Psychological Correlates of Substance Abuse among First-admission Patients with Substance Use Disorders

The aim of the present study was to investigate psychological correlates of substance abuse among first-admission male and female patients diagnosed with substance use disorders. Data was collected from a sample of 60 (30 male and 30 female) first-admitted patients with substance use disorders (SUDs), with no previous history of specialized treatment (addiction clinics, psychiatry). Substance use disorders were diagnosed according to DSM-V. Patients were assessed with Beck Depression Inventory and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire- Revised (EPQ-R). The statistical analysis indicated that depression did not correlate with psychoticism (r = -.062). There existed a negative and significant correlation between depression and extraversion (r = -.68, p<.01). There also existed a negative and significant correlation between extraversion and neuroticism (r= -.601, p<.01). Neuroticism correlated with depression positively and significantly (r = .59, p<.01). There was no significant difference found between hospitalized male and female patients with substance abuse disorders on different psychological variables like depression, psychoticism, and neuroticism. However, a significant difference among them was found on extraversion (t=3.17, p<.01). Depression and personality traits still may have some role in the etiology of substance use disorder and may act either as predisposing, precipitating or perpetuating factors. So, depression and personality traits of a person should be considered during treatment, management, prevention and rehabilitation of the patients with substance use disorder.