Marc T Swogger

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Verified

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• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at University of Rochester

Objective: In a randomized controlled trial we studied a brief motivational intervention (BMI) for substance use, examining core psychopathic traits as a moderator of treatment efficacy. Method: Participants were 105 males and females who were 18 years of age and older and in a pretrial jail diversion program. The sample was approximately 52% Bl...

Outwardly directed aggression is associated with suicide attempts, but aggression is a heterogeneous construct. Increased specificity in our understanding of the link between aggression and suicide attempts can be attained by examining subtypes of aggression. We studied the relationships of reactive and proactive aggression to history of a suicide...

Background: We examined the extent to which trait anger and psychopathic traits predicted post-discharge self-directed violence (SDV) and other-directed violence (ODV) among psychiatric patients. Method: Participants were 851 psychiatric patients sampled from in-patient hospitals for the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study (MVRAS). Particip...

Psychopathy is an important construct in offender classification. Although several studies have suggested that there are two distinct subtypes of psychopaths, these studies have considerable limitations, including reliance on self-report measures, a failure to adequately address heterogeneity within the construct of psychopathy, and predictor-crite...

Background: Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is a psychoactive plant native to Southeastern Asia that is receiving increased international attention as a potential therapeutic agent. While much of the limited scientific research on kratom is focused on its analgesic potential, kratom use also has important risks and benefits in the domain of mental hea...

The Southeast Asian plant kratom (Mitragyna speciosa Korth.) has garnered growing popularity among North American consumers as a herbal product used for recreational, performance enhancement and self-treatment purposes. Scientifically, there has also been substantial interest in studying kratom and its constituents as a possible therapy for several...

Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is a tree in the coffee family, indigenous to Southeast Asia (SEA), whose leaves have historically been used as a natural remedy and for its purported stimulating and analgesic properties. Kratom has gained popularity in recent years in the United States, where internet-based sales have driven growing numbers of people t...

Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa Korth.) use has increased substantially over the past decade outside of its indigenous regions, especially for the self-treatment of psychiatric conditions. An anonymous, cross-sectional, online survey was completed by 4,945 people who use kratom (PWUK) between July 2019 and July 2020. A total of 2,296 respondents complet...

Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa Korth.) use has increased substantially over the past decade outside of its indigenous regions, especially for the self-treatment of psychiatric conditions. An anonymous, cross-sectional, online survey was completed by 4,945 people who use kratom (PWUK) between July 2019 and July 2020. A total of 2,296 respondents complet...

Background: Mitragyna speciosa (kratom) is increasingly used in the United States for its pharmacological effects. Kratom's relative novelty makes for a dynamic situation, such that use motivations are not firmly established and may be changing. Investigators and clinicians require frequent updates on kratom trends. Objectives: To assess the cur...

Background: Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa Korth.) use outside of Southeast Asia has increased over the past decade. Objectives: This investigation clarifies kratom's role in perceived well-being, overall health, and temporal correlation with drug use to understand kratom's role in the self-treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs). Methods: Bet...

Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa Korth., Rubiaceae) is a plant native to Southeast Asia, where it has been used for centuries as a mild stimulant and as medicine for various ailments. More recently, as kratom has gained popularity in the West, United States federal agencies have raised concerns over its safety leading to criminalization in some states an...

Background: Justice-involved individuals are at elevated risk for suicidal behavior; however, research examining risk for suicidal behavior in pretrial jail diversion programs (pretrial diversion) is limited. Aims: We aimed to test (1) associations between depressive symptoms and alcohol and drug use, and suicide attempt history (SAH), and (2) inte...

Kratom, a plant that produces opioid-like effects, has gained popularity in the U.S. for self-treating symptoms of chronic pain, mood disorders, and substance-use disorders (SUDs). Most data on kratom are from surveys into which current kratom-using adults could self-select; such surveys may underrepresent people who have used kratom and chosen to...

Objective Criminal justice involvement, substance use, and suicide pose significant public health concerns; however, the unique and synergistic effects of these experiences among high‐risk individuals remain understudied. We hypothesized positive main effects for alcohol‐related severity, drug‐related severity, current criminal justice involvement,...

Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa Korth., Rubiaceae) is native to and has traditional use in Southeast Asia. The number of kratom users outside of Southeast Asia has increased significantly in recent decades with use spreading to the Unites States (US) and Europe. Because of its reputed opioid-like psychoactive effects at higher doses, kratom has been reg...

Rates of harmful alcohol use are high among justice-involved individuals and may contribute to violent recidivism. Robust treatments for alcohol-related violence in criminal justice systems are thus a public health priority. In this analysis of existing randomized controlled trial data (N = 105), we examined the impact of a brief motivational inter...

Mitragyna speciosa, otherwise known as kratom, is a plant in the coffee family (Rubiaceae) native to Southeast Asia and Thailand whose leaves have been shown to cause opioid-like and stimulant responses upon ingestion. The major pharmacologically active compounds present in kratom, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-HMG), are both indole alkal...

