Relationship of Attachment Styles and Personality Traits With Heroin Use Disorder

Abstract

Insecure attachment styles and psychopathological personality traits are observed more frequently in patients who use heroin as one of the most frequently used addictive substances. Nevertheless the relationship between attachment styles and personality traits in heroin users is not clear. The aim of the study is compare attachment styles and personality traits of patients diagnosed with heroin use disorder with those of the healthy controls. The data of 23 of 52 cases diagnosed with heroin use disorder due to Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) invalidity and lack of data were excluded and the study was completed with 29 cases. With the exclusion of the data of 13 of the 47 controls for the same reasons, 34 healty individuals of similar age and gender were included in the study. The sociodemographic data form, MMPI and Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) were applied on the participants. Hypochondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviate, paranoia, schizophrenia and social introversion were observed to be higher in the patient group. Ambivalent attachment was determined to be related with hysteria, depression, schizophrenia, paranoia, psychasthenia and social introversion in the patient group; avoidant attachment was determined to be related with psychasthenia and social introversion. In addition to the attachment that developed in the first years of life, personality traits that were innate but developed with environmental factors especially during adolescence were found to be more predictive for heroin addiction.