núm. 1 (1998)

A relationship between cognitive schema and behavioral reaction was studied in consumers and non-consumers of psychoactive substances. To reach this objective, reclassified items of Millón Clinical Multiaxial Inventory - II (MCMI-I1) were applied to a sample 40 polyaddicts and 44 non-consumers. Participants were at least 18 years old, men and women, and residents in Santa Fe de Bogotá. The results revealed signifi­cant relationships between misuse and behavioral reactions. Both dysfunctions were also significant more frequently in consumers than in non-consumers (p < 0.001) Results also revealed that there is less probability of error when misuse is predicted from cognitive schema and from behavioral reactions than the opposite way.     

The behaviour which is established in an extreme way, under the control of external agents, can be treated through behavioural-cognitive therapeutic procedures (Rotter. 1954: Ellis, 1962; Bandura, 1969; Kanfer, 1971: Mahoney, 1974: Kanfer and Grintm, 1980: Di Clemente & Prochaska, 1985, among others),being advisable,in some cases, its combination with pharmacotherapeutic coadjuvants (Dorabjee, J., Samson, L., Kaplan, Ch.D., & Wodak, A., 1994).The principle demostrated by the first authors, is mainly applicable to the treatment for abuse of inhaled, for oral use, and injecting drugs, and the effectiveness of its combination with pharmacotherapeutic technics exclusively, for injecting drug users (IDUs or EsDI in Spanish language), pretends to be demostrated in this present study.The addiction to psychoactive substances can be proposed as a model of conduct which is not only determined by stimulus from the environment,but that is also subjected to the individuals own control. Self-reflec­tion and self determination are qualities of the individual's that can play an important role in the procedures of the behaviour therapy. In this context, the therapeutic con­cept of behavioural self-control has an important meaning (Eeldhegc, 1977; Eeldhege. 1980). Self-control, self-help, self-regulation,and self-control therapy directed towards clients addicted to drugs, serve for achieving the objective of regulating the drug ingesting behaviour, in such a way that the frecuency and intensity of the problem­atic behaviour may significantly diminish. The study’s is being applied. It will take ad­vantage of an unpublished model of controlled study that combines three different procedures of self-control in order to treat those who abuse of psychoactive sub­stances (SPAs),and of the reply of a substitutive pharmacotherapeutic procedure for UsDI They are: a) technics that are based on different sections of the model of work proposed by Kanfer in 1971 (self-observation, self-commitment, self-evaluation, self­reinforcement and self-punishment): b) procedures of covcrant conditionings) meth­ods belonging to the cognitive therapy, conceived on Mahoney's sense; Ulrich & Ulrich’s social training (1973); and d) the substitutive therapy procedure for those who abuse of narcotics, by using Dorabjee, Samson, Kaplan & Wodak’s 1994 study (see Appendix A). 

The objective of this study was to establish a relationship between basuco inhalation and the sexual behaviors of male rats in two groups ( experimental and control) and 12 female rats (were used for this study).The sexual behavior was sorted out beha­vior precopulatory with no receptive female, copulatory behavior and precopulatory with female reptive rat. The results showed the basuco dosis changed sexual beha­viors of male rats with respect to their base line and the control group in such a way that most of the registered frequencies disminished.  

It begins describing the social - demographic context which is developed education and mental health actions in the country. It is emphasized in the problems of the national education, describing how in its relation there have emerged a series of problems of psychosocial order that affect mental health of the population: the greater use and abuse of drugs, the development of all type of violence especially in higth school and in the streets, such as the emergence of gangs, or the critical problems derived from the lack of information and appropiate sexual education: each of them is being analyzed in their epidemiological aspects, in its conception and in their pre­vention strategies that facilitate the development of mental or psychological health in people. 

I present a brief summary of the research, about two drugs of great abuse in Colom­bia: Cocaine and alcohol, carried out at Universidad Católica de Colombia's labora­tory of experimental psychology. By means of animal model, we have evaluated the effects of different doses of cocaine and alcohol (0.1,1.0,10 y 20,mg/kg) on several parameters of aggressive, emotional, and social behavior in adult female and male rats and mice, as in sons of addicted mothers along gestation time. Moreover we have assessed the effects of acute administration (one injection), chronic administration (ten to twelve consecutive injections), withdrawal syndrome with the same parame­ters, and long term persistence of pharmacological effects. The results of the re­search are presented, as well as the titles of investigations recently started . 

Revista Acta Colombiana de Psicología

Facultad de psicología

Within the context of a five-stage process Known as the Precaution Adoption Process (Weinstein, 1988) it was proposed to change six of the drug addiction risk factors, based on a 120 children sampling.These children came from various Engativa Santafe de Bogota District Schools, aged between 9 and 13. Risk factors were: lack of ad­equate information, low level of school adaptation, low level of self-steem, lack of frustration acceptance, assertive skills defficiency and lack of ability' to face the group s pressure.The procedure included a pretest, a six hours workshop given in three ses­sions, and the evaluation of results for each risk factor. It was assumed that at the end of the total program some children would be in a position to modify their knowledge and attitudes as well as their practices as regards one of the risk factors, chosen from the analysis each subject would have made of his/her vulnerability as regards the said factor. From the application of the Kruskal-Wallis test, it was observed that to evalu­ate the postest mean score obtained by the subjects that underwent Stages I. II and III (Group A), Stage IV (Group B) and Stage V (Group C),the differences were significant for the following factors: Low self-steem (9.58), low rate of frustration acceptance (11.25), assertive skills deficiency (89.49) and group's pressure (19.44).The results and implications are analyzed under the Precaution Adoption Process for the preven­tion of drug addiction in children.  

Centro de estudios e investigaciones sobre adicciones.

Acta Colombia de Psicología

Revista Acta Colombiana de Psicología