This note questions the assumption that the greater personality deviance seen in the MMPI profiles of street heroin addicts than in those of incarcerated heroin addicts is a function of environmental and situational differences between these samples. The street addicts' elevations on the scales comprising the neurotic triad may instead represent a drug effect.
References
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HaertzenC. A.HooksN. T.Changes in personality and subjective experiences associated with the chronic administration and withdrawal of opiates. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 1969, 148, 606–614.
2.
MartinW. R.JasinskiD. R.HaertzenC. A.KayD. C.JonesB. E.ManskyP. A.CarpenterR. W.Methadone—a reevaluation. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1973, 28, 286–295.
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SutkerP. B.AllainA. N.Incarcerated and street heroin addicts: A personality comparison. Psychological Reports, 1973, 32, 243–246.
