Short-term Interpersonal Psychotherapy in Methadone-Maintained Opiate Addicts

A clinical trial was used to evaluate short-term interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) as treatment for psychiatric disorders in opiate addicts who were also participating in a full-service methadone hydrochloride maintenance program. Seventy-two opiate addicts were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions for six months: (1) IPT, consisting of weekly individual psychotherapy, and (2) low-contact treatment, consisting of one brief meeting per month. Recruitment was a problem, as only 5% of eligible clients agreed to participate and only around half of the subjects completed the study treatment. The outcome was similar for the two study groups. However, in many of the outcome areas, subjects in both treatment conditions attained significant clinical improvement. Several factors limited the generalizability of findings and may have biased against showing a psychotherapy effect.