Impairment in Executive Functions in Patients with Co-occurring Substance use disorder and Antisocial or Schizoid Personality Disorders"

Background: Higher cognitive functions and executive functions are affected in both substance use disorder and personality disorders which cause poor emotional and impulse control. The objective of this study was to assess impairment in executive functions in patients with substance use disorder and antisocial or schizoid personality disorders. Methods: fifty male participants using opioid (heroin and tramadol) or cannabis, also, have the diagnosis of personality disorders (Antisocial or Schizoid PD assessed using personality Disorders Questionnaire) and fifty healthy participants were compared as regards executive functions (using WCST) Results: Both study groups had significant difference as regards learning to learn value where control group showed higher result. A significant positive correlation was observed between Antisocial PD and total and perseverative errors in case group (P value=0.05, 0.01 respectively) which indicates additive executive dysfunction. Participants using heroin were highly significantly correlated to Total errors, Non Perseverative errors and Unique errors (p value =0.05, 0.01 and 0.04 respectively). However there was no significant relation between types of substance used and both personality disorders. Conclusion: This study concluded that cases with substance use disorder especially heroin users and those with comorbid antisocial personality disorder had higher executive dysfunction.