Personality Characteristics of Heroin Addicts in a Methadone Treatment Program: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

The present study was designed to assess some of the personality attributes of heroin addicts in a methadone maintenance program. The Shostrom Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) was administered to a randomly selected sample of 70 such addicts and to a control group of 11 nontreated heroin addicts. Multivariate and univariate comparisons of the two groups did indicate that the methadone group scored significantly higher in terms of level of maturational attainment and of self-actualization than did the control group. As for within-group differences in the methadone sample, no sex or race differences in personality scores were observed. It was also found that duration of methadone treatment is not significantly related to any change in addict self-perception over time. The only consistent difference noted was between methadone-treated addicts who did receive some form of psychotherapeutic counseling and those who did not. The former group was found to be significantly more expressive socioemotionally and self-esteeming than the latter. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings.