Alcohol and drug abusers subtyped by antisocial personality and primary or secondary depressive disorder

Abstract

Our data show that when substance abusers are subtyped simultaneously by antisocial personality disorder and the onset of depression relative to alcohol or drug abuse, groups of people with unique personality and affective profiles are identified. The profiles are represented by measures of affect-related personality variables such as trait anxiety, trait depression, histrionic traits, sensation seeking, and novelty seeking. These measures were chosen in an attempt to show that a "low arousal" personality type may be associated with antisocial personality and may thus indirectly be linked to a certain type (i.e., ASP/nondepressed) of substance abuser. By using a multi-symptomatic typological schema (i.e., a constellation of diagnostic categories rather than just one), we can show that different personality or affective profiles are indeed associated with certain subtypes of substance abusers and that depressed people who use drugs or alcohol are different affectively from antisocial types. We also show that the relationship between "low" and "high" arousal personality profile and subtypes based on co-morbid psychopathology is highlighted even more when we take into account the onset of dysthymia or depression that is primary versus secondary to substance abuse. Our findings are in accord with others' descriptions of the "affective arousal" dimensions of personality and are the first to link these dimensions with subtypes based on ASP and depression.