Some psychological concomitants of addiction

331 Pages·2016·15.86 MB·English

by  Irene Holloway

3o.6'72
J
SOI4E PSYÇFIOLOGICAL CONCOMITANTS QF ADDICTION.
IRENE HOLLOI,IAY
Presented as a requirement for the Doctorate of Philosophy in
Psychology ln the Universlty of Adelaide,
Thís thesie containe no matenial which
has been accepted fon the awand of any
degnee of diplona ín any Univeneity and to
the best of my betief, contaíns no matenial
pneviously pubtíehed on w:rítten by anothen
person, except whene due nefenence is made
in the text.
Signed
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements.
fntroduction. Page 1"
I Research Problem" Page 7.
2 Definitions Page 18"
"
3 Techniques of Investigation Page 37.
4 Suicide, Homosexuality and
Alcoholism" Page 60"
5" Dependency. Page 78"
6. Brain Damage. Page 123
"
7" Anxiety. Page 154.
8" Extravers ion- Introver s ion . Page 185
"
9. Home Environment" Page 190.
10. Drug-Taking Page 2r8
" "
11" Summary. Page 256
"
Appendix A Page 279
"
Appendix B Page 284.
Bibliography Page 296
"
ACKNOl^lLEDGEMENTS
So many people gave me help to carry out this research
that I cannot thank them all.
My gratitude goes first to those two hundred men who acted
as subjects in the survey and pilot studies, and who for up to two
hours each cheerfully ans\,ìrered personal questions, wiÈh no other reward
than "it might help someone some day".
The medical officers in charge of hospitals and hospital
wards from which I drew my samples of alcoholics and drug addicts,
Dr" W. lfalter, Hillcrest Hospital, South Australiat Dr" L.C. Hoff,
Glenside Hospital, South Australiai Dr. M.A. Kinnlough, Repatriation
Hospital, South Australia; Dr. N. Yeomans, Ryde Psychiatric Hospital'
New South Vüalest and Dr. D. BeII, Callan Park, New South V'lales' musL
serve as representatives of the J-arge number of doctors, psychoJ-ogists,
nurses, medical orderlies, record clerks and patients, who helped in
so many ways and whom I cannot thank individually.
füithout the personaf interest and patience of Mr.M.F. Wilkins'
his staff of personnel officers and the clerical staff who carefully
examined the thousands of record cards, my control sample would not
have achieved its excellence. To these men and to the drivers who
drove my subjects to the Unj-versity go my t'hanks.
I am grateful to the late Mr. R.C. Heairfield, Comptroller
Of Prisons, South Australia, fot allowinq me to test drug addicts in
prison, and to Mr. Eri.c T. Price, Prison PsychologiSt, for arranging
interviews. I would not like to forget my "alkie", "junkie" and
Narcotic Anon)zmous friends who persuaded their friends to volunteer
as subjeqts"
I am indebted also to Mrs. Linda Penny and Miss Ruth Lewis
for psychological ratings, to Dr. F. Ledwith for computer programming,
to Mrs. V.M. Benson for library help, and to my family, without whose
help the regearch would never have been finished.
Finally r should like to acknowledge the help of my superi
visor, Dr" G, Mulligan, Ì^tho habitually restored my confidence when
frustration and delay'had reduced it to a loW ebb, Ptrofessor S"H"
Lovibond, who was never too busy to help and advise Íte, Professor
A.T; Welford , \^rho read and corrected the script, and Pr6fessor
L"B. Brohtn, who supervised the initial pLanning of the research' gave
help and inspíration throughout and who read the final work"
- l_-
INTRODUCTION.
AìlÊträIians are drínkins people. The-v spend more on
alcoholÍc beverages than they do o¡'t cars, el-eotriqal goods or
fqrnitu5e. The combíned bill for the social- drugs, alcohol and
rlicotine is almost as high as that for clothing, drapery and
footwearr ês the fqllqwing table shows :
AU STRALIAÀl COMMONI{EALTH
EXPENDTTURE FOR YEAR 1965*66
Million dollars
Food 2880
Cigarettes and toþêcco 415
Alcoholic drinks 82r
Çlothingr, footwear and draperY 1.312
ELectrical qoods 403
other household durables 536
Gas 64
Electricit¡r 22r
Posta1 and telephone serr¡ices 122
Fares 42r
Purchase of Motor Vehicles 664
Rent l-438
other goods and services 3283
125 80
(QuarterJy Estimates of National Incame
and Expenditure, Co$monwealth Bureau of
Statístics, Canberra. 1966 VoI.26.)
-2-
The importance of drinking of alcfcholic beverages in the
cultr¡re is shown by the fact that Australians spend more on their
dfink than their governments spend on education, \ÀIar and defence'
public health and weLfare, and law and order.
AUSTRALTAN COMMONVüEALTH
EXPENDTTURE BY AT.L PUBLIC AUTHORTT ]-965-66
Million dollars
T,aw, order and public safetY 139
Education 524
Public Health and welfare 303
V'Iar and defence 720
Repatriation 62
Immígration 34
Development of, resourees etc. 190
A1I other 405
(Figures frem Quarterly Estimates of
NationaL lncome and Expenditure
Comrnonwealth Bureau of Statistics
Canberra. 1966 : 26).
The national drink is beer" AustraLians drink an overall
average (i"e. man, woman and child) of 24.3 qallons of beer per head
per year, which gains significqnce when it is compared with the
