Abstract

Objectives: The following study was carried out with the aim of evaluating six pathological susceptibility backgrounds (personality traits, life style, social and family relationships, beliefs and thought, feelings and emotions and behaviors).

Method: In a causal-comparitive study 240 subjects (120 recovered addicts and 120 normal individuals) were selected using stratified random sampling method from rehabilitation centers of four cities: Urmieh, Qum, Shiraz and Tehran. Males constituted 95% of the subjects with an age range of 18 and over. Data were gathered using Addiction Susceptibility Questionnaire (ASQ) and analyzed using t-test.

Results: Drug dependent subjects were significantly different from the normal subjects in each of the pre-addiction susceptibility back-grounds (p<0.001). These backgrounds are effective in forming the vulnerability for addiction.

Conclusion: Drug dependent subjects possess more abnormal characteristics (incorrect lifestyle, unhealthy social and familial relation- ships, erroneous thoughts and beliefs, abnormal emotions and hazardous behavior).