Factors in Successful Narcotics Renunciation
BARBARA BESS M.D.1,
SAMUEL JANUS PH.D.2, , and
ALFRED RIFKIN M.D.3
1 Instructor and Assistant to the Director, Psychiatric Residency Training, Department of Psychiatry, New York Medical College Metropolitan Hospital Center, New York, N.Y.
2 Assistant Professor of Psychology, Department of Education, Lehman College, City University of New York
3 Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, New York Medical College Metropolitan Hospital Center, New York, N.Y.
The authors studied 17 former narcotic addicts in order to determine what factors enabled them to successfully renounce drug use. Among their most important findings were that most of these ex-addicts had grown up in intact families, with fathers who provided suitable models for work roles; that antisoical behavior was not prominent before addiction; and that, in most cases, traumatic events coincided with both the beginning and the end of drug use.
