Warfa Nasir, Klein Axel, Bhui Kamaldeep, Leavey Gerard, Craig Tom, Alfred Stansfeld Stephen
Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary, University of London, London, UK.
Soc Sci Med. 2007 Jul;65(2):309-18. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.04.038. Epub 2007 Jun 1.
Khat has been used as a stimulant plant in many parts of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula for centuries. Its current use among particular migrant communities in Europe and elsewhere has caused alarm among policy makers and health care professionals. In the United Kingdom, the debate over the psychiatric and social implications of khat use has led to a demand for stricter legal control of this stimulant plant. This paper (a) provides a historical overview of khat use, and (b) reviews the evidence for the existence of a causal link between khat use and mental illness. To do so, we undertook a detailed search of social and medical science databases for case reports, qualitative and quantitative articles on khat use and mental illness from 1945 to 2006. The validity and reliability of the studies that met our inclusion criteria were examined. Lastly, although highlighting health concerns about khat use we suggest that the debate about this popular drug in migrant populations carries elements of a 'moral panic'. There is a need for improved research on khat use and its possible association with psychiatric disorders.
几个世纪以来，巧茶在非洲和阿拉伯半岛的许多地区一直被用作一种刺激性植物。目前，它在欧洲及其他地区的特定移民群体中的使用引起了政策制定者和医疗保健专业人员的警觉。在英国，关于使用巧茶对精神和社会影响的辩论导致了对这种刺激性植物进行更严格法律管制的要求。本文（a）提供了巧茶使用的历史概述，（b）回顾了关于巧茶使用与精神疾病之间存在因果联系的证据。为此，我们对社会科学和医学数据库进行了详细搜索，以查找1945年至2006年间关于巧茶使用和精神疾病的病例报告、定性和定量文章。对符合我们纳入标准的研究的有效性和可靠性进行了审查。最后，尽管强调了对巧茶使用的健康担忧，但我们认为关于这种在移民群体中流行的药物的辩论带有“道德恐慌”的成分。有必要对巧茶的使用及其与精神疾病的可能关联进行更好的研究。
