Improvement in psychological functioning among drug abusers: inpatient treatment compared to outpatient methadone maintenance

A total of 68 opiate and cocaine abusers, receiving hospital-based, multimodal treatment for drug abuse in a 14 to 21-day program, and 47 patients newly admitted to methadone maintenance were compared on changes in psychological functioning, using a pretreatment-posttreatment design. Psychological changes were assessed by the Adjective Checklist, measuring the construct of "need". Inpatient treatment resulting in abstinence was associated with positive, meaningful, and significant changes in need pattern that were internally consistent. An equivalent amount of time on methadone maintenance outpatient treatment produced no improvement in psychological functioning, except that these patients evidenced increased dependency needs. Implications are discussed.