.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maj, M. (1990) Psychiatric aspects of HIV-1 infection and AIDS. Psychological Medicine, 20, 547–563.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marsuk, P. M., Tierney, H., Tardiff, K., et al (1988) Increased risk of suicide in persons with AIDS. Journal of the American Medical Association, 259, 1333–1337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McMillan, A. (1988) HIV in prisons. British Medical Journal, 297, 873–874.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robertson, J. R., Bucknall, A. B. V., Welsby, P. D., et al (1986) Epidemic of AIDS related virus (HTLV-111/LAV) infection among intravenous drug abusers. British Medical Journal, 292, 527–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rounsaville, B. J., Weissman, M. M., Kleber, H., et al (1982) Heterogeneity of psychiatric diagnosis in treated opiate addicts. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39, 161–166.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shaw, B. F., Steer, R. A., Beck, A. T., et al (1979) The structure of depression in heroin addicts. British Journal of Addiction, 74, 295–303.Google ScholarPubMed
Turnbull, P. J., Stimson, G. V. & Dolan, K. A. (1992) Prevalence of HIV infection among ex-prisoners in England. British Medical Journal, 304, 90–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams, H., O'Connor, J. J. & Kinsella, A. (1990) Depressive symptoms in opiate addicts on methadone maintenance. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 7, 45–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, J. B. W., Rabkin, J. G., Remien, R. H., et al (1991) Multidisciplinary baseline assessment of homosexual men with and without human immunodeficiency virus infection. Archives of General Psychiatry, 48, 124–130.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (1987) WHO Consultation on Prevention and Control of AIDS in Prisons. Lancet, ii, 1263–1264.Google Scholar
World Health Organization & United Nations Office at Vienna (1990) HIV/AIDS in Prison. Geneva: University Institute of Legal Medicine.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.