Personality Traits Predict Treatment Outcome in Alcohol-Dependent Patients

Abstract

Personality traits are important individual characteristics modifying responses to therapy in various diseases. The aim of this study was to identify personality traits that may predict treatment outcome in alcohol-dependent patients. The present analysis was based on a total of 146 alcohol-dependent patients (109 male, 37 female) after detoxification. The variable of interest was treatment outcome (abstinence/relapse) after a 1-year follow-up. To identify personality traits as predictors of treatment outcome, 5 personality questionnaires (NEO 5-Factor Inventory, Temperament and Character Inventory, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Eysenck Impulsiveness-Venturesomeness-Empathy Scale and Sensation-Seeking Scale) were applied. Data analysis was performed by using a classification and regression tree analysis (CART; a nonparametric technique for data with a complex structure) in order to find a decision rule to predict treatment outcome from personality traits. The CART model identified psychoticism and persistence as the 2 most relevant discriminatory parameters, of which psychoticism was used as the first node in the model, classifying 64% of the patients correctly as relapsed and 12% correctly as abstinent. In addition, the risk of relapse was even higher in patients with a substantial score in psychoticism and a low score in persistence. When comparing relapsed and abstinent patients, further variables, such as scores for novelty seeking (20.9 ± 5.5 vs. 18.5 ± 5.9) and impulsiveness (8.4 ± 3 vs. 7.2 ± 3.5), showed significance. In addition, relapsed patients lived alone more often than abstinent patients (52 vs. 25%, p = 0.004). In conclusion, this analysis demonstrated that specific personality characteristics, namely psychoticism and persistence, are usable predictors for the risk of relapse in alcohol-dependent patients.

Relapse (Number of Detoxifications) in Abstinent Male Alcohol-Dependent Patients as Related to Personality Traits and Types of Tolerance to Frustration

“…While most studies rely on subjective information based on interviews with patients and relatives or questionnaires asking when and how often patients started drinking alcohol again after abstinence [20,36,37], the present evaluation is based on a stricter but more objective criterion, i.e. the number of previous detoxifications asked in questionnaire 1, but confirmed by inspection of hospital records.…”

“…Since treatment outcome in alcohol dependence has also been found to be related to mood and anxiety disorders [5,6] as well as to the personality dimensions of psychoticism sensu Eysenck [18] (representing ruthlessness and antisocial behaviour) and lack of persistence [19,20], it was intended to investigate if the two types of personality traits, impulsivity and aggression on the one hand and the neuroticism-related traits of anxiety and depression on the other, are associated with liability to relapse after abstinence.…”

Personality dimensions and defense styles that are related with relapse during 12 month follow-up in male alcohol dependents

“…A previous study found that among temperament dimensions persistence makes a significant contribution to the prediction of latency to relapse following inpatient alcohol-dependence treatment (37). Similarly, the risk of relapse was higher in alcohol dependent patients with a low score in persistence (38).…”

Impulsivity as a vulnerability factor for poor addiction treatment outcomes: A review of neurocognitive findings among individuals with substance use disorders

“…The literature on the link between impulsivity and addiction treatment outcomes clearly covers many other aspects than those discussed in the present paper, including personality aspects such as novelty and sensation seeking (Helstrom, Hutchison, & Bryan, 2007;Kahler et al, 2009;Patkar et al, 2004), attentional impulsivity (Charney, Zikos, & Gill, 2010) or lack of perseverance (Müller, Weijers, Böning, & Wiesbeck, 2008). These personality traits are typically assessed using self-report questionnaires, which may be less sensitive in identifying differences associated with treatment outcomes compared to neurocognitive tasks detailing specific behavioral processes.…”