The impact of methamphetamine use on subjective well‐being in an Internet survey: preliminary findings

Abstract

Methamphetamine is one of the most widely used stimulants worldwide. Common reasons for use of the drug include efforts to improve or enhance one's life and to uplift one's mood. Nevertheless, acute effects of the drug lead to temporary improvements in mood followed by negative affect. The purpose of the present study was to expand on the current literature and examine other aspects of mood and satisfaction with life in methamphetamine users. Over 6000 adults completed an Internet survey and reported on depression, apathy, satisfaction with life, happiness, and subjective well-being, in addition to measures of methamphetamine use. We compared those who had used methamphetamine at least once within the past year (N = 610) to those who had never used (N = 6063). Methamphetamine use accounted for significant variance in depression, apathy, satisfaction with life, happiness, and subjective well-being even when alcohol and other drugs served as covariates. Methamphetamine use may decrease one's subjective well-being instead of enhancing it, which is contradictory to the perceptions of many users. Increasing awareness about methamphetamine's negative impact on mood and life satisfaction might help decrease prevalence of the drug's use and associated troubles.

Methamphetamine use, aggressive behavior and other mental health issues among high-school students in Cape Town, South Africa

“…Methamphetamine use in the past year was also a significant indicator of a higher depression score on the BDI, again confirming previous findings on the association between methamphetamine use and depression ( London et al, 2004; Looby & Earleywine, 2007; Newton et al, 2004). Again, the samples in these studies mostly represented older individuals (over 25 years) or individuals in drug treatment settings.…”

Methamphetamine Induces Long-Term Alterations in Reactivity to Environmental Stimuli: Correlation with Dopaminergic and Serotonergic Toxicity

“…Accordingly, our data are consistent with previous evidence showing that METH induces emotional alterations (Comer et al 2001;Looby and Earleywine 2007), reduces novelty-seeking behavior (Misslin and Ropartz 1981) and decreases novelty-induced exploration due to non-specific effects on arousal (Berlyne et al 1966). METH abusers and addicts express a variable degree of novelty-seeking behavior, probably in relationship to their premorbid characteristics and specific genetic polymorphisms (Hosák et al 2006).…”

“Frontal systems” behaviors in comorbid human immunodeficiency virus infection and methamphetamine dependency

“…There is also evidence showing sensation-seeking to be associated with MA use (Brecht et al, 2004), and to risky sexual behavior in HIV+ mixed substance users (Gonzalez et al, 2005). Increased apathy has been related to MA use (Looby and Earleywine, 2007), and it is relatively common in HIV infection (Castellon et al, 1998; Rabkin et al, 2000), where it is independently associated with everyday functioning outcomes, including IADL declines (Kamat et al, 2012) and medication management (Barclay et al, 2007; Rabkin et al, 2000). …”