Antisocial personality and depression among incarcerated drug treatment participants

The co-occurrence of antisocial personality (ASP) and depression among drug-dependent individuals was examined in a sample of federal inmates participating in residential or outpatient drug and alcohol treatment to increase our understanding of the co-occurrence of these disorders.

We examined drug dependence patterns both by the number of drugs of dependence as well as by type of drug, and separately studied men and women. The Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) was used to obtain DSM-III-R diagnostic information on a sample of 609 men and women participating in a multi-site drug treatment evaluation project. Logistic regression results are reported that compared lifetime rates of ASP and major depression by number of drugs of dependency for men and women. ASP and major depression diagnostic rates were also examined by type of drug dependency pattern among men.

We found that both the number of drugs as well as the type of drug(s) are related to prevalence patterns for both diagnoses. The high rates of ASP and major depression among specific subgroups of drug-dependent inmates highlight the need for thorough psychiatric assessment and the tailoring of treatment programs to the issues associated with these diagnoses.

Our results suggest that although there are similarities in co-morbidity between men and women, the differences point to the need to study men and women separately.