[Affective temperaments in drug addicts: A case-control study].

The study of affective temperaments is a dimensional approach to personality that would provide a better understanding of the emergence of psychopathological disorders including addictive behaviors. However, in the literature, there is a lack of studies focusing on the links between this type of disorder and affective temperaments. Our objectives were to study the distribution of the five known affective temperaments in a group of drug addicts compared to a control group, and to identify sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with emotional traits. This was a case-control study carried out in the drug abuse prevention center "ATUPRET" of Sfax in Tunisia. It included 50 drug addicts, all male, and 50 healthy control subjects matched for age (P=0.22), marital status (P=0.28), socioeconomic level (P=0.36) and educational level (P=0.95). Sociodemographic data were collected through an interview for drug addicts hospitalized in this center while clinical data were collected from medical records. The TEMPS-A questionnaire, 110 questions validated Tunisian version, has been used to evaluate five affective temperaments. The average age of drug addicts was 32.98 years (19-59 years) and the average age at onset of drug use was 20.36 years (12-52 years). Among drug users, the highest mean scores were observed for hyperthymic temperament (13.68±4.20), followed by cyclothymic (13.14±4.89), anxious (11.32±6.00) and depressive (11.02±3.65) ones. The lowest mean score was for irritable temperament (10.14±3.95). All of these scores, except that of cyclothymic temperament, were significantly higher than in the control group (P<0.01). The age of drug addicts was negatively correlated with cyclothymic (P=0.023) and irritable (P=0.035) temperament scores. These two temperaments were more dominant in the group of drug addicts with post-secondary education (P respectively 0.035 and 0.002). The age of onset of psychoactive substance use was negatively correlated with irritable temperament (r=-0.355, P=0.012). Cyclothymic temperament was correlated with alcohol dependence (P=0.03) and psychiatric comorbidity (P=0.01) among drug addicts. The present study provides support for the existence of temperamental dysregulation in drug-addicted patients. This result leads us to suggest that affective temperaments are implicated as a potential endophenotype and may represent a marker for the identification of persons vulnerable to drug use. These affective temperaments also appear to influence clinical features of drug addiction.

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