ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Addictive Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1584143
The role of personality functioning and childhood trauma in patients in opioid substitution treatment
Provisionally accepted
Laura Waschulin1,2
Stefan Hofner2Daniela Bildstein-Ebner2Jürgen Fuchshuber1,3Susanne Hörz-Sagstetter4Klemens Michlmayr2
Ludwig Ohse4,5,6
Karel Dobroslav Riegel7
Victor Blüml1*- 1Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- 2Suchthilfe Wien gGmbH, Vienna, Austria
- 3Grüner Kreis Society, Vienna, Austria, Vienna, Austria
- 4Psychologische Hochschule Berlin, Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- 5Health and Medical University Potsdam, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany
- 6Ernst von Bergmann Clinic, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany
- 7Charles University, Prague, Prague, Czechia
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Background: Personality pathology and childhood trauma are known to be associated with substance use disorders (SUDs) in general and opioid use disorders (OUDs) in particular but the complex relationship is only partially understood. Investigating personality functioning in patients with OUD is crucial for gaining a deeper understanding of the emergence and course of illness as well as for planning appropriate treatment strategies.Aims: To empirically investigate personality functioning in a sample of patients in opioid substitution treatment and to examine the associations between personality functioning, injecting drug use (IDU) and childhood trauma.Methods: In a cross-sectional design, 31 patients with OUDs currently in an opioid substitution treatment program were assessed with the revised Structured Interview for Personality Organization, the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5, the Addiction Severity Index -Lite and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. The sample consisted of 80.6% male and 19.4% female patients.The large majority (93.5%) of participants were diagnosed with severe impairment of personality functioning. Impaired personality functioning and higher rates of reported childhood trauma were associated with a younger age of onset of IDU and a greater number of years of IDU. Level of personality functioning showed a stronger statistical association with both IDU and the number of diagnosed personality disorders than reported childhood trauma.Conclusions: OUDs are associated with severely impaired personality functioning. Assessment of personality functioning can provide important information for treatment strategies in addition to categorical psychiatric diagnoses and trauma history.
Keywords: Personality functioning, substance use disorders, Opioid use disorders, Injecting drug use, childhood trauma
Received: 26 Feb 2025; Accepted: 27 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Waschulin, Hofner, Bildstein-Ebner, Fuchshuber, Hörz-Sagstetter, Michlmayr, Ohse, Riegel and Blüml. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Victor Blüml, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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