Narcotic Addiction in the Pain-Prone Female Patient. I. A Comparison with Addict Controls

AbstractA group of 25 pain-prone addicts was identified and compared with a control group of 30 randomly selected addict patients. All patients in the study were females. Although the design of the study favored similarities between the groups, the differences were more striking and were highly significant statistically. The parameters included a number of social and demographic variables. It was also demonstrated that pain-prone addicts tended to come from a higher social class than controls and did not identify themselves as addicts. Rather, it appeared that the patients identified themselves as medical patients without psychological problems. Since the data indicated that narcotic addiction in the pain-prone female patient was an iatrogenic disorder, it was felt that prevention was the only feasible means of dealing with this problem. In order to accomplish this, the practitioner must be prepared to recognize the potential for addiction in patients whose social and demographic attributes differ from those of most narcotic addicts and more closely approximate those of the patients he commonly sees in practice.