Irish drug abusers II: their psychological characteristics.

There is much evidence now to support the view that drug abusers, particularly those who seek treatment, are poorly psychologically adjusted (Braucht et al., 1973). The contributory factors and nature of this poor psychological adjustment vary widely. It seems unlikely now that there is any one specific set of psychological traits or psychiatric disorder which differentiates the drug abuser from other poorly adjusted individuals (Laskowitz, 1965), On these grounds it may be argued that there is little to be gained by continuing the search for the “drug-abuse-prone personality”. However, the identification of the distribution of the psychological traits within a specific group of drug abusers is not without descriptive value.