This study tested current perceived social support (CPSS) as a moderator of the relation between previous substance use (PSU) and lifetime suicide attempt (SA) history among 200 NGRI inpatients. Results indicated no significant CPSS main effect. PSU was associated with greater odds of multiple prior lifetime SA. Moderation indicated those low in PS...

Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa), an indigenous medicinal plant of Southeast Asia, is believed to be harmful. We compared the perceptions toward kratom use among kratom users and non-users in Malaysia. 356 respondents (137 kratom users and 219 non-users) were recruited for this cross-sectional study. The majority of respondents were male (60%, n = 212/3...

Purpose Intimate partner violence (IPV) is public health crisis that often goes unrecognized. Victims often report ongoing long-term physical and mental health consequences; however, health-care responses to address IPV have not been maximized. The standard of care of screening and referring to community organizations is not enough to help victims....

This study sought to determine the relationship between kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) initiation and regular consumption of illicit drugs and HIV risk behaviors in a cohort of illicit drug users in Malaysia. 260 illicit drug users with current kratom use were recruited through convenience sampling for this cross-sectional study. All were male, with t...

Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is a tree-like plant indigenous to Southeast Asia. Its leaves, and the teas brewed from them have long been used by people in that region to stave off fatigue and to manage pain and opioid withdrawal. Evidence suggests kratom is being increasingly used by people in the United States and Europe for the self-management of...

A R T I C L E I N F O Keywords: Kratom use Psychosis Psychotic symptoms severity Malaysian kratom users A B S T R A C T Background: Kratom is a traditional medicinal herb widely used in Malaysia and Thailand. Despite its widespread use and statements by regulatory agencies on the potential for kratom-associated psychosis, there is little data regar...

Abstract Ethnopharmacological relevance Mitragyna speciosa (Korth.) is a traditional medicinal plant widely used in Southeast Asia for its opioid-like effects. Although kratom produces analgesia through binding of mitragynine and other alkaloids at the mu-opioid receptor (MOR), the association of long-term kratom use with adverse opioid-like effect...

Integrated medical and psychiatric hospital units hold great promise for improving the value and quality of care for patients with severe mental illness and concomitant acute medical needs. It is important to explore the utility of providing a range of multidisciplinary inpatient services to meet patients’ complex needs. Within this context, servic...

Reducing recidivism is a central goal of treatment programs for offenders. Preliminary evidence suggests that cognitive‐behavioral group interventions based on the National Institute of Corrections curriculum (Bush, Glick, & Taymans, 1997) may be effective in reducing recidivism rates among adult probationers. We evaluated the effectiveness of a pr...

Ethnopharmacological relevance: The leaves of Mitragyna speciosa (Korth.) or kratom have been traditionally used in Malaysia and Thailand mainly to enhance work productivity, as a folk remedy for treating common ailments, and as a mood enhancer. Aim of the study: This present study sought to investigate kratom use motives among regular kratom users...

Kratom leaves (Mitragyna speciosa Korth.) are traditionally used in Southeast Asia for their medicinal value. Self-report studies suggest that cessation from chronic kratom tea consumption (freshly brewed kratom tea) was associated with unpleasant psychological symptoms. This study sought to assess the severity of anxiety and depression during krat...

Purpose – Early clinical accounts of psychopathy suggest important relationships between alcohol use and psychopathic traits that lead to fantastic and uninviting behavior. In particular, alcohol was thought to facilitate antisocial behavior, including violence, among psychopathic individuals. The purpose of this paper is to report a review of stud...

With fraud levels at a record high, we urgently need a lesson in how to spot a con artist at work, says psychologist Marc Swogger

Reducing recidivism is a central goal of treatment programs for offenders. Preliminary evidence suggests that cognitive-behavioral group interventions based on the National Institute of Corrections curriculum (Bush, Glick, & Taymans, 1997) may be effective in reducing recidivism rates among adult probationers. We evaluated the effectiveness of a pr...

The US wanted to criminalise kratom, a leaf long used in traditional medicine. That would have been madness, says Marc T. Swogger

Evidence suggests that hallucinogens may have therapeutic potential for addressing a variety of problem behaviors related to the externalizing spectrum of psychopathology, such as substance misuse and criminality. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a prevalent form of criminal violence that is related to externalizing pathology. However, the associ...

Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is a psychoactive plant that has been used since at least 1836 in folk medicine in Southeast Asian countries. More recently, kratom has become widely available in the West and is used for both recreational and medicinal purposes. There has, however, been little scientific research into the short- and long-term effects of...

This study sought to increase specificity in our knowledge of links among child sexual abuse (CSA), aggression, and physical intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration by criminal offenders, with particular interest in gender. Participants were 202 men and 72 women (N = 274), who were recruited from an urban pretrial supervision program. Women re...

Objective: Major depressive episodes may be substance induced or occur independent of substance use. Studies of the roles of substance-induced depression (SID) and independent depression (IND) in suicidal behavior are limited to retrospective reports. The purpose of this study was to examine proximal (i.e., acute) risk for suicide attempts associa...

