Association of personality disorders, family conflicts and treatment with quality of life in opiate addiction.

AIM

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of the current status and longitudinal changes in different clinical and social variables with quality of life (QOL) in opiate addiction. Our hypotheses were that drug use, comorbid personality disorders and social problems are associated with worse QOL.

METHODS

107 participants with long-term opiate addiction were included and interviewed at entry with the Europ-ASI and the PDQ-R. QOL (SF-36) and changes in different domains of the Europ-ASI were assessed after 2 years.

RESULTS

Personality disorders, interpersonal conflicts with the family or partner and ongoing need for somatic and psychiatric treatment were significantly associated with worse subjective QOL, whereas changes in drug and alcohol use, the economic situation, legal problems and social problems with persons outside of the family showed no relevant association with QOL.

CONCLUSION

Our results provide support for an emphasis in treatment on helping clients to reduce intra- and interpersonal conflicts according to comorbid conditions and among family members and partnerships. In addition, the present data provide further support for the advantages of extended interventions in long-term opiate addiction.