Does psychiatric comorbidity affect drug abuse treatment outcome? A prospective assessment of drug abuse, treatment tenure and infectious diseases in an Israeli methadone maintenance clinic.

Abstract

Severity of psychological distress, but not comorbid psychiatric disorders, has a major negative association with treatment outcome of patients receiving methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). Surprisingly patients with comorbid mental illness seem to remain in treatment longer than those without. Therapeutic efforts should also focus on treating subjective distress and its possible influence upon drug use behavior.