Termination of the drug career. An interview study of 58 ex-addicts.
Fifty-eight ex-addicts, representing 87% of a group found to be drug-free at an earlier 3-year follow-up, have been the target group of an interview study, which aimed at elucidating various phases of the drug career. It was found that drug abusers tend to break their drug-taking habits either early (before 2 years of abuse) or late (after 6 years or more). Those who abandoned the drug career early regarded giving up drugs as easy and had often been supported by relatives and drug-free friends. Their dominating reason for giving up drugs was adverse drug reactions, or infectious complications. Those who abandoned the career late reported that it had been a difficult process and that they had received little or no support from friends and relatives. To a large extent they had resorted to the aid of outpatient clinics. This group of ex-addicts gave as their most common reason for giving up drugs: they had grown tired of the life of a street addict. The considerable number of critics of psychiatric inpatient treatment (74% rated inpatient clinics as moderately important or unimportant) casts doubt on present treatment approaches. A simplified clinical description of the drug carrer is given, where attention is focussed on three stages within the process of de-addiction.
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012917:Social Adjustment; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000628:therapy; D013997:Time Factors