Psychiatry Research EG

Background Drug-taking behavior and drug dependence is a multifactorial disorder. Of them, specific gene or an early established trait may act as a predisposing factor. Different environmental factors may act as precipitating and perpetuating factors, whereas individual temperament, personality, and constitutional characteristics act as the vulnerability factors. These vulnerability factors act as the causal determinants of whether or not the predispositions are expressed. Thus, personality is a very important determining factor of drug involvement. Aim of the work The aim of this study was to compare the personality profile of synthetic opioiddependent male patients with the personality profile of non-substance-dependent male participants. Patients and methods Groups I and II were selected consecutively and were recruited from Kasr El-Aini Hospital as well as private hospitals in greater Cairo during the period from November 2012 to March 2013. Group I included 30 substance-dependent male patients and group II included 30 non-substance-dependent male participants who were subjected to personality assessment schedule; the addiction severity index was applied only to group I. Results The sociodemographic findings of the study found that 80.0% of patients in group I were not working due to substance dependence and only 20% were working, whereas in group II 90% of participants were working and only 10% were not working. An overall 66.7% of patients in group I were divorced and only 26.7% were married, whereas in group II one was divorced and 86.7% were married. As regards the personality test, 73.3% of patients in group I had severe degree of the sociopathic trait, 20% has sociopathic trait difficulty, and only 6.6% did not have sociopathic trait. Conclusion Our study showed the effect of opioid dependence in changing behavior and personality traits, emphasizing that diverse maladaptive personality traits and these negative traits are the familial risk factors for substance use disorders. They act as a predisposing vulnerability and predict the onset or age of expression of substance-related problems and tendency to relapse. Impulsive–aggressive personality traits in childhood and adolescence predict early onset of substance abuse. Keywords: personality-traits-opioid dependence