Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:32:30.987Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hostility in Drug Dependent Individuals: Its Relation to Specific Drugs, and Oral or Intravenous Use

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Michael R. Gossop  and
Alec Roy
Michael R. Gossop
Affiliation:
Drug Dependence Clinical Research and Treatment Unit, The Bethlem Royal Hospital and The Maudsley Hospital, Monks Orchard Road, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 3BX
Alec Roy
Affiliation:
Drug Dependence Clinical Research and Treatment Unit, The Bethlem Royal Hospital and The Maudsley Hospital, Monks Orchard Road, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 3BX
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Although a number of studies have suggested that hostility and drug dependence may be related, there are few systematic studies of this issue. Using the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire, the present study compares several drug-dependent groups of patients. Results showed that the intravenous in-patient group was more hostile on several variables than their out-patient counterparts, and also more hostile than an oral in-patient group. Barbiturate abusers were found to have high levels of hostility; amphetamine abusers were the least hostile group, and narcotic dependent patients were intermediate between the two. Correlations between scales of the HDHQ, were all positive, and most were both high and statistically significant, suggesting that hostility represents a relatively generalized trait in drug-dependent subjects. The results are discussed both in terms of patient selection factors—the differential pressures on different types of patients, and in terms of direct drug effects. It is suggested that the hostility of drug-dependent patients may represent an important problem of personal functioning and may require special attention in treatment programmes.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 128 , Issue 2 , February 1976 , pp. 188 - 193
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1976 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anumonye, A. (1970) Personality factors and barbiturate dependence. British Journal of Addiction, 64, 365–70.Google ScholarPubMed
Burke, E. & Eichberg, R. (1972) Personality characteristics of adolescent users of dangerous drugs as indicated by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 154, 291–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cockett, R. & Marks, V. (1969) Amphetamine taking among young offenders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 115, 1203–4.Google Scholar
Connell, P. H. (1970). Clinical aspect of drug addiction. Journal of the Royal College of Physicians, 4, 254–63.Google ScholarPubMed
Edwards, A. E., Bloom, M. H. & Cohen, S. (1969) The psychedelics: love or hostility potion? Psychological Reports, 24, 843–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Foulds, G. A. (1965) Personality and Personal Illness. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Gardner, R. & Connell, P. H. (1971) Opioid users attending a special drug dependence clinic 1968–1969. Bulletin on Narcotics, 23, 9–15.Google Scholar
Gardner, R. & Connell, P. H. (1972) Amphetamine and other non-opioid drug users attending a special drug dependence clinic. British Medical Journal, ii, 322–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gossop, M. R., Cobb, J. P. & Connell, P. H. (1975) Self-destructive behaviour in oral and intravenous drug dependent groups. British Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 266–9.Google Scholar
Gossop, M. R., & Connell, P. H. (1975) Attitudes of oral and intravenous drug users towards drugs of abuse. International Journal of the Addictions, 10, 459–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heller, M. E. & Mordkoff, A. M. (1972) Personality attributes of the young non-addicted drug abuser. International Journal of the Addictions, 7, 65–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levine, D. G., Levin, D. B., Sloan, I. H. & Chappel, J. N. (1972) Personality correlates of success in a methadone maintenance program. American Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 456–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mogar, R. E., Wilson, W. M. & Helm, S. T. (1970) Personality subtypes of male and female alcoholic patients. International Journal of the Addictions, 5, 99–113.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schoolar, J. C., White, E. H. & Cohen, C. P. (1972) Drug abusers and their clinic patient counterparts: a comparison of personality dimensions. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 39, 9–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stimson, G. (1973) Heroin and Behaviour. Shannon: Irish University Press.Google Scholar
Teasdale, J. D. (1972) The perceived effect of heroin on the interpersonal behaviour of heroin-dependent patients, and a comparison with stimulant dependent patients. International Journal of the Addictions, 7, 533–48.Google Scholar
Teasdale, J. D. Segraves, R. T. & Zacune, J. (1971) Psychoticism in drug users. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 10, 160–71.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.