Am J Psychiatry 1987; 144:590-596
Copyright © 1987 by American Psychiatric Association
Twelve-month follow-up of psychotherapy for opiate dependence [published erratum appears in Am J Psychiatry 1989 Dec;146(12):1651]
GE Woody, AT McLellan, L Luborsky and CP O'Brien
To provide information on the long-debated issue of the value of
psychotherapy as an addition to paraprofessional counseling services for
opiate addicts receiving methadone maintenance, the authors obtained
12-month follow-up data on 93 such patients randomly assigned to a 6-month
course of either paraprofessional drug counseling or counseling plus
professional psychotherapy. The psychotherapy patients had a significantly
better overall status at 7-month follow-up and also at 12-month follow-up,
6 months after the psychotherapy ended. The authors conclude that
psychotherapy can be evaluated by using scientific methods and that it can
have measurable and sustained benefits in the treatment of opiate
addiction.
