ABSTRACT
The administration of psychological tests to determine drug abuse vulnerability and prognosis, to assist in selecting a treatment modality, or to evaluate response to treatment has met with limited success. Initially, the psychometric personality tests employed were of the self-report type, i.e., a list of items purporting to reflect some area of psychological functioning, which an individual either affirms or denies as being true to him. The Rorschach test, which has had the most extensive application, was developed in the early 1920s and was in part influenced by psychoanalysis. Psychological testing of patients in methadone programs has indicated, with no uncertainty, that depression, the predominant symptom, is frequently associated with irritability and performance difficulties. Projective tests are primarily concerned with the elicitation of associations through the use of ambiguous test stimuli. The interpretation of the Rorschach data indicated that the administration of morphine in amounts sufficient to cause euphoria in postaddicts results in an increased capacity for imaginative living.
