Drug Abuse Treatment and Group Counseling,Treatment Results and Outcome Studies
· Approximately 38% of outpatients complete the initial phases of treatment nationally. At Twin Town, over 70% patient complete Phase I treatment.
Twin Town Outcome Studies, 2007
· Drug abuse treatment programs can significantly increase the likelihood that patients will stay in treatment and remain abstinent by offering them more groups and individual counseling opportunities and encouraging them to participate in complementary 12-step programs, such as Narcotics Anonymous.
· Patients who attended more individual and group counseling sessions had significantly lower levels of drug use during and after treatment than those who participated less frequently. Even among patient who completed the treatment program, those who participated more frequently in counseling had lower rates of relapse than those who participated less.
· Patients in the enhanced programs (more frequency of counseling sessions and visits) used drugs forty (40) percent less than did patients in comparison programs in the six (6) months following an initial in-treatment assessment; in the last month, they used drugs sixty (60) percent less. Frequency of patients' participation in individual and group counseling accounted for virtually all of the differences in post-treatment drug use (rather than patient characteristics).
· Patients who attended at least one 12-step meeting per week after completing drug abuse treatment had much lower levels of drug use than those who participated less frequently or not at all. During (a) six (6) month follow-up period, only about twenty-two (22) percent of weekly 12-step participants had used an illicit drug. By contrast, forty-four (44) percent of those who attended 12-step programs less than once a week or not at all during that period had used an illicit drug. The more favorable outcomes of frequent 12-step participants could not be attributed to differences in motivation or to other post-treatment activities, such as attending other aftercare programs.
· Patients who attended 12-step meetings regularly before entering drug abuse treatment stayed in treatment longer and were more likely to complete the treatment program and participate in post-treatment 12-step programs. Eight (8) months after the initial intake interview showed that patients who attended 12-step meetings at least once a week while they were participating in conventional drug abuse treatment had significantly higher rates of abstinence than patients who participated in only one or the other of those programs.
· These findings suggest an "additive effect" on the recovery process from concurrent participation in drug abuse treatment and 12-step programs. Dr. Fiorentine says, "You get a better outcome with both than if you do either alone." Fiorentine, R., et.al., "After treatment: Are 12 Step Programs effective in maintaining abstinence?", "Does increasing the opportunity for counseling increase the effectiveness of outpatient drug treatment", "Counseling participation and the effectiveness of outpatient drug treatment", "Drug treatment and twelve-step program participation: The additive effects of integrated recovery activities".
American J. Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 1997/9; J. Substance Abuse Treatment 1996, 2003
· "Patients who stay in treatment longer than 3 months usually have better outcomes than those who stay less time."
NIDA
· Drug and alcohol abusing people are significantly more likely to be hospitalized or have an ER visit. After outpatient treatment, researchers found a thirty-five percent (35%) decrease in hospitalization, a thirty-nine percent (39%) decrease in ER services and an overall twenty-six percent (26%) decrease in medical costs.
Kaiser Permanente, Sacramento 2001
· "Patients who go through medically assisted withdrawal (DETOX) to minimize discomfort but do not receive any further treatment, perform about the same in terms of their drug use as those who were never treated."
NIDA
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