Drugs and personality: comparison of drug users, nonusers, and other clinical groups on the 16PF.

This article reviews published 16PF research on drug users. It also compares the 16PF scores of a new sample of nonusers with scores of matched groups of heavy, chronic users of cocaine, amphetamine, opiates, and barbiturates/sedative hypnotics, as well as combined groups of stimulant users, depressant users, and a combined group of users of all substances. No significant differences were found among drug user groups, but the profile of the nonuser group was distinctive. K-Means Cluster Analyses, as well as Cattell's Similarity and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficients, were used to compare profiles of these new samples with the 19 groups described in an earlier meta-analysis of published 16PF studies. Data from the new samples did not cluster with data from other published research, although certain specific similarities appeared in more detailed correlational analyses. Methodological problems are discussed, and it is recommended that in future studies drug user groups be more carefully selected and defined, sample descriptions be more thorough and complete, complete profile information be routinely provided, and efforts be made to explore the utility of the Cattell CAQ in studies of drug users/misusers.

Drug misuse and psychopathology: a meta-analysis of 16PF research.

This report presents a meta-analysis of a series of published 16PF findings which describe score profiles of nine groups of substance users/abusers, a nonuser comparison group, seven psychiatric groups, a group of criminals, and a group of gang delinquents. Analytical procedures include K Means Clustering, Cattell's rp statistic, and Pearson r. Although drug use was found to be associated with various forms of psychiatric diagnoses, it was not found to be associated with any particular form of psychopathology. The 16PF profiles of groups of users of different substances were not homogeneous within groups. Some similarity, however, was found among profiles of alcoholics. No evidence could be found to support the contention that groups of substance abusers yield the particular profile pattern on the 16PF that was ascribed to them in an earlier meta-analyses. Due to the inadequacies of the 16PF in diagnosing psychiatric conditions, it is suggested that a more fruitful direction of future research might be to use Cattell's Clinical Analysis Questionnaire (CAQ).

Role-taking ability and social behavior in deaf school children.

This study assessed the relationship between role-taking skill and social-emotional adjustment in deaf children. Twenty-three prelingually deafened boys and girls between 7 and 14 years of age were administered a role-taking task, surreptitious behavioral measures of helping and altruism, and a measure of nonverbal intelligence. In addition, two professionals experienced in working with deaf children rated the social and emotional adjustment, language/communication skills and role-taking ability of the participants. Performance on the role-taking task correlated positively with ratings of emotional adjustment, self-image, communicative effectiveness and role-taking skill. Role-taking performance, however, was not reliably related to any of the measures of social behavior. The study also considered several factors which may account for the apparent independence of role-taking and social behavior.

Identification of problems and strengths of the hospice client by clients, caregivers, and nurses. Implications for nursing.

This exploratory study included instrument development as well as testing. The purpose of the study was to ascertain whether primary caregivers and hospice nurses identified the same problems and strengths of individual clients as did clients themselves. The instrument, a 27-item modified Q-sort, was based on review of literature on the concept Quality of Life. Dembo's Insider versus Outsider Perspective was the theoretical framework. Using the instrument, participants identified the problems and strengths of the client in the current time frame. Twenty consenting hospice clients, their primary caregiver, and their assigned hospice nurse were studied. No significant differences were found between clients, nurses, and caregivers when Total instrument means were compared (F = 1.38, p = 0.26). Three of the 27 items showed significant differences in the means of the three groups. Reliability coefficients showed high internal consistency on the Total instrument (0.87). Nurses and caregivers were found to identify problems and strengths of the client as perceived by the client. Findings corroborated Dembo's theory. Support of the hospice concept as the appropriate method of care for terminally ill clients was suggested.

Drugs and personality: dependence of findings on method.

