Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:1337-1340
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
Digit-symbol performance in methadone-treated ex-heroin addicts
PW Appel and NB Gordon
The digit-symbol substituion task (DSST) of the WAIS was given to working
(MW) and nonworking (MNW) patients on high-dose methadone maintenance and
to two comparison groups to assess the function of attention in these
patients. Mean DSST scores were significantly lower for the MNW group than
for the other three groups, which did not differ. However, the scores for
the MNW group were within the normal range. DSST scores and lenght of
methadon treatment (range: 11 months to 8 years) were positively
correlated, providing no evidence of deterioration with increasing duration
of treatment.
