Disulfiram acceptors and refusers: do they differ?

The present study examined possible personality and mood state correlates of alcoholics' decisions to accept or refuse disulfiram (Antabuse) as past of their treatment program. Subjects were 104 male veterans in an inpatient alcohol treatment program who were offered disulfiram after detoxification and evaluation. All subjects completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the Profile of Mood States, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Subjects were classified as acceptors (n = 78) or refusers (n = 26) based on their response to staff encouragement to undergo a trial of disulfiram. There were no significant group differences on age, racial composition, or any of the personality or mood state measures, with the exception of a trend (p less than .06) for acceptors to score higher than refusers on the masculinity-femininity scale of the MMPI. Examinations of distributions of MMPI profile code types similarly showed no differences between the two groups. Possible contextual explanations of these results are examined. Findings offer no support for the assumption that agreement to take disulfiram signifies greater motivation or intention to remain abstinent.