Past studies on relationships between drug use and personality are open to criticism on theoretical and methodological grounds. Properly conducted research may show relationships that have been previously undiscovered. The present studies examined 45 carefully selected, noninstitutionalized men in four matched groups of heavy, chronic drug users and a nonuser comparison group. A variety of instruments, all of which presumably measure the propensity to seek novel and varied sensations, were administered. When used to evaluate hypotheses derived from Optimal Level of Arousal (OLA) theory, data from this study showed an association between the trait measured and drug(s) of choice among men committed to the heavy, chronic use of particular substances. However, the association was not that anticipated by OLA theory. Instead, it appeared that, among heavy, chronic users, drug preference and sensation seeking are related to extraversion and introversion. The findings were consistent with a theory of psychological individuation that was developed from thorough clinical assessment of every individual in the research program.

A new perspective on intervention in heavy, chronic drug use.

No single intervention strategy can solve all problems of drug abuse. Large-scale methods do not contribute to understanding or solving the problems of individual persons. Research on individuals shows that each major drug of abuse produces a distinctive ego state. Heavy, chronic users choose drugs which generate states that provide the illusion of solving personal problems, the origins of which are traceable to early personal development. A previously described theory attributed these problems to difficulties in Ego development. It is also necessary, however, to account for numinous factors. This is accomplished by postulating the existence of the Self, an unconscious counterpart of the Ego. Successful personal development carries both Ego and Self along a spiraling course through the major crises of individuation. The relationship of Self and Ego is expressed by life themes. These derive from myths that live themselves out as autonomous complexes in an individual's life. Therapists who treat individuals must work with the Self as well as the Ego. This means recognizing and dealing with mythic factors. Although the basic theory in this paper was derived from studying heavy, chronic drug users, it is general in nature and applies to all persons.

A theory of adolescent substance abuse.

This report applies a theory of psychological individuation to inferences drawn from an 8-year series of clinical studies of men who practice heavy, chronic use of different drugs. Each man was studied intensively over a period of 4-5 months, using interviews and a comprehensive battery of dimensional and morphogenic assessment procedures. Users of barbiturates and sedative hypnotics were found to be least mature, followed by users of opiates, users of amphetamine, users of cocaine, and nonusers of drugs, who were found to be most mature. A theory is described which conceives adolescent substance abuse as rooted in dysfunctional relationships with parental figures which block or delay the normal individuation process. Comparable sets of representative case studies of heavy, chronic users of alcohol and marihuana are recommended to facilitate the development of treatment programs that take into account the special needs of persons who practice heavy, chronic use of different substances.

The phenomenological structure of drug-induced ego states. II. Barbiturates and sedative-hypnotics: phenomenology and implications.

Empirically derived descriptions of experiential states, induced by heavy, chronic consumption of drugs, provide valuable information for treatment personnel as well as for scientists studying drug abuse or pharmacology. A 7-year program of research has studied persons committed to heavy, long-term use of several prominent substances of abuse. This report results from that research and provides a phenomenological description of the psychological state induced by heavy, chronic use of barbiturates and sedative-hypnotics. Interview, Q-sort and semantic differential data indicate the barbiturate state is intensely unpleasant: a state in which users lose desired characteristics, take on undesired characteristics, engage in self-destructive acts, and emerge in worse condition than before entering it. Explaining why people choose to enter such a state is difficult. Several theoretical alternatives for doing so are considered. Psychotherapy with these individuals must deal with the theme of abandonment/rejection that permeates their lives and with the diffuse hostility, expectations of failure and defeat, self-destructive tendencies, and feelings of hopelessness that they display. Suggestions are presented for treatment of individual cases.

Drug-induced ego states. I. Cocaine: phenomenology and implications.

The ego state experienced by chronic users of cocaine is described in terms of sensorimotor functioning, cognitive functioning, emotionality, spatiality , temporality , causality, and materiality . At low use levels the state is pleasurable, but at high levels fear, anxiety, and paranoia increase, and ultimately reality contact breaks down. Q-sort, Semantic Differential, and other data suggest that low-level users take cocaine to overcome personal insecurities and relieve boredom. Heavy users take it to support overvaulting ambitions and intense strivings for self-sufficiency. Psychotherapy with such persons must deal with their counterdependency , anger, and despair, and with their underlying sense of betrayal . These persons have unacknowledged needs for spiritual experience that must be dealt with openly. A description of persons most vulnerable to heavy use of cocaine is provided, and recommendations for research and social policy are presented.

