Personality disorder and dimension differences between type A and type B substance abusers.
Substance abuse subtype differences in DSM-IV personality disorders and normal personality dimensions were evaluated in 370 inpatient and outpatient alcohol, cocaine, and opiate abusers. The Type A/Type B distinction was replicated, with Type B substance abusers exhibiting more premorbid risk factors, more severe substance abuse, and greater psychosocial impairment. As predicted, compared to Type A, Type B were more commonly diagnosed with, and had more severe symptoms of, all personality disorders except Schizoid. With regard to normal personality dimensions, Type B scored higher on neuroticism, novelty seeking, and harm avoidance; Type A scored higher on agreeableness, conscientiousness, cooperativeness, and self-directedness. These subtype differences remained after controlling for the effects of antisocial personality and psychiatric symptoms.
Ball
S A
SA
Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Kranzler
H R
HR
Tennen
H
H
Poling
J C
JC
Rounsaville
B J
BJ
D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000150:complications; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000150:complications; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis