title: Object relations and differential treatment response to methadone maintenance.
abstract: The authors report results from a psychiatric study of narcotic addicts in which the relationship between specified aspects of object relations development and treatment response to methadone maintenance was examined. Two groups were defined as high and low drug users (in addition to the prescribed methadone dose) depending upon the frequency and intensity of additional drug use; a middle group was excluded. Thirty subjects participated. The dimensions of separation/individuation, narcissistic development, and self and object representations were measured by 12 scaled variables; scores of the high and low drug users were compared by t-test. In all cases, the high use group was found to be more impaired than the low use group. However, the dimensions differed greatly in their ability to differentiate the groups. The strongest group differences were found in the area of narcissistic development, with the high user group significantly more impaired than the low user group. The strength of these findings lends empirical support to the notion that an addict population can be differentiated on diagnostic and ego psychological measures. This has important implications for methadone maintenance treatment programs, and, possibly, for drug programs in general.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008691:Methadone / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D009289:Narcissism; D009769:Object Attachment; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation
chemical_list: D008691:Methadone