A case of anabolic steroid abuse / John H. Porcerelli, Bruce A. Sandler. - (Psychiatric Clinics of North America 21 (1998) 4 (1 December); p. 829-833)
Abstract
This case report is of a young man who developed significant psychiatric symptomatology, which warranted brief hospitalization, as a result of anabolic-androgenic steroid abuse. His symptoms included hostility, agitation, and homicidal and paranoid thinking. The initiation of steroid use was motivated by efforts to master an adult trauma (being shot with a shotgun). Individual (outpatient) psychotherapy helped the patient to understand his fears and to discover and work through the meanings that the shooting and injuries had for him. Cessation of steroid use eliminated his presenting symptoms. However, the major depressive symptoms, indicative of steroid dependence, developed and were treated successfully on an outpatient basis with antidepressant medication.
