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Lapse, Relapse and Survival among Opiate Addicts after Treatment

A Prospective Follow-up Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Michael Gossop ,
Lynette Green ,
Grania Phillips  and
Brendan Bradley
Michael Gossop*
Affiliation:
Drug Dependence Clinical Research and Treatment Unit, The Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital
Lynette Green
Affiliation:
Drug Dependence Clinical Research and Treatment Unit, The Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital
Grania Phillips
Affiliation:
Drug Dependence Clinical Research and Treatment Unit, The Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital
Brendan Bradley
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
*
∗Drug Dependence Unit, Bethlem Royal Hospital, Monks Orchard Road, Beckenham, Kent
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Abstract

This paper presents data from the first British prospective study to investigate relapse among opiate addicts after treatment. Eighty subjects were followed up over the six-month period immediately after discharge from treatment and were interviewed on several occasions. Large numbers of subjects used opiates within a very short time after discharge; 71% used them within the first six weeks. However, this first lapse to opiate use did not herald a full-blown relapse to dependent use. There was a gradual increase in the number of abstinent subjects, with 45% abstinent and living in the community at the six-month point. The practical and theoretical implications may be regarded as broadly encouraging.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 154 , Issue 3 , March 1989 , pp. 348 - 353
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989 

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