A comparative study of oral and intravenous drug-dependent patients on three dimensions of personality

In an investigation of personality differences between oral and intravenous drug addicts, 59 subjects attending a London clinic were given the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Both groups scored highly on the neuroticism and psychoticism dimensions, though oral users were found to have significantly higher scores on both of these scales. High P scorers have been found to be cold, unfriendly, hostile, etc., and it is suggested that the lower P scores of the intravenous users may be partly due to possible hostility-reducing effects of the narcotics used by this group. Other implications of these findings are also discussed.