Impact of Type-D Personality on Severity of Drug Addiction and Quality of Life among Patients Undergoing Methadone Maintenance Therapy

Drug use is a phenomenon that causes many harms. Studies have shown personality traits make people vulnerable to drug abuse biologically and neurotic. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between addiction severity and quality of life with type D personality.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018. From two-hundred men referred to the Methadone treatment center of Shafa hospital in Rasht between eighteen and forty-five years old, hundred were randomly selected and completed the D-type Personality Questionnaire. Based on the sample size formula, twenty subjects from each group with and without personality type D were selected and completed the addiction severity questionnaire ASI and thirty-six-Item Short Form Survey SF-36. The data were analyzed using SPSS22.

There was a significant difference between the mean scores in the ASI questionnaire in the two groups of individuals with and without D-type personality.(P=0.0001) From the subscales of the SF-36 questionnaire, there was a significant relationship between physical function, role impairment, energy/fatigue, emotional well-being, and general health in both groups with and without personality type D. There was a significant difference between individuals with and without personality type D in the severity of addiction according to educational level.(P=0.017)

Findings of the study showed that personality type D explained the severity of addiction and quality of life. The level of education and awareness of people had the greatest impact on drug tendency.