P-16 * THE ROLE OF PERSONALITY AND RELAPSE IN ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE

Abstract

Introduction. Personality profiling allows researchers to generate important hypotheses in risk factors and correlates of alcohol use and misuse. Studies examining the association between personality traits and relapse are limited in India. We studied the role of personality and relapse in alcohol dependent patients. Methods. Adult participants with alcohol dependence were recruited from the inpatient and outpatient wards of deaddiction unit of a tertiary care facility in India using a prospective design and followed up after three months. Questionnaire administered were NEO-PI-R (Revised NEO Personality Inventory), AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) and AWARE (Advanced Warning of Alcohol Relapse). Results. Out of 99 recruited participants (92% males) with mean age 37 years, 69 patients were followed up, of which 44.93% abstained; 55.07% relapsed. E5 facet (excitement seeking) in the extraversion domain of the NEO-PI-R significantly correlated with AWARE scores (p = 0.047) and also with the followup drinking scores among the patients who continued to drink (p = 0.015). Conclusion. Our study suggests that factors related to extraversion, specifically, excitement seeking might be associated with a higher risk of alcohol relapse. Predicting alcohol relapse by studying the personality traits would help clinicians in improving treatment outcomes.