Group psychotherapy for opiate addicts in methadone maintenance treatment--a controlled trial

Abstract

A controlled trial was conducted evaluating cognitive-behavioural group psychotherapy as a measure to reduce concomitant drug use in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). 73 opiate addicts were randomly assigned to local routine MMT or to routine MMT plus group psychotherapy (20 sessions over 20 weeks). Psychotherapy was delivered by therapists according to a manual. Drug use (urine screen) was compared at onset of psychotherapy, end of intervention period (6 months after study onset), and 6 months later. Data analysis was done according to intention-to-treat principles. Results indicated that patients in the psychotherapy group (n = 41) showed less drug use than control subjects (n = 32). This group difference was statistically significant at 6-month follow-up (p = 0.02). These findings underscore the usefulness of group psychotherapy in MMT. The delayed effect is comparable to other studies evaluating cognitive-behavioural psychotherapy.