Correlates of sensation seeking by heavy, chronic drug users.

Product-moment correlations among number of drugs used and several measures of constructs related to sensation seeking were examined for four matched groups of chronic drug users and two supplementary groups of nine persons each. Number of drugs used correlated positively with all scores on the Sensation Seeking Scales, the Extraversion and Neuroticism Scales of the Eysenck Personality Inventory, and the Change Seeker Index. The pattern is consistent with the proposition that a need for stimulation or change underlies experimentation with a large number of chemical substances. The general pattern of correlations among tests resembled that reported by other investigators. The construct validity of the General Score from the Sensation Seeking Scales is enhanced by these findings. The data suggest that this score measures much the same construct as the Change Seeker Index.

Drugs and personality: extraversion-introversion.

Eysenck theorizes that stimulants induce introversion and that depressants induce extraversion; common sense suggests opposite expectations. Scores on the extraversion scale of the Eysenck Personality Inventory yielded statistically significant differences among carefully matched series of heavy, chronic users of cocaine, amphetamine, opiates, barbiturate/sedative-hypnotics, and a comparable series of nonusers. Cocaine users and opiates users were found to be more introverted; amphetamine users, barbiturates users, and nonusers were more extraverted . These findings did not fully support either set of hypotheses. These data also implied that, if drugs influence extraversion, they do so only by suppressing it. Data from two other measures of extraversion were consistent with this hypothesis.

Relationships between adolescent drug use and parental drug behaviors.

The present study examined some previously reported relationships between drug use by adolescents and perceived attitudes and behaviors of their parents. An anonymous questionnaire was administered to the student body of an inner-city secondary school for difficult students. Relationships between parental use of drugs and adolescent use of the same drugs were moderate and roughly equivalent across drugs. However, parental use of marijuana was strongly related to the adolescent's use of other, harder drugs such as opiates, cocaine, amphetamines, and barbiturates. This finding is explained within the framework of Kandel's postulated stages of drug initiation. It points to a need for further study of parental influences, which may be increasingly problematic as more individuals who have grown up in our marijuana-accepting society become parents of adolescents.

Psychopathology and chronic drug use: a methodological paradigm.

Four carefully matched groups, each containing nine male, chronic users of a specific type of substance, were compared with each other and with a group of nine nonusers. Each person was elaborately studied in a representative case research, but this report presents only data from two tests of intelligence (the Revised Beta and the WAIS) and two tests of personality (the MMPI and 16 PF). Extensive descriptive information is presented to characterize the participants. Groups were found not to differ on scores on intelligence tests, and the MMPI was found to reveal more group differences than the 16 PF. Users of barbiturates and sedative-hypnotics were most severely maladjusted, followed by users of opiates, users of cocaine, users of amphetamine and its congeners, and nonusers. Differences also appeared between combined users of stimulants, combined users of depressants, and nonusers, as well as between all drug users (as a group) and nonusers. This research is offered as a methodological paradigm for evaluating future studies. It illustrates how the representative case method may be expanded to permit comparisons among groups.

Ego development, dragon fights, and chronic drug abusers.

Developmental antecedents of adult behavior are described for four matched groups of chronic drug users (cocaine, amphetamine, opiates, barbiturates, and sedative-hypnotics) and a comparable group of nonusers, each group having been studied intensively for approximately 1.5 years. Integration is provided by a theory that views psychological development as a series of ego transformations, which appear metaphorically in legend and mythology as dragon fights. Each group is characterized theoretically by a core conflict, an upper limit on individuation, and a typical character. Results imply that radically new approaches to psychological treatment may be needed, especially for chronic users of barbiturates, opiates, and cocaine.

Psychological adjustment to physical disability: trends in theories.

Explanations of psychological reactions to physical disability have recently tended to ascribe maladjustment to environmental rather than to personal causes. Historically, common-sense theories were first replaced by metalistic doctrines. These, in turn, were later supplemented by theories that integrated mentalism with environmentalism and by approaches that recognized only environmental causes of behavior. Each theory makes a unique contribution to rehabilitation. Consequently, unification rather than elimination should be the goal of future theoretical development.