Personality Traits and Their Relationship to Demographic Features in Addicts Referring to a Drug Rehabilitation Center in the City of Isfahan, Iran

BACKGROUND: Addiction is one of the most serious social damages and due to its progressive nature in all aspects, adversely affects people’s physical and psychological health. Hence, this paper investigates the characteristics of drug addicts in a drug rehabilitation center in the city of Isfahan. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study conducted in 2012, the population consisted of all addicts that referred to Shefa Drug Rehabilitation Center. A sample of 201 individuals was selected randomly. Two questionnaires were drawn up to collect data; the first questionnaire examined demographic characteristics and the second was the 71-item Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory short form. Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used in SPSS20 to analyze the data. RESULTS: Overall, 98% of participants were men, 65.7% were married, and 13.3% were unemployed. Depression and hypomania were respectively the most and the least prevalent disorders among individuals with high-risk psychological profiles of clinical scales respectively. Psychopathic deviation and schizophrenia were seen among the unemployed more than the employed ones. CONCLUSION: Considering the fact that depression was the most common personality disorder among the addicts participating, it is recommended that this disorder be given priority in investigations in the treatment programs of these patients. In addition, the scales of disorder, schizophrenia, mental infirmity, mental deviation, and paranoia had a significant relationship to aggression, delirium and hallucination, which must be taken into consideration in the treatment of such patients.