A Psychiatrist Views an Addict Self-Help Program
EDWARD KAUFMAN M.D.1
1 Director of Psychiatry, New York City Prison System, and Instructor in Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York City
The author describes the program and methods used in Reality House, a day care treatment center for the rehabilitation of narcotic addicts. Members of the program move up through five levels of treatment, which consists mainly of group psychotherapy and vocational training. After about three years of operation, 21 persons had successfully completed the full program, with an average stay of 18 months, and 20 current members in the last two treatment levels had remained drug-free for about a year.
