Development of Scales Based on Patterns of Drug Effects, Using the Addiction Research Center Inventory (ARCI)

Abstract

A series of scales were developed on the basis of the pattern of change of responses on Addiction Research Center Inventory items produced by drugs including morphine, pentobarbital, chlorpromazine, alcohol, LSD, pyrahexyl, and amphetamine in post addicts. The pattern scales were compared with empirically developed scales that measure the effects of each drug as contrasted with placebo. It was found that the empirical scales show a greater sensitivity to general or non-specific drug effects than pattern scales, i.e., all drugs in the series produced significant elevations on empirical scales. Because of this characteristic, less differentiation between drugs is possible with empirical scales. On scales which reflect patterns of drug actions, greater differentiation between drugs was shown. Higher doses produced more specific drug effects than lower doses. This difference was produced probably by a relatively greater contribution of non-specific drug effects for lower doses. Significant reliability coefficients were obtained for all scales. Reliability of scales across conditions was related to the type of scale and similarity of conditions. As indicated by several findings, condition-similarity has implications for relating personality to drug effects.