Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:739-743
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
Prevalence and diagnostic reliability of methadone maintenance detoxification fear
JB Milby, RH Gurwitch, DJ Wiebe, W Ling, AT McLellan and GE Woody
The authors identified a pathological fear of methadone detoxification in
22%, 25%, and 32% of random samples of patients in three disparate
methadone maintenance programs. Patients with a pathological fear of
detoxification had higher scores on the Detoxification Fear Survey
Schedule, had longer histories of addiction, had been addicted for a larger
percent of their life spans, and were older than patients without this
fear. A greater proportion of the female patients had this fear, and a
greater proportion of the patients with this fear had drug- free
urinalyses. The authors recommend the use of the Detoxification Fear Survey
Schedule as well as intervention to help rehabilitated opioid addicts
initiate and complete detoxification.
