Sociopathy, gender, and treatment outcome among outpatient substance abusers

Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) may predict poor prognosis but gende r/sociopathy relationships to prognosis remain unclear. This study investig ated the effects of ASPD upon psychiatric and substance-related outcomes am ong 235 addiction treatment center outpatients. Prevalence rates for ASPD w ere similar for males (16%) and females (22%). At baseline, women and ASPD patients displayed greater substance-related and psychiatric severity. At 6 -month follow-up, ASPD patients had greater severity on both measures than did patients without ASPD, but women now had equivalent psychiatric severit y to men. After controlling for initial severity, ASPD was related to worse substance-related outcomes, but not to worse psychiatric outcomes. (C) 200 0 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.