Maladaptive personality traits in a sample of patients with opioid dependence

Abstract

Background: Different personality features has been linked in the literature to drug abuse. The objective of this study is to compare the prevalence of maladaptive personality traits in a sample of patients with opioid dependence, with that in healthy volunteers from the general population. Methods: Of 306 subjects included, 95 were adults ( mean age 32,24 (SD=4,06) with opioid dependence and 211 - healthy volunteers (mean age 37,92(SD=12,38). The patients were long – term opiate users, with minimum 1 year of opiate dependence, included in a Methadone maintenance program. All patients included achieved stability on maintenance dose of Methadone and showed reduction or cessation of heroin and/or other substance use. They were in a process of rehabilitation , where the psycho-social interventions were the most important. The healthy subjects were working persons and students. We used The Personality inventory PID-5-BF, assessing personality characteristics, impeding the successful adaptation, DS-14 questionnaire for Type D Personality and STAI –T, together with an interview, collecting detailed sociodemographic data and information, related to the psychiatric status and drug use. Findings: The co-morbidity with other mental disorders in the patient group was: with depression - 7,5%, with panic disorder - 1.1 %, and with gambling disorder - 7.7%. We found significant differences between the groups tested in two of the PID-5 BF domains: disinhibition (p<.001) and antagonism (p=.058) (Mann-Whitney test). Conclusions: Our findings confirmed the relation of opioid use with disinhibition and antagonism, which could be used in the psycho-social interventions with drug users.