Personalities of Alcoholics who Leave and Seek Treatment

Abstract

Alcoholic patients were administered the Differential Personality Inventory on their second day of hospitalization, during which time they were undergoing detoxification. Patients who were still at the hospital 12 days later ( N = 48) were compared with those who had left against medical advice or were absent without leave ( N = 24). Those who left the hospital before the 12th day reported significantly more Repression and Defensiveness and significantly less Insomnia, Broodiness, Familial Discord, Hostility, Ideas of Persecution, Irritability, and Somatic Complaints.