Past aggression is a potent predictor of future aggression and informs the prediction of violent criminal recidivism. However, aggression is a heterogeneous construct and different types of aggression may confer different levels of risk for future violence. In this prospective study of 91 adults in a pretrial diversion program, we examined (a) prem...

While research has established some relationships between risk factors and specific suicide-related outcomes, in large part the extent to which suicidal ideation and attempts have different risk profiles is unclear. Using two theories of suicidal behavior to guide our hypotheses, we studied the relationship of outwardly-directed aggression to suici...

Whereas considerable evidence links childhood physical abuse with later perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV), research to identify moderators of this relationship will increase our understanding of which victims of childhood abuse are at risk for later IPV. The present study examined dimensions of psychopathy as moderators of the relatio...

This investigation examined the relationship of abuse-specific coping strategies and perceived responses to abuse disclosure to symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress among 131 women seeking a protection order against an intimate partner. Disengagement, denial, and self-blame coping strategies, as well as blaming of the participant by othe...

Stressful life events (SLEs) play a key role in suicidal behavior among adults with alcohol use disorders (AUD), yet there are meager data on the severity of SLEs preceding suicidal behavior or the timing of such events. Patients in residential substance use treatment who made a recent suicide attempt (cases, n=101) and non-suicidal controls matche...

Childhood abuse is a serious problem that has been linked to harmful alcohol and drug use in non-offender samples. In a sample of 219 criminal offenders, we examined the associations between childhood physical and sexual abuse and three indices of harmful substance use. Results indicate that physical abuse was associated with symptoms of alcohol us...

Background: Offenders are at elevated risk for interpersonal violence victimization (IVV), which is a risk factor for suicide-related outcomes in some populations, suggesting the importance of examining risk associated with IVV in offenders. Aims: The present study examined the association between IVV and suicidal ideation (SI) among criminal offen...

Childhood physical abuse (CPA) has numerous short and long-term negative effects. One of the most serious consequences of CPA is an increased risk for suicide attempts. Clarifying the mechanisms by which CPA increases risk for suicidal behavior may enhance preventive interventions. One potential mechanism is a tendency toward aggression. In a sampl...

The goal of this naturalistic study was to examine heterogeneity among female and male civil psychiatric patients with a history of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration. Participants were 567 patients drawn from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study (J. Monahan et al., 2001). The authors examined subtype composition among 138 women a...

Several clinical descriptions of psychopathy suggest a link to risk taking; however the empirical basis for this association is not well established. Moreover, it is not clear whether any association between psychopathy and risk taking is specific to psychopathy or reflects shared variance with other externalizing disorders, such as antisocial pers...

Both psychopathology and aggression are heterogeneous constructs. Determining which forms of psychopathology relate to risk for different classes of aggressive behavior has implications for risk recognition and management. This study examined the relationships of impulsive aggression (IA) and proactive aggression (PA) to psychopathy and symptoms of...

Suicide rates are elevated among criminal offenders and the furthermost predictor of suicide in this population is recent suicidal ideation, conferring approximately 15-fold risk, indicating the need for the examination of risk factors for suicidal ideation to inform prevention efforts. The present study aims to examine the associations between pas...

The relationship between psychopathy and violence is well established. However, the extent to which psychopathy is related to different types of violent behavior warrants further study. We examined the relationship between instrumental violence, psychopathy, and psychopathic traits among 248 European American and African American adult male county...

Externalizing psychopathology is associated with an increased risk for suicidal behavior. Within the externalizing domain, psychopathy may be an important construct for the understanding of which individuals are at particularly high risk. However, prior studies of psychopathy and suicidal behavior have not distinguished between suicide attempts and...

This research project investigates the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MCSDS) when used with a sample of convicted, adult male sexual offenders. Results confirm the two-factor structure (Denial and Attribution) originally proposed by the authors (Study 1, n = 247). Results also reveal tha...

A large body of literature suggests that aggressive behavior can be classified into two subtypes--reactive aggression (RA) and proactive aggression (PA)--which differ on dimensions of emotional arousal, control, and impulsivity. A longstanding hypothesis posits that RA underlies the association between aggression and suicidal behavior, with the imp...

There is evidence that the classification of "psychopath" captures a heterogeneous group of offenders. Although several studies have provided evidence for two distinct psychopath subtypes, these studies have inadequately addressed potentially important ethnic differences. A recent taxonomic study found evidence for primary and secondary psychopath...

A large body of literature has established that the construct of psychopathy is broadly related to violence, and the clinical application of the psychopathy construct as a predictor of violence appears to be increasing. This increased application warrants further specification of this relationship. That is, it may be important to identify factors t...

The proliferation of specialized domestic batterer treatment programs suggests that batterers differ from other offenders in important ways. The psychopathic personality represents a constellation of personality traits, which may be relevant to the differentiation of batterers from other offenders. In a sample of 172 county jail inmates, we examine...

The accuracy of the prediction of criminal violence may be improved by combining psychopathy with other variables that have been found to predict violence. Research has suggested that assessing intelligence (i.e., IQ) as well as psychopathy improves the accuracy of violence prediction. In the present study, the authors tested this hypothesis by usi...