Posted July 19th, 2009 — Filed under
Addiction,
Adolescent,
Dual Diagnosis,
Interventions,
Rehab,
Relapse,
Sobriety,
Treatment
Tagged
Addiction,
Alcohol Rehab,
alcoholism,
recovery,
Relapse,
Treatment — No Comments
Research published in 1999 by Bennett Fletcher, a senior research psychologist at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, has shown that though 90 days isn’t a magic number, anything less than that tends to increase the chances of relapse. One study, of 1,605 cocaine users, looked at weekly cocaine use in the year after treatment. It found that 35% of people who were in treatment for 90 days or fewer reported drug use the following year compared with 17% of people who were in treatment for 90 days or longer. The study was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Another study, part of a NIDA-funded project called Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Studies, followed 549 patients who had several problems in addition to their drug use and who entered a long-term residential program. Clients who dropped out of treatment before 90 days had relapse rates similar to those who stayed in treatment only a day or two, after 90 days relapse rates dropped steadily the longer a person stayed in treatment. Following up residential Treatment with a form of outpatient treatment or an extended care program is much more beneficial for long term sobriety. At Recovery Hub our intake coordinators will discuss all the options available for you our your loved one, all you have to do is call.
A NIDA-funded study has demonstrated that the relapse rate for heroin addicts increases with time and that the probability of long-run abstinence depends on the age of first drug use. Those who start daily heroin use at a younger age are more likely to relapse than those who start later.
The study, conducted by Dr. Marnik G. Dekimpe of the Catholic University Leuven in Belgium and his colleagues in Belgium and at the University of California, Los Angeles, examined the treatment histories of 846 patients at methadone clinics in central and southern California. The researchers looked at males and females, whites and Chicanos, most of whom started using heroin between the ages of 17 and 25. Subjects were interviewed over a 4-year period during and after treatment to determine the probability of their relapse to heroin use.
The finding that relapse is connected to time suggests the need for long-term periodic monitoring of a former heroin user’s abstinence, Dr. Dekimpe says. The researchers also found drug relapse odds were significantly different across the socio-demographic groups studied, suggesting that prevention resources could be directed to groups at higher risk. No significant differences in relapse probability were associated with either gender or education.
