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Changes of personality and depression during treatment of drug addicts

Please always quote using this URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-50287
  • In accordance with various other studies. the present longitudinal study gave no clues for specific personality variables or traits 01' drug addicts. Personality factors did not allow a valid prediction of the kind 01' th~apy termination. nor were there clear deviations from the norm. Analyzed as a group. the addicts showed only minor changes that appeared over the course of treatment. These results correspond to data reported on alcohol dependency (cf. Wanke 1987). A more differentiated picture is gained when stable and changeable componentsIn accordance with various other studies. the present longitudinal study gave no clues for specific personality variables or traits 01' drug addicts. Personality factors did not allow a valid prediction of the kind 01' th~apy termination. nor were there clear deviations from the norm. Analyzed as a group. the addicts showed only minor changes that appeared over the course of treatment. These results correspond to data reported on alcohol dependency (cf. Wanke 1987). A more differentiated picture is gained when stable and changeable components of personality and analyzed separately. Changeable components are of special relevance for treatment. From the current study these were characteristics of action regulation, that is, activation and impulse control, social interaction, and somatic reactions (sleep disorders, bodily reactions to drug deprivation). For relapse prevention, attention should be given to stable, persistent, problematic components. Persistent suicidal ideas turned out to be one such aspect. Like the differentiation between state and trait anxiety, stable and variable components could also be separated for other domains of personality when they are used to describe the course of treatment. How can personality concepts and instruments for assessment be utilized for treatment? The claim of therapists to predict the outcome of a treatment may be realized for only a delimited period of time. Especially at such critical points as shortly before relapse, a firm prediction might be possible only rarely (Wanke 1987). Lack of predictability could be a warning which, however, can be verified only afterward. According to the current results, one benefit of personality concepts could be to specify targets of change on an individual basis and thus clarify effects of therapeutic interventions. Personality concepts can help patients to better understand their problems and to recognize changes as weil as persistent areas of vulnerability.show moreshow less

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Metadaten
Author: Johann Heinrich Ellgring, Heinz C. Vollmer
URN:urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-50287
Document Type:Conference Proceeding
Faculties:Philosophische Fakultät III (bis Sept. 2007) / Institut für Psychologie (bis Sept. 2007)
Language:English
Year of Completion:1992
Source:In: Drug addiction treatment research : German and American perspectives; [based on the German-American Conference on Drug Addiction held in Camden, N.J. in 1989] / ed. by Gerhard Bühringer ... - Malabar, Florida : Krieger, 1992. - ISBN: 0-89464-628-1, S. 197-209.
Dewey Decimal Classification:1 Philosophie und Psychologie / 15 Psychologie / 150 Psychologie
GND Keyword:Psychologie
Release Date:2010/11/15
Licence (German):License LogoDeutsches Urheberrecht