The role of antisocial personality disorder in the treatment of depressed, methadone -maintained heroin addicts.
Item
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Title
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The role of antisocial personality disorder in the treatment of depressed, methadone -maintained heroin addicts.
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Identifier
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AAI9986388
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identifier
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9986388
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Creator
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Weber, Laurie A.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Paul Wachtel
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Date
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2000
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical
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Abstract
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The aim of the present study was to compare two different measures of antisocial personality disorder (APD), one trait-based and one behavior-based, in a methadone-maintained, depressed, heroin addict population. The relationship between sociopathy and treatment may go undetected in research that assesses sociopathy in a dichotomous, present/absent manner such as the DSM-III-R, but may be discernable using a more continuous measure such as the California Personality Inventory---Sociability subscale (CPI-So). The CPI-So is a short, self-report instrument that provides a continuous measurement of an individual's socialization, from normative to pathological, and looks primarily at traits associated with APD.;It was the hope of the present study to show that a trait-based measure, the CPI-So, provides greater predictability of demographic differences, baseline severity and treatment outcome than a behavior-based assessment such as a DSM-III-R diagnosis of APD. As hypothesized, the present study found no correlation between a behavior-based measure such as a DSM-III-R diagnosis of APD and demographic differences, baseline severity or treatment outcome. Contrary to the hypothesis of the present study, however, knowing about an addict's antisocial traits, as measured by the CPI-So, did not predict demographic differences, baseline severity or treatment outcome either.;One important finding was that, as hypothesized, men and women can look the same when APD is assessed using a trait-based measure and very different when using DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria. Another interesting, but unexpected, finding was that almost the entire population appeared to be antisocial through the lens of the CPI-So, while fewer individuals than the literature would predict were antisocial according to the DSM-III-R. This lack of range in CPI-So scores may have contributed to an absence of findings regarding its predictive utility. The results do point to an underlying character disorder in the study population, however, which may be more important in understanding substance abuse and designing appropriate treatments than looking at an addict's illegal acts.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