national consumption of 28"5 gallons of milk per petrson per yearo
-3-
COMMONVIEAT,TH OF AUSTRALIA
APPARENT CONSUMPTION 1956-66 per head per vear)
Beer 24"3 gallons
1.3 gallons
üIine
Spirits 0"3 proof gallons
Mtlk 28"5 gallons
(Commonwealth Bureau of Statistics, CanJcerra.
Report on Food Production No.21 : 1956-66) '
Ith'asnoteasytoobtainfiguresondrug-taking"Therewas
considerable reluctance by the authorities to release 4ny figurqs, but
thoSe that, could be obtained indicate that Australians use a l¿rge
amount of druqs, and considerabl.e doubt could be expressed that all
the codeine in the table beLow was used for the urgent rel-ief of pain"
AUSTRALTAN COMMONIiEALTH
NARCOTIC DRUGS 1965
Total Per million of PoPulation
(ín kilograms) (mean populatJ-on 1965 = 1I"3)
Morphine 185 l-5 .5
Codeine 3175 280 "97
I.
Cocaine 19 68
Pethidine 260 23 "00
Opir:m preparations 630 50.31-
Pholiodine 246 2J..24
(Supplied by the Department çf Customç and Excise
Canberra 1966")
-4-
Drug-taking may be more prevalent in the normal AusÈrafian
population Lhan has been repoi:t--ed..
Drinking has been part of Èhe Austrafian image of manhood
since early settlement davs. The diggers of the early qoldfiel-d
drank plenty. Howitt (1859) wrote
.
"Drunkenness goes on in the digqings uncontrolled. rt is
carried on in the most open, palpabIe, public manner possible.
You could not avoid runninq your head against cro\^tds of
drunken diggers, your nose agalnst the fumes of vile rum, and
your ears against the din and uproar of dozens of dens of
debauch...Grog shops abound, notwithstanding the professed
severity of the police; and we hear the noisy set of
roisterers at them night after night, singing, fighting and
shoulinq, generallv ti1l the morning".
At the same time Edwards (tASg) wrote a treatise on
drunkenness; the drunkard he describes resembfes contemporarv
descriptions of the alcoholic, except that Edwards' languaqe is
more colourful.
"The most habituat drunkard, in his sober moments, hates and
detests the name of spirits more bitterlv than any other
person, and indeed he has cause. Talk to him about its
degrading effects, he admits it, he knows it. Ca1l before
his mind's eye the associations of his boyhood, vüith all its
innocent enjoyments, before he enlisted in the ranks of
Bacchus, and he mourns over his o\^rn falI. Point out to him
the wife he is dragging down to the tomb with a broken spírit,
and the children he is likely to leave behind in poverty and
rags, and he sheds tears like rain. show him his own awfully
degraded position, and he trembles at the sight, he rise,s and
resolves to dash the dea<1ly cup from his 1ips, and what then?
Ten chances to one, ere the day be concluded, Yoü will see
him sprawling in the dirt, in a beasÈly staÈe of intoxication".
The picture is familiar to clj.nical psvchologists.
since drinking has pfaved so large a part in the social
customs of the nation, it is surprising that there has been so littl-e
research into drinking in the Australian culture.
-5-
ehillips (1966) highl-ighted a feature of "over-vThelming
significance" in Australian tife today, the drinking of beer by men
in bars and hote}s in small groups" The Australian pattern seems
to require a rrbarrr and to prefer drinking in a comfortably erect
rrvertical
position; Phitlips suggestecl areas of research into
drinking in bars", but conìments that in the study of alcohof and the
comrnunity the most striking aspect "is the disinclination of
scholars and investigators to apply their mÍnds, their trained and
expert equipment, to lts -particular study and explanationr'.
This coul-d be saíd of Australian psychologists" Australian
medical journals have reported severat studies of alcoholism, anrL on
the acute effects of alcoho], but research failed to uncover a
Iocal psychological enquiry into the customs of drinking. The
Australian Journal of Psychology had (until the end of 1968) never
publÍshed an articfe on alcohol or afcoholism"
This study looks at the abnormal drinking of alcohoÌÌcs, but
it seeks to keep the drinking in the perspective of the cultural
drinking norms" It therefore uses a matched group of rtnormaft'
subjects for cgmparison. Though the focus throughout the investigation
is on alcohorism, this form of addiction is looked at ín the context
of general addiction" Fof this purpose a second comparison group
is added, a matched group of drug addicts, addicted to a wide range
of drugs"
The investigation took place in the field !ìrhere variables can
seldom be fu1ly controlled" It is not suctgested that all- the
variables \^rere controlled, to do so would be to assume that sufficient
ülas kno\^rn in this area to know what variables Shou1d have been
controlledrand with the present state of knowledge in the field
such an assumption Would be 'premature" It is, however, believed
that the samples are very well matched, and the degree of contrgl
was such that some light could be thrown on alcoholism in South