Comparison and study of the biologic-emotional basis of personality traits of drug addicts and consumers of antidepressants

The goal of the present research was to compare cognitive-emotional aspects of personality based on Cloninger’s model with those of antidepressant users including SSRI and TCA drugs. To do so, Cloninger’s TCI-56 questionnaire was given to 229 subjects (drug-dependent, depressed and normal subjects groups, 72, 86 and 71, respectively), who were selected with accessible method. Following the matching of the depressed subjects, the 86 depressed individuals were divided into two groups (43 individuals per group receiving SSRI and TCA drugs). Results showed no significant relationship between temperament of the dependent and normal groups while in character aspect there was significant relationship between self-directedness. Also, dependent subjects had a higher self-directedness compared to other groups. Also, SSRI users compared to TCA users showed significant difference in harm avoidance and reward dependence in such a way that harm avoidance was higher in SSRI group than the TCA group and, conversely, reward dependence was higher in TCA group than SSRI group. Although there were some differences in the mean scores of the each drug groups, no significant differences were observed in novelty-seeking, persistence, self-directedness, cooperation and self-transcendence.