Anger and depressive states among treatment-seeking drug abusers: testing the psychopharmacological specificity hypothesis

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the self-medication hypothesis (SMH) of substance abuse. The SMH suggests that drug abuse is driven by an attempt to alleviate specific psychological distress. One prediction from the SMH hypothesis is that drugs of abuse, because of their different pharmacological properties, attract specific patient subgroups. Specifically, this study tested the hypothesis' that opiate abusers experience difficulty managing aggression and that cocaine abusers suffer from distress associated mostly with depression. The State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) and the Beck Depression Inventory II were used to examine levels of anger and depression among three groups of substance abusers (opiates, cocaine, cannabis), defined by their primary drug of abuse. Anger and depression scores were elevated, but contrary to Khantzian's hypothesis, there were few differences between groups, and if anything, opiate addicts were more depressed and the cocaine abusers were angrier on several subscales. Data are discussed in terms of diagnosis and clinical treatment implications.