Relationship of diagnostic, demographic, and personality variables to self-reported stimuli for chemical use

Personality assessment of substance-dependent patients in a therapeutic community

The design and implementation of a personality assessment system for severely substance-dependent men in a therapeutic community (TC) are described. The system was designed from a treatment utility perspective (Hayes, Nelson, & Jarrett, 1987) and uses the Personality Research Form E (Jackson, 1984) to provide each patient with feedback (a) describing his normal personality traits, (b) predicting his probable pattern of adjustment to the treatment setting, and (c) prescribing specific actions he can take to address potentially problematic behaviors. Discussing the the results with the patient helps him cope with the TC. Reviewing the assessment results with the staff promotes their empathy for the patient as a person whose behavior can be understood as an interaction of his personality with the specific demands of the TC rather than seeing the patient in exclusively pathological terms. Specific suggestions for behavior change guide both the patient and the staff and are potentially useful in various treatment settings.

Personality-based subtypes of chemically dependent patients

Jackson's Personality Research Form E (PRF) was administered to a large, heterogeneous group of adult inpatients with diagnoses of alcohol and/or drug dependence. Cluster analysis of PRF factor scores yielded five distinct patient subtypes: hostile-dependent, cooperative-nonreflective, socially uninvolved, impulsive-unsociable, and hostile-overcontrolled. The subtypes differed on two MMPI canonical variables and on self-reported high risk factors for substance usage. Implications of the findings for more appropriate matching of patients to chemical dependency interventions are offered.