Network therapy: decreased secondary opioid use during buprenorphine maintenance.
Network therapy (NT) employs family members and/or friends to support compliance with an addiction treatment carried out in office practice. This study was designed to ascertain whether NT is a useful psychosocial adjunct, relative to a control treatment, for achieving diminished illicit heroin use for patients on buprenorphine maintenance. Patients agreeing to randomization to either NT (N = 33) or medication management (MM, N = 33) were inducted onto short-term buprenorphine maintenance and then tapered to zero dose. NT resulted in significantly more urine toxicologies negative for opioids than MM (65% vs. 45%) and more NT than MM patients (50% vs. 23%) experienced a positive outcome relative to secondary heroin use by the end of treatment. The use of NT in office practice may therefore improve the effectiveness of eliminating secondary heroin use during buprenorphine maintenance. It may also be useful in enhancing compliance with an addiction treatment regimen in other contexts.
Galanter
Marc
M
Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, New York University Department of Psychiatry, NYU Medical Center, New York, NY, USA. marcgalanter@nyu.edu
Dermatis
Helen
H
Glickman
Linda
L
Maslansky
Robert
R
Sellers
M Brealyn
MB
Neumann
Erna
E
Rahman-Dujarric
Claudia
C
D000328:Adult; D002047:Buprenorphine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009519:New York City; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D012944:Social Support
D009292:Narcotic Antagonists; D002047:Buprenorphine