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Published on: November 11, 2013
Personality measures in former heroin users receiving methadone or in protracted abstinence from opiates
L J Cohen1, E Gertmenian-King, L Kunik
1Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York 10003, NY. Lcohen@bethisraelny.org
Objective:
Methadone Maintenance Therapy (MMT) and detoxification to abstinence are among the most common treatment options for opiate-dependent patients. This paper compares personality traits in detoxified former heroin users and those on MMT in order to assess their relevance to treatment selection.
Method:
Twenty-six formerly heroin-dependent subjects receiving MMT (MM), 33 formerly heroin-dependent subjects withdrawn from MMT (MW), and 43 healthy controls were compared on the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II (MCMI-II) and the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI).
Results:
On the TCI, MM patients had higher novelty seeking and lower self-directedness scores than controls. Both MM and MW subjects scored higher than controls on multiple MCMI-II scales. MW but not MM subjects scored higher than controls on two Cluster A Scales and the delusional disorder scale.
Conclusion:
Schizophrenia-spectrum pathology in former opiate users may be greater than previously recognized and could potentially be relevant to treatment selection.
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