The Role of Personality in Understanding Substance Abuse

This article presents research and suggests that (a) an adaptive orientation is necessary to fully understand substance abuse, (b) personality variables are often instrumentally related to the onset and maintenance of addiction and have been shown to be a factor in treatment outcome as well. While researchers have underplayed the relevance of personality in this area, personality factors actually dominate treatment planning conferences and patient progress reviews. Thus, clinicians have not abandoned the role of personality in addiction treatment, simply because of the clinical utility such an approach brings to the treatment process.