Serotonergic activity and harm avoidance in abstinent drug addicts

Abstract

Introduction. The present study was to assess the relationship between the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire scores and the 5-HT activity in abstinent drug addicts.

Methodology. 16 men who satisfied the DSM-III-R/DSMIV criteria for substance abuse disorder accomplished the Cloninger’s Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire; their serotonergic activity was measured using the Fenfluramine Challenge Test.

Results. The Novelty Seeking is the only dimension showing a statistical difference versus a standard healthy sample, while harm avoidance and not the other dimensions was significantly correlated with the prolactin post-fenfluramine peak (r= 0.80, p<0.001).

Conclusion. This work confirm that drug addicts are high Novelty Seekers and support the hypothesis that Harm Avoidance dimension correlate with serotonergic activity.