Anabolic-androgenic steroids and analogue substances
Authors:
José Carlos Bouso, and Fernando Caudevilla.
Book:
De riesgos y placeres: manual para entender las drogas
Year:
2013
About the study
This study represents chapter number 30 of the book De riesgos y placeres: manual para entender las drogas (Of Risks and Pleasures: A Manual for Understanding Drugs). Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AASs) are a group of drugs synthetically derived from testosterone, a natural male hormone, that exhibit anabolic (muscle building) and androgenic (masculinizing) effects, with different potency for each effect depending on the product.
An important aspect when assessing the use of AASs from a risk reduction perspective is access to information, the quality of which is highly variable and, in general, much lower than that offered by websites and forums on recreational drugs.
The development of reliable information systems based on scientific evidence, the involvement of professionals and the extension of testing programs to anabolic-androgenic steroids may be some of the risk reduction strategies that should be applied to these substances.
Excerpt
“Most people who are introduced to the use of AASs will never develop an addiction. But people who report significant concerns regarding their muscularity, and especially people with ‘muscle dysmorphia’ (popularly known as vigorexia) are particularly likely to initiate anabolic use and exhibit problematic patterns of use (Peterson, Bengtsson, Voltaire-Carlsson, & Thibin, 2010). A study of 233 male AAS users weightlifters recruited from fitness centers in Florida and California found that adolescent behavioral disorders, accompanied by intense preoccupation with muscularity and body image, may be risk factors for youthful initiation of AAS use in weightlifters aiming for muscle strengthening (Pope, Kanayama, & Hudson, 2012).
Although most users do not undergo more than 12 cycles in their lifetime, there is a percentage of around 30% who maintain an almost continuous pattern of consumption despite the adverse medical, psychological and social effects they may experience, meeting psychiatric criteria (DSM-IV) of dependence. Hence the term AAS dependence (Kanayama, Brower, Wood, Hudson, & Pope, 2009). The prevalence of AAS dependence in women is minimal.”
Photo by Norbert Buduczki on Unsplash.
Categories:
Studies & papers
, Others
Tags:
scientific research
, study
, adverse effects
, risk reduction
, risks
, harm reduction
, steroids
, book chapter