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Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems: 2020, 22, N1 (pages: 9 - 16)

The impact of affective temperaments on opioid dependence and addiction severity

Inanli I., Ozturk H.I., Caliskan A.M., Ozbek S., Demirel B., Er M., and Eren I.

Summary: Background: Previous studies have reported that affective temperaments may predispose to opioid dependence. Both affective temperaments and severe, recurrent substance use have an impact on clinical features. Aim: We have aimed to evaluate the relationship linking oipoid dependence with affective temperaments, and the effects of different temperaments on the severity of opioid dependence. Methods: A total of 82 male patients with some form of opioid dependence and 71 healthy male volunteers participated in the study. All of the patients in the study were hospitalized, and were assessed during the stabilization phase of buprenorphine–naloxone treatment. Participating patients and controls were evaluated with the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego self-report questionnaire (TEMPS-A), while only patients were evaluated by applying the Addiction Severity Index (ASI). Results: The cyclothymic, irritable and anxious temperament scores for opioid-dependent patients were higher than those of the control group, besides being higher than the scores of patients with cyclothymic and irritable temperaments. Additionally, a diagnosis of substance dependence in the patient's family and the factor of not being married proved to be predictors of opioid dependence. Only the depressive temperament had a negative effect on addiction severity in life domains, whether those of family domains, or psychiatric ones. Conclusions: Both cyclothymic and irrtitable temperaments predispose individuals to the development of opioid dependence, while depressive temperament aggravates the severity of that dependence.