Am J Psychiatry 1985; 142:1419-1423
Copyright © 1985 by American Psychiatric Association
Limit setting on drug abuse in methadone maintenance patients
JJ McCarthy and OT Borders
In this prospective study the authors examined the effects of setting
limits on continued drug abuse in patients receiving methadone maintenance.
Subjects were randomly assigned either to structured treatment (drug use
exceeding set limits resulted in methadone withdrawal) or to unstructured
treatment (no consequences attended continued drug use). The structured
treatment resulted in significantly less drug use and greater retention in
the program. The authors conclude that these results confirm the importance
of external structure in the treatment of addiction-related
psychopathology.
