Association of antisocial personality disorder with psychiatric morbidity among patients with substance use disorder.

OBJECTIVES

The aims were to determine among patients with Substance Use Disorder (SUD) whether patients with Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) manifest less, the same, or more of the following: (1) psychiatric symptoms, (2) family history of psychiatric disorder, (3) psychiatric disorders and morbidity, and (4) psychiatric treatment, as compared to patients without ASPD.

DESIGN & DEFINITION: Scheduled interview using DSM-III-R criteria for ASPD, with blinded interviewers making the ASPD classification vs. other assessments.

SETTINGS: Alcohol-drug treatment programs located in two university medical centers.

SUBJECTS: Six hundred and six voluntary patients aged 18 and older meeting diagnostic criteria for SUD.

RESULTS

SUD patients with ASPD reported more family history of non-SUD psychiatric diagnoses and endorsed more hostility symptoms. Demographic characteristics, psychiatric disorder, and past psychiatric treatment did not differ in association with ASPD.