Discrimination of opiate dependence from opiate abstinence and methadone maintenance by use of the Derogatis scale

A sample of opiate addicts from the Basle area followed over six years (1979-1985) was in 1985 investigated concerning psychopathological features. Using the Derogatis scale significant differences between opiate abstinence and opiate dependence could be demonstrated. People still using opiates described themselves as being more obsessive, insecure, depressed, aggressive and anxious than people who had become abstinent from opiates. Patients in methadone maintenance were located in between. There were in addition significant differences between people living outside an institution and people being treated in therapeutic or penal institutions, but no differences between people from each kind of institution.