Honors Thesis: Personality Profile of Chronic Cocaine Abusers

Research has demonstrated personality disorders related to the use of cocaine. These personality disorders are antisocial, borderline, narcissistic, histrionic, and others. Significant cognitive and behavioral deficits are also found after chronic cocaine abuse. The cognitive effects have proven to affect memory, attention, and conceptual processing. Depression and some developmental abnormalities have been demonstrated to represent frequent associated conditions in drug-abusers. The object of this research was to summarize the personality disorders related to cocaine use and to describe any cognitive and neurocognitive deficits that may arise in chronic cocaine users. A group of 30 cocaine abusers from 2 drug rehabilitation programs were selected. Subjects received a neuropsychological evaluation and a neuropsychiatric questionnaire before starting. Subjects were then given a battery of neuropsychological tests including personality, general intelligence, memory, attention, constructional abilities, conceptual thinking, and verbal skills. The findings are congruent with other studies regarding personality, cognitive deficits, and cocaine use.