Christian César Candido de Oliveira
Fonoaudiólogo, doutor em Ciências da Reabilitação da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo (FMUSP).
Claudia Inês Scheuer
Fonoaudióloga, docente do Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências da Reabilitação do Departamento de Fisioterapia, Fonoaudiologia e Terapia Ocupacional da FMUSP
Sandra Scivoletto
Médica, coordenadora do Grupo Interdisciplinar de Estudos de Álcool e Drogas do Instituto de Psiquiatria do Hospital das Clínicas da FMUSP.
Abstract:
Background: Psychiatric disorders in infancy and adolescence may impair the access to the memory of facts and events occurred during these periods. Objective: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the autobiographical and semantic memory of a group of adolescent drug users and a control group of adolescent non-users. Methods: Twenty-five males participated in each group between 13 and 17 years old. Two questionnaires were applied: Kihlstrom e Schacter (1995) for semantic memory and Borrini et al. (1989) for autobiographical memory. Results: The group of drug users had more difficulties in accessing autobiographical memory (p = 0.0205) and semantic memory (p = 0.0057). Conclusions: Some hypotheses might be raised: users presented cognitive complications that make difficult the access to long-term memories, as well as others related to the dynamics of drug use.
Keywords:Autobiographical memory, semantic memory, dependence, adolescence, substance use