Appendix C: The Substance Abuse Proclivity Profile (SAP)

The SAP is an excellent example of the use of an extremely useful tool, the MMPI, to “prove” AA doctrine and gain acceptability for AA language. The SAP successfully discriminates between young male substance abusers, putative normals and non substance abusing psychiatric outpatients. It is useful for those between the ages of 13 and 26. Validity falls off rapidly afterward.

The scale is divided into three “factors:” “Extroversion,” “Rebelliousness” and “Self Pity.” While there is room for criticism of designer MacAndrew's analysis of the first two factors, the third is most interesting.

AA doctrine asserts that the alcoholic is guilty of self pity. The SAP scale proves it. Substance abusers score high on “Self Pity.” A look at the 10 questions which make up the self pity factor, however, shows more ideology (or perhaps theology) than “Self Pity.”

My Webster's defines self pity as “pity for oneself.” It defines pity as “sympathy with the grief or misery of another.” The dictionary definition does not discriminate what we may find “distasteful” or “pathological” from what is expected and considered “normal and natural.”

What MacAndrew means is related to a distastful or pathological “pity for oneself.” This is made clear in his statement, “Since it is Self Pity that unifies this 'litany of lamentations,' that is how I have labeled this factor.”

Three of the self pity factor questions deal with vague fears.